Health

[bovril]

Wishing you all the very best @mozartfox

[mozartfox]

4 hours ago, Thefox81 said:

All the best. Hope it all goes well. You can beat this 💪

Thank you!

[mozartfox]

55 minutes ago, bovril said:

Wishing you all the very best @mozartfox

Thank you!

[mozartfox]

1 hour ago, jgtuk said:

Best of luck to you. You have an excellent health system over there apparently (albeit you are paying privately) so your outcome is potentially a  positive one, keep us updated - men need to talk about these issues and normalise them as health issues - so many in the past have ignored symptoms through fear of implied weakness...

 

I was referred in December 2024, as an urgent case, to urology after abnormal psa and physical examination confirmed one side of prostate is enlarged abnormally.

 

There is an 18 month waiting list for urgent cases!!!

 

 

Thank you.  Waiting times for the National Health Service equivalent here are not as bad as the UK, but still there are waiting times. Luckily I can afford to pay to go private. Saw the Urologist on Tuesday. CT Scan for planning on Wednesday and first Radiotherapy session next Monday. This quick as I had done the MRI and Biopsy in Malaysia last month.   Just need all FT Members over 50 to start PSA checks regularly.    This particular thread is excellent for anyone with health issues as just look at the best wishes I have received  today!

[Alf Bentley]

8 hours ago, mozartfox said:

Prostate Cancer often runs in a family. In my case 3 generations have been impacted.  PSA tests are indeed inconclusive in isolation.  I  did a blood test in eatly February and the PSA value was around 2.00.  Did a voluntary MRI scan thereafter and something suspicious was found. Biopsy followed within a week and diagnosed with early signs of cancer. Start Radiotherapy next Monday in Vienna.     I am lucky that I can afford to pay for private treatment, otherwise it would be months and months of anxiety and worry.

 

Please be viligent chaps.  Catch it early and you should be fine!

 

All the best for your treatment. Good to see the positive attitude.

I'll be having surgery to remove my prostate in a few days - and glad to be getting on with it (fingers crossed there's no late postponement!).

 

You're right that prostate cancer often runs in families. There's also a known hereditary connection between prostate cancer and maternal breast cancer.

I'm not aware of anyone in my family who's had prostate cancer - and I come from a big family - but my Mum had breast cancer (caught early).

Not all cases are hereditary, of course - and case numbers seem to be growing for whatever reason.

 

Let us know how it's going, if you feel up to it. We're hopefully doing others a favour, if it encourages them to get PSA blood tests - as prostate cancer is usually curable if caught early, but often has no obvious symptoms, meaning too many cases aren't caught early enough.

 

Solidarity!

 

 

[mozartfox]

5 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

All the best for your treatment. Good to see the positive attitude.

I'll be having surgery to remove my prostate in a few days - and glad to be getting on with it (fingers crossed there's no late postponement!).

 

You're right that prostate cancer often runs in families. There's also a known hereditary connection between prostate cancer and maternal breast cancer.

I'm not aware of anyone in my family who's had prostate cancer - and I come from a big family - but my Mum had breast cancer (caught early).

Not all cases are hereditary, of course - and case numbers seem to be growing for whatever reason.

 

Let us know how it's going, if you feel up to it. We're hopefully doing others a favour, if it encourages them to get PSA blood tests - as prostate cancer is usually curable if caught early, but often has no obvious symptoms, meaning too many cases aren't caught early enough.

 

Solidarity!

 

 

Thank you.  I hope your surgery goes well and wish you a very speedy and full recovery!  I will up-date the treatment etc. periodically. 

[UniFox21]

8 hours ago, mozartfox said:

Prostate Cancer often runs in a family. In my case 3 generations have been impacted.  PSA tests are indeed inconclusive in isolation.  I  did a blood test in eatly February and the PSA value was around 2.00.  Did a voluntary MRI scan thereafter and something suspicious was found. Biopsy followed within a week and diagnosed with early signs of cancer. Start Radiotherapy next Monday in Vienna.     I am lucky that I can afford to pay for private treatment, otherwise it would be months and months of anxiety and worry.

 

Please be viligent chaps.  Catch it early and you should be fine!

Wishing you all the best with your treatment mate.

