Journey just beginning

Good stuff Dave, all the best in your new venture, I admire your ambition. My game was IT Service Mgt so I understand Helpdesks and the Customer Experience etc 😬. But I am glad to be out of it now. I don’t know how I would ever have been able to hold down any of my old roles during my PCa journey. 
How are you getting on with your HT? I still struggling with mine, it’s killing me off.

Good luck

Spongebob

Hi Spongbob (and any other reader),

I took some time to think about this HT question, as I always like to put a positive spin on things if possible! However, other than potentially keeping the cancer cells at bay it is difficult to think of anything positive about it!! But, even with all the side effects I get, I am going to be a little anxious when they eventually tell me I can stop taking it (as I suppose that is when we find out if we got a cure or just a delaying action!). In terms of symptoms, the hot flushes are a real pain, but not the end of the world. I know how to almost completely stop mine, give up caffeine and alcohol, but that is too high a price lol. Oddly also strong emotions (especially when worried or stressed) cause an almost instant flush! But for me that is not the worst bit, it is the feeling of emasculation that really impacts. Defined as "the act of depriving someone of strength, vigor, or spirit" that comes close to how I am feeling at times. Synonyms help explain further "Soften" - yep all my body softened (especially around the tummy) and bigger except my 'male equipment' which has shrunk and does not work properly! "devitalize" - yep, my walks with the dog now 15 to 20 mins and sometimes just cannot be bothered to do stuff. "undermine" - yep, especially confidence. "debilitate" - yep, at risk of this one as well. So, what to do about it!!! Can't just roll over and curl up .......... Have started Pilates for Cancer Patients, which is great. Everyone looks so healthy!! Am looking at the new gym around the corner and thinking, January when back from holidays? Am starting this new venture and trying hard to get excited about it. Am trying to avoid doom scrolling about percentages or recurrence, or prognosis for T3N1M0 Gleeson 8's!! And I keep reminding myself that everyone has an expiry date, and no-one knows when that date might be, so be grateful for every day and make the most of what you have left not matter how many days that might be!! It is not important how many, what is important is how you live those days!! So now I am feeling more motivated just thinking about this fact!!! Oh, and one good travel hack for anyone reading this. If you are not a UK citizen, or you have a partner who has an overseas passport, go through the disabled channel at Passport Control. You avoid all the queues and if challenged (which they never do), