Prostate spread to seminal vesicles

Hi Skye45. I set out with a PSA of 182. My treatment plan has been Hormone Therapy and Radio Therapy with a plan for the treatment to be curative. I completed my Radiotherapy 5 weeks ago and all is well. I have a PSA of 1.37 and although I am to remain on Hormone Therapy for another 2 years I feel great and my medical team are happy. You can follow my journey by clicking on the image if the beach. If you want to know more, just ask.

I hope your husband is Ok with the biopsy and it's not too bad - best wishes to you both for the future.

Brian.

Hello Skye

I had replied in a different post to your question so I’ve copied my answer here!

I’m glad you now have that part of the diagnosis It was a great relief to us when we got the call to say bone scan is all clear.

My husband was diagnosed as T3aN0M0 which is locacally advanced prostate cancer breaking out of capsule but not spread to any other organs. His letter prior to the bone scan said he was curable however if anything showed up on the bone scan he may not be curable and treatment plan may change accordingly.  Fortunately that result was good so he can now carry on with the treatment plan which is hormone therapy Prostap3 injections every 12 weeks. He started bicalutamide tablets (only taken for first 3 weeks) at end February followed by the first  Prostap injection start of March. He has an appointment to see the oncologist to start Radiotherapy in July. 

He has been fine so far following first injection. We just feel settled now that he has the full diagnosis and know what we are dealing with.

Wishing you and your husband well with his treatment.

sending hugs and best wishes your way Robina

Hi

The team unless they have different information, will always give you options or how they will proceed. Radiotherapy and hormone therapy attack the cancer, myself I had the full quota chemo etc etc mines incurable, but as I said earlier, I rely on the team they know their job but if your worried, when he’s next there ask questions.

Stay safe

Joe

Hello Robina and Skye, my husband had the same diagnosis with hormone therapy and radiotherapy with the ‘intention to cure’.  He finished the radiotherapy a week ago. There are a few things I would like to tell you about our own experience but with the caution that we are all different  and all react differently!

once the hormone therapy started we both were anxious about potential side effects but were tremendously relieved that treatment had started. Like you, Robina, I felt very settled as we seemed to be in a pause between the diagnostics, anxieties etc.

As the radiotherapy got nearer my anxiety levels went through the roof!  I was in a strange mindset! I wanted it to be over and done with but I didn’t want it to start!  My tears had stopped but the nearer we got to the radiotherapy the more they flowed!

Two weeks into radiotherapy and I was at rock bottom and totally exhausted as I was doing the daily driving to the hospital. My daughter stepped in at this point and did 5 days of driving - leaving the grandchildren with me! Looking after them actually gave me tremendous light relief and the break from the daily drive ( some 90-120 minutes each way if the traffic and parking situation was bad 45 mins if no or little traffic!) )  was welcome!  Because of long queues to get into the hospital car park we could never rely on my husband being able to get to the hospital on time so I used to drive so he could hop out of the car and walk to oncology  if necessary!

before radiotherapy the prostate nurses had said it would be 2-3 years of hormone therapy. The oncologist then said just 6 months! Then the letter to the GP from the oncologist said 18 mts of HT. we queried this. T3a N0M0 seems to have mostly fallen through a gap in the research!  Higher grade and lower grad have more extensive research about the duration of hormone therapy than our husbands’ grade.  The oncologist said that his advice is to treat at the higher level rather than the lower level as this is a once only chance of cure. We have taken his advice and my husband will continue with the HT as he’s not struggling too much with the side effects.

also, the oncologist warned us that this is a ‘marathon and not a sprint’. While the intention to cure is just that, the intention might not be achieved. It’s best to look on this as a long term illness like diabetes which can be managed. Ie radiotherapy is not the end of this journey and monitoring will continue. It’s not like having your appendix out!

so , my advice is to keep posting here - I would not have got through this without the support I’ve been given here!  

Try to line up some support from friends and or family - they are an under acknowledged asset in this journey!

Try to cut back on your work activities during the radiotherapy. I had not intended to do this but after I had sobbed my socks off far too publicly for my liking  my work colleagues took the matter out of my hands and put me on ‘very light duties’. I couldn’t have coped with more but, then again, perhaps I’m a whimp?!

 Encourage and support your husband every inch of the way - especially in his adherence to the radiotherapy instructions! They know what they are talking about!

 Do your own research and write or typed down your questions and present the list to the professionals at the weekly reviews! This worked well because they were able to work quickly and succinctly through the list and we were not at risk of forgetting to ask anything! 

be prepared for a weird feeling at the end of the radiotherapy - from both of you!  Alongside the tiredness for both of us there is a feeling of having arrived somewhere but not sure where! 

we had hoped to be jetting off somewhere warm now but the oncologist advised us not to jet off out of the country for 6-8 weeks after radiotherapy. This has not been well received but we have learned to trust the professionals and so remain very much in England  to enjoy ( not!) the snow!!

good luck to you both! I really really hope that I have not bored you and that this helps you with the more emotional side of supporting a husband/ partner through this! I also really really hope the ‘intention to cure’ is fulfilled for all of us!

xxx

Good Morning all, worried wife, wimpy wife, the choice is yours, I think I'll start calling you "Wimpy", Lol.

Hi Robin and sky, joeven was my go-to guy when I joined 2 year's ago, like joeven I'm an incurable and bouth joeven and Wimpy talk sence, just go with what the medic's say, I hope you get into remission and ring the bell, all the best Ulls 

Thank you WW

I appreciate all of your advice. It is particularly helpful as it seems now that our husbands are dealing with a very similar diagnosis although as Joe says everyone is different in their response to treatment.

When I asked our specialist nurse about expected length of hormone treatment she advised that the oncologist would discuss this at our next appointment because they don’t have a set timeframe the course can be different for each individual and depends on many factors. We do have a phone number for the specialist team so that we can call with any questions outwith appointment times and they encourage us to use this.

One thing that we are very fortunate about is that we are within walking distance of the local hospital with specialist oncology and radiology services. We are both retired so work is not an issue. We do enjoy looking after school age Grandchildren and keeping up with hobbies and interests. 

I hope that you manage to have a holiday in the near future. We are having a weeks holiday with a group of friends at the end of this month. This was booked some time ago and we been advised that it is fine to go ahead with this break. In fact it’s probably best to do it now before radiotherapy begins. 

Best wishes Robina

No thanks! Will stick to the original  we do worry ourselves silly about our menfolk!!!

Hi Skye

My PSA was lower than your hubby, but my staging was a bit worse. My seminal vesicles were affected too, but there was no spread to bones or any other organs. I had a month of RT and 2 years of HT. The letter from the hospital advised they were intending to cure me of the PC.

Hope this helps

Regards

Stuart

Thanks for all your reply’s. 

We are not long back from biopsy. It went well considering how much he was dreading it. 
Really nice nurse that explained everything. 
He they took 14 samples 10 from prostate and 4 from seminal vesicles. 
After him performing another DRE and obviously with the ultrasound they have said he will require 2 years HT and 20 sessions of radiotherapy as it is just now. But depending on the results of biopsy oncologist may change treatment. 

So just to wait and see what results come back but at least we know what we initially dealing with. 

Worriedwife said:

be prepared for a weird feeling at the end of the radiotherapy - from both of you!  Alongside the tiredness for both of us there is a feeling of having arrived somewhere but not sure where! 

How true that is. Well said.