[Alf Bentley]

3 hours ago, jgtuk said:

Best of luck to you. You have an excellent health system over there apparently (albeit you are paying privately) so your outcome is potentially a  positive one, keep us updated - men need to talk about these issues and normalise them as health issues - so many in the past have ignored symptoms through fear of implied weakness...

 

I was referred in December 2024, as an urgent case, to urology after abnormal psa and physical examination confirmed one side of prostate is enlarged abnormally.

 

There is an 18 month waiting list for urgent cases!!!

 

 

 

Are you in the UK (as your name suggests) or a UK bod living elsewhere?

 

If you're in the UK, an 18-month wait sounds wrong - and would definitely be worth querying with your GP or the hospital.

 

In the UK, there are waiting time targets - 62 days from urgent referral to start of treatment & 31 days from treatment plan to treatment:

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/worried-about-cancer/cancer-waiting-times#:~:text=no more than 2 months,and the start of treatment

 

Targets aren't always met - and weren't in my case - but 18 months sounds wrong.

Mine has been almost 5 months from urgent referral to treatment, which I thought was bad enough - though, to be fair, 1.5 months of that was waiting for an outsourcing company to do a scan to confirm whether there was any metastatic cancer (as of late January, there wasn't, thankfully).

[mozartfox]

1 minute ago, UniFox21 said:

Wishing you all the best with your treatment mate.

Thank you.

[UniFox21]

11 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

All the best for your treatment. Good to see the positive attitude.

I'll be having surgery to remove my prostate in a few days - and glad to be getting on with it (fingers crossed there's no late postponement!).

 

You're right that prostate cancer often runs in families. There's also a known hereditary connection between prostate cancer and maternal breast cancer.

I'm not aware of anyone in my family who's had prostate cancer - and I come from a big family - but my Mum had breast cancer (caught early).

Not all cases are hereditary, of course - and case numbers seem to be growing for whatever reason.

 

Let us know how it's going, if you feel up to it. We're hopefully doing others a favour, if it encourages them to get PSA blood tests - as prostate cancer is usually curable if caught early, but often has no obvious symptoms, meaning too many cases aren't caught early enough.

 

Solidarity!

 

 

There's a big genetic link with mutations in the BRCA1/2 gene and breast and prostate cancers. Something a lot in the research/cancer areas that is getting more and more understood, but that knowledge isn't passing as quickly to the general public as needed.

 

Hoping the surgery goes smoothly!

[jgtuk]

2 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

Are you in the UK (as your name suggests) or a UK bod living elsewhere?

 

If you're in the UK, an 18-month wait sounds wrong - and would definitely be worth querying with your GP or the hospital.

 

In the UK, there are waiting time targets - 62 days from urgent referral to start of treatment & 31 days from treatment plan to treatment:

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/worried-about-cancer/cancer-waiting-times#:~:text=no more than 2 months,and the start of treatment

 

Targets aren't always met - and weren't in my case - but 18 months sounds wrong.

Mine has been almost 5 months from urgent referral to treatment, which I thought was bad enough - though, to be fair, 1.5 months of that was waiting for an outsourcing company to do a scan to confirm whether there was any metastatic cancer (as of late January, there wasn't, thankfully).

Thanks for that info, I’m actually in Wales. 
I’ve spoken with the appointments department who actually told me that the wait time is 18 months for urgent referrals, I’ve queried it with my GP, just waiting for a reply. 
I already have another type of cancer for which I receive treatment, now on a lifetime of medication and 6 month screening program for that and I know if I call them they will call urologist and I will be seen immediately. 
I don’t want to jump the queue though, I’m no more important than the next person so will try to go through the standard process if possible. 18 months when told that it’s urgent is a joke though, the mental anguish for some people caused by a waiting list is horrendous. 

[Alf Bentley]

4 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Thanks for that info, I’m actually in Wales. 
I’ve spoken with the appointments department who actually told me that the wait time is 18 months for urgent referrals, I’ve queried it with my GP, just waiting for a reply. 
I already have another type of cancer for which I receive treatment, now on a lifetime of medication and 6 month screening program for that and I know if I call them they will call urologist and I will be seen immediately. 
I don’t want to jump the queue though, I’m no more important than the next person so will try to go through the standard process if possible. 18 months when told that it’s urgent is a joke though, the mental anguish for some people caused by a waiting list is horrendous. 

