HIFU - 10 Weeks Post surgery: My Journey from "Zero Symptoms" to Diagnosis and Recovery

Hello Wayne (Wayne71 ) 

Welcome to the group, although I am so sorry to find you joining us - even though you look to have had a good outcome to your 5 month Prostate Cancer journey. I did notice your reply to a post yesterday, so thank you.

Thank you as well for your great post, this will be useful to others who may be considering HIFU.

The only issue I have with HIFU is that at present unless you are involved in a trial or very lucky the treatment isn't generally available on the NHS (I am aware you went down the private route).

I wish you well in your continuing journey and many more low PSA tests.

Best wishes - Brian.

Thank you Brian for your kind message and the welcome 

That is really useful to know thank you for adding that information. 
Just for info before going down the private route I was diagnosed under the NHS. I was referred to Charing Cross - London following my psa result.
The 3 options I was given from the NHS included Hifu it was at the time a longer wait time than having the radical prostatectomy. I understand that not everywhere offers Hifu or the other focal therapy’s and that some surgeons may only specialise in one focal therapy. I was lucky to be offered HIFU under the NHS and then fortunate also that the surgeon Professor Hashim Ahmed covered both sectors. 
️‍ 

Hi Wayne71

Great to read your message and I would be really interested in your follow up meetings. 

I had HIFU treatment in August, I'm nearly 7 weeks post op and still healing. I too had a blood in my urine a few days ago after a heavier day at work, but it cleared really quickly 

Would you say your completely healed now? regarding actives etc?

Or do you still need to take it easy?

I have my first follow up meeting with my first PSA test in a couple of weeks time

If your up for it , it would be great to hear about your recovery journey?

Thanks

Zucko

Hi Zucko,

Thanks for the message. I hope that, after 7 weeks, you’re getting back to how you were before. I’m sorry to hear you had a setback, but it’s good that you listened to your body and that it responded accordingly after some well-earned rest.

I had my surgery on 4th February 2026, so as of today, it has been approximately 35 weeks post-surgery. I would say that I drunk lots of water around 3-4litres a day post surgery and yes that did mean emptying the bag a lot in time I had it. I never had any infections (long may that continue) and I think this helped, but that is just my opinion. 
I also was given a list of good foods to eat for prostate health which I continue to have in my diet. (Pomegranate seeds, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale, raw nuts) you can have also have green tea.  

Looking back, this was my journey.

After 4 weeks, I did the Walk the Month challenge in March for Prostate Cancer UK, and on the final day I even jogged a 5K. I did wonder whether the challenge might be too much, as it was over 11,000 steps a day, but thankfully I had no issues and raised a good amount of sponsorship. 

After that, I continued walking, but at around 8 weeks post-surgery I started getting back on my bike. I bought a new, prostate-friendly saddle and started off with just 10 minutes once or twice a week, gradually increasing it by 10 minutes each week. I also returned to work around this time.

I stopped cycling 7 days before my first post-surgery PSA test, as I didn’t want cycling to have any potential effect on the result.

Following my consultation at 12weeks, I continued to build things up, and I’m now cycling to and from work. Including social cycling I’m doing around 40–50 miles a week, with a typical single ride being around 20–30 miles.

I’ve also been paddleboarding, as the weather has been great, and I’ve been doing around 5 miles a week in one go. I also swim, usually breaststroke, and do around a mile a week again in one go.

Where am I at now? I would say I’m pretty much back to normal in terms of day-to-day life and fitness.

Overall, I feel fitter than I did before, but I’m still mindful that my body is recovering and I don’t want to push things too far too quickly.

In terms of recovery, over the last 4–6 weeks I’ve been getting occasional drops of blood from my penis when I’m emptying my bowels. It’s not in my urine. I’ve had a follow-up call with the consultant about it, as it has been happening pretty much every day, and we’re currently monitoring it for another 4–6 weeks. If it continues, they may need to do a camera examination of the bladder to see what’s going on.

I don’t feel that I’m particularly straining when going to the toilet, although I suppose that could still be contributing to it.

I hope that information is of some use to you and anyone else that is reading it, but please feel free to ask me anything. I’m more than happy to share my experience if it helps.

I have my third PSA due on 30th October, followed by my yearly PSA around 4th February and an MRI.

All the best for your continued journey and please share your results.

Wayne ️‍

Hi Wayne

Thanks for your reply, its great to hear from you

I too drank litres of water during the wearing the bag period, and yes got tiresome emptying the bag but I was told it helps minimise infection. 

It was great to have catheter removed

I didn't realise you can buy prostate friendly saddles, will look into this

Well done for you charity walk, good going after week 4

I'm entering week 8, started doing longer walks about 3 weeks ago and got back into the pool last week, I am a front crawl swimmer and try to get to a mile each time, I find that using a float between your legs takes some pressure from the prostate area, so I use this for about 50% of the time

I don't feel ready to get back on my bike or run just yet, hopefully soon as I'm really missing this 

I went back to work after week 4, with hind sight I would have held off from this

I am experiencing small urine leakages when I get off from the floor, lift my tool box or try to force wind out, its only a drop or two so contained ok, hopefully this will eventually stop in time

I also experienced drops of blood from my penis when passing stools, but have been clear recently

So from your dates you are 7 months on from treatment and feeling pretty much back normal, I'm almost 2 months on and feeling better but still feeling tender and struggle to sit on hard chairs for too long

Continence has been fine (except for the very small leakage) not back on the saddle in the bedroom department

I have researched that the first PSA may still be slightly higher than normal but this is to be expected? then hopefully it will decrease over the next few tests

Experiencing anxiety regarding my PSA readings

I will fill in my profile and share all of my results as the months roll on

Also lean on herbs/supplements and positivity, great diet and exercise is a winner as well

Not had an alcoholic drink since treatment

I hope this may have been some help to you or any others reading and good luck with your onward journey

All the best

Zucko

Zucko that's a good share and I’m sure it will help others on this journey to see what is to be expected and not knowing about it before it might happen. 

My results were 7.14 at diagnosis then 2.14 at 3months post surgery. Yes I was also told this might go up, but mine went down. Then at 6months 0.953. It was definitely helpful to have that thought prior to the first psa post surgery that it may go up. There is a lot of mind talk that is for sure and it does continue, but these have lessened. 

Getting back to sexual intercourse post-surgery has mostly gone well, though I did want to mention—in case anyone else experiences it—that I occasionally get hematospermia (blood in semen). It can be a bit of a shock the first time you or your partner see it, but I've learned it can be a relatively common, benign side effect of healing down there. I was also told that this surgery could also result in being dry.

Wishing you all the very best for your recovery! 

Hi Wayne

Thanks for sharing info, it's really helpful

Your results are really positive, I was also told that because this treatment retains your prostate minus the removed part , that there will always be a reading of some description.       

Ref blood in semen, I experienced this post biopsy took about a month to clear, it's a touch strange when it happens, I have been told to expect dry ejaculation , I guess time will tell

All the best

Zucko