hello all i am new and waiting surgery november

Hello JMPL2bf731 

A warm welcome to the group although I am sorry to find you here.

There may well be alternatives to surgery - Active Surveillance, Radiotherapy, Hormone Therapy and Brachytherapy however to enable us give you some help and advice are you able to give us some details from your diagnosis:

Gleason Score - TNM Numbers and PSA readings and any other test results (MRI / Bone Scan) you may have had.

Once we have the above, we will have a better idea.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi  J

I understand your anxiety, however there are other options.

Do u have any figures, PSA Gleeson, is tumour still in the gland, the more info the better the advice.

Best wishes 

Steve 

thank ypu 

my first PSA was 5.8 moved to 6.2 after a 2 week course of antibiotcs

MRI scan results 8mm lesion 7oclock potion and 6mm at 4oclock postion Pirads3

13 biopsy samples taken 8 contain cancer

Gleeson 4+3

T stage T2

N stage N0

M stage MO

Bone scan clear

Royal Marsden under Mr Charlesworth

i am so findung this difficult lost my wife to cancer 9 years ago which was so hard after 35 yeats marrird. I am 64 and have been able to find a partner who is full of life energy and hope and i cant nit help worry abiut the effect this will have on us if the nerves and treatment means i lose so much.

i am active have good diet exercise BMI is also good 

but what is right .....

Hello JMPL2bf731 

Thank you for the additional information. Looking at the figures I would think you would also be a suitable candidate for Hormone Therapy/Radiotherapy and possibly Brachytherapy as you have low numbers and the cancer is confined to the gland.

Your consultant is one of the top urology surgeons in the UK BUT have you even seen an oncologist and had a chat about the alternatives and possible side effects.

You have a slow growing cancer so you do have time to think about this and ask questions. I can also understand your feelings after losing your wife and being in a new relationship. 

The choice of treatment is up to you as you can pick whichever you want but you need to make an informed choice and not be shunted down one route. Every treatment comes with side effects and you need to work out how these would affect you and your new partner.

If you do need any information regarding any of the alternatives please do come back to me - other members of the group will also be happy to help.

Best wishes - Brian.

My sympathies. My husband (67) , fit and ‘healthy’ chose radiotherapy and hormone therapy for mainly the reasons you mentioned. The risk of surgery and removing the cancerous seminal vesicles without damaging nerves is high risk. . This way we hope to get back to a ‘normal life’ without incontinence risks  and possible E.D. Eventually. Three years is a long time but where there’s life there’s hope!

Hi, this is definitely the right place for you. But you are diagnosed with a couples disease and this will have to be accounted for with treatment and recovery. What affects you especially in the groin, affects your relationship with your partner. Be aware is a very difficult path to walk.

But as Brian Millibob has said your cancer is slow growing and not metastasised, thats brilliant.

The very best thing I’ve read, other than the above, is that you are being treated at the Royal Marsden. You’re in great hands there, so thank your postcode for that.

Your profile page is a place you can post all your history and information of your treatments and diagnosis and is found by clicking the green chair button on the top left of this page. The more you put up about you makes it easier for members to understand you and be able to answer you questions more accurately.

This is an anonymous forum so you can safely put up what you like with total anonymity.

Good luck to you both

have completed profile thank you

Hello JMPL2bf731 

I will go back to my post of an hour ago.

I think you need a chat with your team but first off you need to get a pen and paper and write down the pros and cons of surgery v hormone/radiotherapy as to how they would affect you and your partner.

If you need to speak to an oncologist and get a 2nd opinion you need to cancel the proposed surgery ASAP so the slot can be offered to someone else.

To help you here are a few notes:

Prostatectomy-for-prostate-cancer.

Radiotherapy-for-prostate-cancer.

Hormonal-therapy-for-prostate-cancer.

If you need any further help or information just ask.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello mate

everyone responds differently to the surgery so it is indeed a hard choice to make as in what treatment to have 

I am of the mindset that getting a good proven surgeon is key to enabling a good outcome afterwards but I do appreciate that many people may are not in a position to be able to do that , fortunately for you (if you go ahead ) your surgeon is highly regarded as Millybob already mentioned 

They should also be able to give you an indication on there thoughts beforehand for instance have they advised if it will be full nerve sparing 

apparrantly Uretha tube length also can have a bearing on incontenence , my surgeon told me that the longer it is the better the chances of good continence afterwards , he did though also advise me that they as surgeons only see the true extent of what there dealing with when your on the table so again there’s no 100% garauntee

i had surgery coming up to 12 weeks ago and fingers crossed as far as I can see recovery is going well, I was dry from catheter removal and to be honest the fear of the upcoming surgery was worse than the surgery itself but I realise I was lucky and not everyone will get the same outcome 

Again as Millybob wisely said you need to look at all the pros and cons at what’s best for you as there is no right or wrong answer, don’t rush into anything before investigating all the pros and cons of what’s best for you personally 

there are some lovely helpful people on this forum who I know helped me a lot in the early days so you will be in good hands on here

wishing you all the best with whatever you decide upon 

Nick

So all relatively low key, even tumour size (s) not large.

AS could be an option but if u just want to do something then RT and HT relatively easy but as others have said look at different pros and cons of each treatment before deciding.

Best wishes 

Steve