Seeking Advice on Prostate Cancer Treatment Options

Good morning berhe 

A warm welcome to the Macmillan online Prostate Community, although I am so sorry to find you here - I am Brian one of the Community Champions here at Macmillan.

Your question is one that is asked very often and I always reply that it's a very personal choice and you need to list the pros and cons of each treatment as to how they would affect YOU personally.

I haven't had surgery so I will give you a link to  a community Member's journey through Surgery:

 JohnyBoy 

I have just completed my personal 3 year journey on Hormone Therapy/ Radiotherapy on a "curative pathway". Would I do it all again for a cure - yes I would. You can read my journey (I had a couple of other issues on the way) by clicking on my user name or avatar.

I hope this helps, please do come back to me with any questions, no matter how trivial and I will try to answer them for you.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi 

Sorry you find yourself in this position it’s a very stressful time I Know! 

My husband was diagnosed High Risk Gleason 9 last year aged 58. 

He has chosen to have a radical prostectomy (here in the UK we don’t seem to have the radiotherapy straight after the surgery to my knowledge, if you get a recurrence that’s when they perform salvage radiotherapy! I could be wrong but that’s my exp) 

My husband chose this route as they felt the cancer was contained and he wanted a quicker way to finish his treatment and avoid hormones if possible! 

He had one side nerves taken and his pathology was 4+5 T2c and he has recovered well and is virtually fully continent. 

Good luck with the decision and treatment 

A 

Thank you so much for the fast reply. I am just trying to get a perspective on why some prefer HT plus RT (that is what they offer here in Sweden) compared to the Robot Surgery which takes a few hours and is generally short. In my case, they may even take away the nerves since it is an aggressive cancer. I have read a lot but I want to hear from people who have experiences here. It seems all here have gone for HT, though I do not know why they did not choose Surgery as an alternative.

Hi Berhe, and a warm welcome to the forum, I too have an aggressive prostate cancer 'not  curable', but as it had metastasised, surgery wasn't an option,  so RT and HT for me, as for side effects, fatigue, urinary incontinence and hot flushes we're what impacted me the most.

The fatigue was managed and overcome through exercise, it took a few months to get back to 80% of my previous fitness but that was enough to have a 'normal ', life.

Urinary incontinence, PS, I also had a TURP,  and my bladder was also targeted by RT,  I found Kegel/pelvic floor exercises, voiding and pilates helped enormously, though I do wear a pad occasionally.

Hot flushes, sage, tablets or tea are popular, mine were pretty bad so took the medication route, medroxyprogesterone,  and 4 weeks later all good. 

Berhe, I also lost my libido for a few months, which I was fortunate with, as ED is very common on HT/RT for prostate cancer.

Eddie 

Good Morning berhe 

Mine is a simple answer - I didn't have the choice as it was thought the cancer had gone "walkabout". So it was HT/RT for me.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi.

Mine had broken out of the prostate I to my seminal vessels so removal was not an option

RT went ahead with very few problems but I now have radiation prositus in my bowel as a consequence. 

I have been on HT ( Prostrap)for 26 months and have another 10 to go.

Side effects, fatigue,  hot flushes, weight gain, mood swings, and loss of drive I always had....

ED and loss of libido.

I have also been diagnosed with Osteoporosis,  which is down to HT.

Hopefully, it will get better and you do find ways to cope with it.

Hi B

To help us help u do you have any stats, PSA, what does the MRI say or staging, Gleeson score which I presume high because u say aggressive 

Best wishes 

Steve 

Hello Berhe

It’s a difficult choice for sure, you say the cancer is aggressive? How bad is your cancer ? I’m a stage 4 incurable but treatment keeps me going. If you can either do your profile or just let us know, we will have more information to help.

Stay Safe

Joe

Thank you so much and I am happy for the recovery. Mine is also 4+5 and agressive. I have done both bone and body Scan for spread. The bone is ok and I will know soon about the other on Wednesday. I tended to choose the Robot surgery since I could not see any convincing reason for the Radiation plus hormone treatment. The hormone treatment seems to go for a long period though it will be supported by Radiation. We will see