I was asked if anyone had told me about my prostate cancer!
I had waited nearly 5 weeks to be told any more about my prostate cancer because the MRI scan was reviewed twice, before seeing yet another doctor for the results…
…who went on to tell me that it was at T1 stage and my Gleason number was 7, none of which meant anything to me or to my shocked wife, who has been with me throughout. I then saw a specialist Uro-Oncology nurse who arranged a further appointment with an Oncologist consultant, putting me into the care of the Christie Hospital the thought of which almost terrified me.
Following 6 months of hormone therapy, I was then called to go to the Christie Hospital for brachytherapy treatment where I was expecting to be in hospital for just one night, sadly it didn’t work out that way.
I had some complications which meant I ended up staying in hospital for 8 nights! I was admitted as an emergency after things went wrong with the catheterization. This was even though the brachytherapy had gone well according to the Consultant Radiologist.
My Treatment Continued
This stage meant that I had to go into Christie’s for one night on Monday 30th July 2018 to have a high dose of radiation brachytherapy, which involves having a radioactive source, iridium pellets placed in the prostate, through hollow needles, under general anaesthetic which takes 3 hours.
I actually had the brachytherapy on Monday 31st of July, but when the catheter came out after the procedure, I was unable to pass water, so it was replaced which gave me some relief. Temporarily as it turned out, when that one was removed, I was unable to pass water again.
The complications arose when the catheter was again replaced but it was inserted in the WRONG PLACE. This was discovered on Tuesday the 1st of August in the morning, after a night of sheer agony while they thought there were clots blocking the drain. The drain bag was full of blood, so they tried “irrigation” which meant a lot of pain for me. More on that later when I tell you more about my prostate cancer.