no Tony Sawyer and Mandy live in Berkshire, UK. He was 52 when he was diagnosed
in February 2004. His initial PSA was 5.7 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 9 and he
was staged T2b. His choice of treatment was Radical Prostatectomy. Here is his
story.
I was diagnosed in early 2004, and agreed in June that year to have
surgery, as "at my age it gave the best opportunity to clear the cancer completely".
At the same time, my father (26 years older, and suffering from what doctors had
been saying for 18 months was old age) also was diagnosed with a Gleeson 9 cancer
(PSA 4.4). It was suggested in his case to commence Zoladex treatment, and this
quickly brought the PSA down to about 4-5 over about 6 months.
My operation
occurred in August, and by October, I was back at work fully. Because the prostate
was found to be "riddled" with cancer, I commenced a course of Casodex, and in
April 05 also had 2.5 months radiotherapy treatment. By the close of 2005, the
PSA was less than 0.1 and the Casodex was stopped.
At this stage, I was
partially incontinent (the surgery had affected the bladder sphincter) as well
as impotent, no sex desire at all, and also by now had "man boobs" - from the
Casodex. I suggested to the surgeon, that a full sex change might have been easier!!
In
Feb 07, the cancer came back, shown by an elevated PSA to 0.31, and I commenced
a course of Zoladex. To minimise the risk of the cancer spreading to my skeleton
at a later stage, I was also put on 6 monthly infusions of Zometa (2 sessions
of which left me very sick, unable to walk for a couple of days and with headache
- the lesson is to drink lots of fluids after the infusion, for about 48 hours,
to flush the excess out of your system).
So here I am coming up to 58,
incontinence greatly increased (looking to see if surgery needed), impotent, and
suffering from a depression over the last 4-5 months which I suspect is a mix
of my father dying last year (not of prostate cancer but of pancreatic cancer!)
and the effects of Zoladex - which your site has shown me can cause such a condition!!
To
express my thanks, I thought I would share my experience for others. During 2004-7,
I got on with life as if the cancer was just a niggling twinge (I have commented
that this period was like being on a train going through stations and tunnels
- surgery, treatments, blood tests etc., where I was just a spectator). I look
around and see folks in much worse states than I, and keep putting the big C back
into its box. The last few months, it seems to have grown out of proportion somewhat,
so the experiences of men and partners on this site has been most uplifting.
Many thanks - its good to know you are not alone!!
Tony's e-mail address
is: tony_sawyer77@hotmail.com