 

As you may have seen, that Cancer Research UK link that I posted mentions a slightly different system for Wales: a target of 62 days from urgent suspected cancer referral to treatment.

 

I know that targets aren't necessarily being met (as in my own case), but there's a bit of a difference between 62 days and 18 months!

 

I appreciate you don't want to jump queues, but that's certainly worth challenging via your pre-existing medic or GP. It might be an error - perhaps it wasn't recorded as "urgent" or something?

 

Good luck!

[mozartfox]

Just finished week 1 of my radiotherapy, so 5 sessions down and 15 more to go.  The treatment itself is painless and only lasts a few minutes. Having to commute to Vienna

everyday is arduous and the big side effect for me is feeling so very tired in the evenings. Lots of early nights.  Hopefully this difficult period will pass quickly and with the cancer stopped in its tracks.

 

Take care everyone and just remember if you do not feel right about your body, get it checked!

[Tommy G]

2 minutes ago, mozartfox said:

Just finished week 1 of my radiotherapy, so 5 sessions down and 15 more to go.  The treatment itself is painless and only lasts a few minutes. Having to commute to Vienna

everyday is arduous and the big side effect for me is feeling so very tired in the evenings. Lots of early nights.  Hopefully this difficult period will pass quickly and with the cancer stopped in its tracks.

 

Take care everyone and just remember if you do not feel right about your body, get it checked!

All the best and a speedy recovery 

[mozartfox]

Thank you my friend!

[jgtuk]

On 14/03/2025 at 17:23, Alf Bentley said:

 

As you may have seen, that Cancer Research UK link that I posted mentions a slightly different system for Wales: a target of 62 days from urgent suspected cancer referral to treatment.

 

I know that targets aren't necessarily being met (as in my own case), but there's a bit of a difference between 62 days and 18 months!

 

I appreciate you don't want to jump queues, but that's certainly worth challenging via your pre-existing medic or GP. It might be an error - perhaps it wasn't recorded as "urgent" or something?

 

Good luck!

Appointment for 3rd April after speaking with GP again. 

[Alf Bentley]

2 hours ago, jgtuk said:

Appointment for 3rd April after speaking with GP again. 

 

Excellent news. If the Welsh system operates similarly to the English, they might send you for an MRI scan in a few weeks - while not 100% conclusive, the MRI gives a strong indication as to whether the problem is cancer or something else (e.g. benign prostate enlargement). Good luck for whatever comes next. 

[Alf Bentley]

2 hours ago, mozartfox said:

Just finished week 1 of my radiotherapy, so 5 sessions down and 15 more to go.  The treatment itself is painless and only lasts a few minutes. Having to commute to Vienna

everyday is arduous and the big side effect for me is feeling so very tired in the evenings. Lots of early nights.  Hopefully this difficult period will pass quickly and with the cancer stopped in its tracks.

 

Take care everyone and just remember if you do not feel right about your body, get it checked!

 

Must feel good to have a quarter of the ordeal behind you. Another 3 weeks will soon be done!

 

I second your exhortation to "get it checked", but would add to do so even if your body does feel right - I'd had no change in symptoms before being diagnosed, a common problem with prostate cancer if no checks are done and it spreads to other body locations.

 

If you don't mind me asking, is your treatment a "radiotherapy only" pathway? I was only offered surgery or radiotherapy with hormone therapy, though that might've been due to it being an aggressive cancer (Gleason 4+5). I was initially favouring radiotherapy but switched to the surgery pathway after realising it would also imply 2-3 years of hormone therapy. I might have stuck with radiotherapy if it had only required 2-3 months of potential hormone therapy side-effects, but I didn't fancy 2-3 years of potential disruption (even if the disruption is minor for some patients).

 

The future's so bright, we've got to wear shades! 

[Facecloth]

Been in hospital since Friday. I feel fine but my blood sugars and ketones are high. Dr's suspect I have type 1 diabetes, so just trying to get the levels under control. Frustratingly they can't get the levels down at the minute so hopefully nothing else is wrong, hoping to escape today, but feeling unlikely.

 

Once I'm out it's a total lifestyle change. I try and watch what I eat, but the constant check of blood sugar levels and the regimented meal times is going to be tough to get used to.

