Newly dignosed info please (recovery)

Experts will be along to give you the reassurance and advice you need right now but I’m awake and feel that a wise word or two might help.

So much of the recovery from the news firstly, then the treatment does take a lot out of you but if you keep you head and realise you are not alone you can overcome anything.

I wish you well and hope that the answers here will explain all your questions and soothe your soul.

Keeping up healthy exercise is a must if you can do it. You will lose a bit of muscle strength and perhaps be more sleepy but hopefully in your mind you will be able to.

Take care

Hello Mrbrown 

A warm welcome to the group although I am so sorry to find you joining us.

Let me say we are all different and our reactions to the Hormone & Radiotherapy is a very personal thing. 20 Fractions of Radiotherapy is the standard dose for your diagnosis so that's fine. 

I had only a few small issues with my radiotherapy and kept on working throughout the 20 fractions - indeed most days I walked to the hospital as it's only a mile from home.

All I would say is to keep as fit as possible and carry on with life as normal and with your diagnosis I hope the combination of treatment offered leads to a cure.

Some of us on the group have a record of our journey and you can read these by clicking on our names or avatars.

I hope the above helps.

Best wishes - Brian,

Hi Mr Brown 

As Brian has said 20 sessions of Radiotherapy is the norm these days, used to be 37.

Obviously the treatment has improved vastly over the years, I had RT in 2017 and at the moment all ok.

Your stats seem lowish although you don't mention any PSA figures.

Looks like all will be ok and the Radiotherapy is fairly easy to go through.

Best wishes 

Steve 

Hello Mrbrown To try to answer your questions…

Taking your daily walks after radiotherapy is important to keep your fitness up and fatigue down, but you may find your comfortable distances are reduced to start with. I went from 8 miles before radiotherapy to 500 yards the day after radiotherapy had finished…! It’s often normal not to have quite as much energy straight after radiotherapy as you did before. It does build up again over time. The specialist nurse also told me to listen to my body and rest more than I would usually.

As has been said, 20 sessions of radiotherapy is normal for most people these days. They found 20 had the same effectiveness as 37, so adopted a lower number of visits with a slightly higher dose each time.

It takes time to get the results from treatment. Your PSA should reduce to a much lower number when you have the first PSA test a few weeks after the radiotherapy. For those of us also on hormone therapy it should then continue to drop to its lowest level, known as the nadir, over the next few months. For people not on hormone therapy, it can take maybe 18 months to reach their nadir. The radiotherapy’s damaging effect on the cancer cells carries on working long after the machine is switched off after your last session. 

When hormone therapy stops PSA will usually rise slightly. It’s then a matter of watching that over the next few years. We still have a prostate so a small amount of PSA long-term is normal after radiotherapy. My brother had his prostate removed, then later needed radiotherapy due to not all of the cancerous cells being removed with the gland, and had rising PSA. His PSA has now been undetectable for many years. I’m not sure if he now considers himself cured or in remission.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your treatment.

Hello Mr. Brown. A friend of mine has just had 20 sessions and I had 5 sessions where the dosage was higher. I guess it depends on where you are and what you have got. Trust the experts to get it right for you.

The hormone therapy did make me feel fatigued and pretty much as described. If I had been more disciplined then I probably would have gone out for normal daily walks and so on. But that's not to say that I couldn't have done more than I did.

I have just started putting my experiences together as a blog which you can read here:

 Why "LemSip"?  They've all actually been posted today, but they are best read from oldest to newest for them to make the sense I would like them to make.

Keep asking the questions.  I found the people on here to be a lovely and knowledgeable and quite tolerant bunch!

Cheers,

Lemsip

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Hi MrBrow

7 years ago I was in the same sitatuon ad you are. 30 radiation session and one year hormone therapy. I worked half day and atfter treatment i haven not had one day absence from work until my retietement last year. I tell you this because for some patiens this is possible. I cannt say it has bern without "rainy days", I have some ups and downs, but after all I have 7 years with acceptabel quality of life. The best medicine for me was my daily 6 kilometers walk. During radiation I managed half the distance  and my boss let me adjust my work capacity at work. To adjust the activity limit from day to day and accept some fatigue was helpful. But of course there are individal responses to the treatment, but generally i think its a good advise to look set a limit and respect the bodys answer to the treatment.

Best regards from keja

If you want more details from my journey you are free to contact me

Thank you for the advice 

Hi thank you for the advice my psa is 5.13 

Hi everyone thanks for all feedback another question i work nights and expected to have 20 radiotherapy sessions my work is willing to let me have a month off but the hospital as not told me if the is 20 treatments are for 20 consecutive days this is what I am hoping for as work wont stretch to anymore days off for me is this something I could ask for  and is treatment only given week days  i will be having my treatment at st james leeds hospital as anyone else had treatment there 

Hello Mrbrown 

Just checked and "Jimmys" is Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm.

Jimmys Leeds -Radiotherapy - NHS

Before you get your dates for Radiotherapy you will be invited in for a "planning scan". If you tell the Radiotherapy team you work nights, you can ask for all early or late appointments - you can carry on working then if you feel up to it.

Best wishes - Brian.