Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Australian men after non-melanoma skin cancer.
About 1 in 12 men will be diagnosed with PC by the age of 70.In Australia around 26,000 new cases where diagnosed in 2024.
Prostate cancer is not a subject thats not often discussed, I mean nobody fronts the bar at your local club or pub and asks the question well guys, hows you prostate going, any leaks or dribbles? Well not at my club anyway. Blokes tend to keep this sort of stuff to them selves, which is a bit silly considering how prevalent it is.
So I thought that I might share my journey so far, with Prostate Cancer. I wont go into the possible early signs of PC or the risks and side affects of the treatment of the cancer. There is plenty of info on the net.
June 2024 I first spotted a bit of blood in my urine first up in the morning, just a spurt of red before clearing. Itll go away I thought but it didnt
July I thought it was time to make an appointment with my GP, usually about a 3 week wait but to my surprise he called me in the next day, which set the alarm bells ringing, tested a sample of urine which confirmed blood, and booked me in for a CT Scan in Taree.
July 18th Off to Taree for the CT Scan.
July 24th Back to the GP for results, prostate enlarged and a referral to an Urologist in Taree, earliest appointment would be sometime in October.
Oct 18th The Urologist confirmed the prostate was enlarged and that he would need to do a Cystoscopy which involved inserting a camera into the bladder to check the prostate and any other problems and at the same time take a Biopsy. This would be done under general anesthesia . At the same time to he said he would like to do a digital examinational. It must have been the look on my face, for he had a rethink and said he would do it while I was having the Cystoscopy. I was happy with that!
I asked him why my GP hadnt recommended a digital. He explained that most GPs have stopped giving digital as they dont do enough per year to really pick up small changes to the prostate while Urologists are doing them all the time. He told me that he had done over 1000 before he became confident in his findings. Most GPs now rely on a PSA blood test.
Booked in for the Cystoscopy November 19th which would be conducted under day surgery.
Nov 19th So I rock up to Mayo Hospital at Taree for a day procedure.
Into theatre, woke later in a hospital bed with a catheter in place, didnt know that might happen! Doctor called in and said everything went well, bladder was clear of any nasties, the biopsy had caused some bleeding and I would need to stay until the bleeding stoped.
Nov 28th Finally discharged. The result of the biopsy was level 4 prostate cancer, bummer! there are only 5 levels.
Dec 21st Off to Port Macquarie for a PET scan to see if the cancer had spread to other parts.
Jan 17th 2025 Back to see the Urologist for the PET results, all clear.
So now was the time to discuss my options for treatment. Option 1 Surgery with all the risks of surgery and the side affects (Google risks and side affects) Option 2 Ray treatment with similar risks and side affects (Google)
Being a sooky la la I chose to have ray treatment.
Step 1 in the treatment was to commence monthly hormone injections for the next 5 years. Next step was back to Mayo to have 3 gold seeds (markers) injected into the prostate to enable the rays to accurately hit the tumour and a filler injected in between the bladder and the bowl to lessen the risk of bowel damage from the ray treatment. This was all done under general anesthesia.
Feb 11th Appointment at the Port Macquarie Cancer Institute with Professor Tom Shakespeare re the ray treatment time line. The treatment would happen over 5 days a week for 4 weeks, a 10 minute zap each day starting on the 24th June. Lucky for me there is the Rotary Lodge Motel on site just a three minute walk from the Institute so I could book in Monday to Friday each week.
June 3rd Back to Mayo for the prostate marker inserts, all went well.
June 10th Back to Port Macquarie for a pre-treatment CT and MRI scan.
