Brachytherapy v's RP

Yes my OH wishes he'd taken the advice and stayed on active surveillance for a few years. Only because he suffered such bad side effects. No we didn't ask why surgery wasn't offered. We saw the urologist first who said if it was him he would leave it and watch it. Next we saw a Macmillan nurse who briefly told us about surgery, EBRT, brachytherapy and AS. Then a few weeks later we saw an oncologist. She told us the best option was AS. But if he wanted treatment then she recommended brachytherapy or EBRT. He suffers with loose bowels all the time, that is why he originally went to the gp. They did lots of blood tests, mostly allergy tests, but did a psa as a matter of routine. That's how the prostate cancer was found. Anyway, they said due to bowel problems (nothing found wrong with them) brachytherapy would be the least effect on his bowels. So that is why he opted for it. We did get a booklet with all treatments available to read through. I'm sure if we'd asked about surgery we would have been told about it. But he wouldn't have gone down that route anyway. Unless it was really necessary.

The reason he had treatment was the fact that psa was 3.7 on diagnosis in July. By December it was 4.9. He was told that it was still fine and to remain on AS. The consultant said he would need a bigger biopsy if was going to stay on AS just to check nothing had been missed. OH didn't want to have a bigger biopsy, also he thought January would be a good time for treatment. If he got to June/July time and his psa shot up he would be too busy on the farm to go in for treatment. So he booked in there and then. Had it done just after Christmas 2 years ago.

Thanks everyone for your kind responses. Just a little update and in some ways I hope not to upset those who are still struggling with PC but I want my good news to bring hope to those people who are undecided on what route to take going forward.

I opted in the end to have the robotic RP with a wonderful Surgeon at the Royal Marsden Chelsea. The whole experience from start to finish was beyond my wildest dreams in terms of care and the skills from all the medical staff was just brilliant .

My operation was on March 24th and I left hospital on March 26th complete with catheter . The only issue in terms of pain came in my shoulders as a result of the CO2 and this lasted about 7 days.

The catheter was removed after 10 days at which point I was totally dry and remain so ever since. My erectile function is also fine and yesterday I was told that the cancer had not extended beyond the prostrate.

I plan to return to work on Monay April 24th and whilst I understand the need to take it easy in the coming weeks, my plans to walk the West Highland Way at the end of May for charity remain firmly on track.

So just the bloods on May 24th in London left now.

So a huge thank you to all the wonderful staff at the Royal Marsden .

As I say ,I don't mean to upset those who are suffering from this horrible disease but I hope my progress shows what can be done and I am so glad I went for the RP treatment.

Edited by member 20 Apr 2017 at 17:09  | Reason: Not specified