Just been diagnosed with locally advanced prostate cancer.

Hello DickyDB 

Welcome to the group, although I am so sorry to find you here. Hormone Therapy and Radiotherapy is one of the "normal" treatment paths for Prostate Cancer. The 2 things you need to be aware of are:

* Hormone Therapy comes with it's own set of side effects, the main 2 being fatigue and erectile dysfunction - there are plenty more. . Try and keep as fit as possible.

* Hormone Therapy weakens your bone structure and you should have a prescription for Calcium/Vitamin D tablets too,

Feel free to ask any questions, you will get answers from people who have "been there - done that". You can read my HT/RT journey by clicking on my name or avatar - I did have a few other issues along the way!!

Travel Insurance is a good one - I have a place in Turkey and joint travel insurance for a year costs £ 780. You will find it to be cheaper once you have completed your radiotherapy. we do have a dedicated group for this and here's the link:

Travel insurance forum for cancer patients 

When getting a quote it's best to telephone the provider to get the best quote and to ensure you have told them everything.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi DickyDB , your attitude that it could have been worse is really good.  PCa is slow growing and treatments are improving all the time.  Holidays are a great focus and having just got my PSA stable again have today booked another one today.  You can view other members profiles if they have completed them, by clicking on their name or avatar.  Can’t help with the insurance.

Hi DickyDB - I renewed our annual policy for European travel for me & Mrs AW (we only ever go further with our mountain leading job, when the company cover us). Anyway, it was £62 more for the entire year, which was excellent.  This was after radiotherapy but still on hormone therapy.  Now I’ve finished hormone therapy I’ve recently renewed for another year.  This time - no excess.   The company are Insure & Go.  To be honest, if the excess was extortionate, I would have simply renewed without prostate cover for Europe, and relied on the GHIC.  I know, I know, some will say that is folly, but I feel that the risk of a prostate related event is very low for insurance purposes.  Medical cover in country is mutual agreement with the NHS system.  AW

Hi AW. That’s really helpful thanks. Some of the insurance companies I’ve looked at quote exorbitant fees. I think I’ll check with my current insurers first and then shop around if it’s too expensive. I have a holiday booked in November, but it may be I’ll have to cancel depending on when the radiotherapy is scheduled.

Hi DickyDB, I completed 33 fractions of radiotherapy back on the 7th of May and I’m due to fly off to Corfu at the end of this month. I got my years insurance from Staysure for roughly £140 and I declared everything. Only advice I’d give is don’t travel too soon after treatment ends since the bowel and bladder movements are a bit unpredictable for a couple of weeks and I wouldn’t want to be desperate for the loo in a plane ! That aside I wish you all the very best with your treatment and future ️

Hi Beefy24. So lovely that you have reached out. My head is a mess at the moment. So reassuring to hear from fellow sufferers. Gan canny as we say in geordie land! 

Understandable that your head is in a spin at the moment but treatment now is so far ahead of where it was when I had my op back in 2018. There will always be someone on this excellent forum ready to listen and use their experiences to help in any way. It’s a lot to try to come to terms with but you will get there ️

Welcome DickyDB as you have identified as a Geordie you soon come to realise we have some astounding facilities and gifted NHS staff in our area. I am under the Freeman and thus far cannot fault them.

Best of luck, we may well meet across a quiet waiting room, who knows.

Hi KJ911, yes I’m from North Shields and my treatment is going to be at the Freeman Hospital. I feel somewhat reassured knowing of its excellent reputation.