[Tommy G]

7 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

Been in hospital since Friday. I feel fine but my blood sugars and ketones are high. Dr's suspect I have type 1 diabetes, so just trying to get the levels under control. Frustratingly they can't get the levels down at the minute so hopefully nothing else is wrong, hoping to escape today, but feeling unlikely.

 

Once I'm out it's a total lifestyle change. I try and watch what I eat, but the constant check of blood sugar levels and the regimented meal times is going to be tough to get used to.

Get well soon, hospitals are the pits at the best of times never mind staying in and having tests. 

[SpacedX]

16 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

If you don't mind me asking, is your treatment a "radiotherapy only" pathway? I was only offered surgery or radiotherapy with hormone therapy, though that might've been due to it being an aggressive cancer (Gleason 4+5). I was initially favouring radiotherapy but switched to the surgery pathway after realising it would also imply 2-3 years of hormone therapy. I might have stuck with radiotherapy if it had only required 2-3 months of potential hormone therapy side-effects, but I didn't fancy 2-3 years of potential disruption (even if the disruption is minor for some patients).

 

Yes, that would be due to the high grade Gleason score of 9. I'm surprised that you were offered any other options other than an immediate radical prostatectomy. If you don't mind me asking, was is confined or had it metastasised? As you say, usually when the symptoms appear it means that it has escaped. 

[Alf Bentley]

Went to hospital on Tuesday, swapped my prostate (removed by a surgeon-controlled robot) for a urinary catheter and was discharged barely 24 hours later. 

 

The first 48 hours out were a bit tricky at times due to constipation (common side-effect of surgery & general anaesthetic, it seems), but thankfully my world-class talent for defecation is now back. Very little direct soreness from the surgery and feel very well generally, but the catheter causes sporadic soreness. I feel well enough to walk for miles in terms of surgery recovery, but at times the catheter makes it painful to even walk short distances.

 

Thankfully, the catheter is due to be removed in a few days. That will bring the prospect of likely urinary incontinence issues - just have to hope I'm in the majority for whom it is a temporary and/or minor problem, not the minority for whom it's more severe or long-lasting.

 

Then, the moment of truth will be the six-week review to see if they think they've eliminated all the cancer (PSA rating should be near-zero, if so ). The surgeon seemed optimistic that would be the case, meaning no further treatment in the short-term - but thought it pretty likely the cancer would be back within 10 years, due to it being an aggressive one. Just a case of getting regular PSA tests to hopefully catch it before it spreads, if so. It's a bit weird that you can still get prostate cancer without a prostate, but apparently it can return in surrounding areas that are left in place.

 

All the best to all going through this - and any other health trauma. 

 

Edited 23 March by Alf Bentley

[Alf Bentley]

5 minutes ago, SpacedX said:

Yes, that would be due to the high grade Gleason score of 9. I'm surprised that you were offered any other options other than an immediate radical prostatectomy. If you don't mind me asking, was is confined or had it metastasised? As you say, usually when the symptoms appear it means that it has escaped. 

 

It was just about confined at the time of the MRI - stage 2, but potential for imminent spread to nearby areas (almost stage 3a).

The CT, bone and nuclear scans all suggested no metastasis, but the 6-week review will be the moment of truth for that, as I understand it - PSA will show if any cancer has escaped and lab analysis of the removed body part will show whether there's a "positive surgical margin" - if I'm remembering the term correctly: i.e. whether the cancer was all contained within the prostate - for now.

[jgtuk]

29 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

Been in hospital since Friday. I feel fine but my blood sugars and ketones are high. Dr's suspect I have type 1 diabetes, so just trying to get the levels under control. Frustratingly they can't get the levels down at the minute so hopefully nothing else is wrong, hoping to escape today, but feeling unlikely.

 

Once I'm out it's a total lifestyle change. I try and watch what I eat, but the constant check of blood sugar levels and the regimented meal times is going to be tough to get used to.

Any changes to lifestyle will be challenging but believe me they soon become the new norm. It’s about educating yourself and forgetting what you knew before, although sacrifices can be hard (for me, giving up cheese and eggs). 
Good luck 🤞 

[Facecloth]

13 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Any changes to lifestyle will be challenging but believe me they soon become the new norm. It’s about educating yourself and forgetting what you knew before, although sacrifices can be hard (for me, giving up cheese and eggs). 
Good luck 🤞 

I find there's so much conflicting information, because you're saying no cheese and eggs, other places saying they are fine.