With the passage of time
It has been over two weeks
since I was last at The Christie to discuss the radiotherapy option for treating
prostate cancer. From my previous Men’s things blog,
we had a disputation even as the information was coming in faster
than I could fully process what I was being told.
Much as I have much
information to read up on to appreciate the options on the table, the post-operative
consequences of a prostatectomy did not offer me any comfort beyond the knowledge
if I had the inclination that the prostate will be totally removed along with the
possibility that the end result could be total irreversible impotence.
That probably does not
bother me as much as the loss of bladder control which could last anything from 3
to 6 months or more. As I am quite an active person, this could lead
to a rather diminished quality of life as I try to cope with the issues involved.
Besides, as this procedure is conducted under general anaesthetic, you will not
have the option to consult or interfere in any consequential surgical activity.
Just the thought that
you might after waking up from anaesthesia be told the good news that the operation
was successful and then the other news that you will no more be the man you once
were could be a terrifying prospect that in my good mind I felt was not
what I wanted to be visited with.
From the foregoing to
decision time
I had a long conversation
with my Holistic
Needs Assessment nurse from the Macmillan
Cancer Support charity discussing the issues and concerns I had. We both agreed
that the surgical route is not the best treatment option towards long-term recovery.
While at my consultation
I had disagreements about my not being considered for brachytherapy, I can now decide even if predicated on subjective data rather
than medical analysis, I have enough information to understand the reasoning.
The Digital Rectal Examination
had first determined that my prostate was enlarged and the multiparametric MRI with
contrast not only showed the lesions on the right side, but also the noticeable
inflammation on the left side.
No need for further
tests
On the basis of this,
the surgeon could not guarantee that he would be able to save the nerves that manage
the erectile process because the inflammation might have made it too difficult or impossible
to peel away the nerves to extricate the prostate gland. The risk was he had to be in there
to decide, there was no other way to be sure.
Taking that forward to
how my urination is affected on the I-PSS sheet, brachytherapy could further inflame
the prostate leading to a medical emergency if my urethra is totally closed off.
The other forms of external radiotherapy do not present as much of a risk of closing
off the urethra and would be a lot more tolerable. The ensuing side effects of radiotherapy, unpleasant as it might be, can be adequately managed.
It goes without saying
that radiotherapy would be my choice and I should have the opportunity to convey
my decision to the hospital soon. I expected a call on Friday, it might be sometime
next week.
Now to talk to other
people
Another thing I need to do is have conversations with other men who have been through this experience.
So far, I am acquainted with second-hand information about this. A friend of a friend
on the radiotherapy track undergoing hormone therapy first, which I have been told,
I would not need.
A man of the cloth who
has since retired who took elective surgery, and the father of a colleague who had
the lower dose radiotherapy treatment over 20 sessions and what I gleaned from that
snippet, it was every weekday for 20 days with a duration of about 30 minutes.
Also, one other kind of
experience I should find is someone who was verifiably diagnosed with prostate cancer
and was healed by faith and prayer, medical science then certifying the total
disappearance of cancer and a fully improved health status of the person healed.
The cancer does not
belong here
I am coming to terms with
the fact that this needs to be addressed and done with alacrity. I maintain a sense
of assuredness, that the outcomes would be the best for my circumstances, my health,
and my future. I do not have prostate cancer, rather, it has been medically determined
a foreign situation exists in my body that must and will be removed.
I refuse to give it any
comfort or respite to claim territory within me, like you eject a squatter on your
property by any means possible, this one too must go.
Blog - Men's things
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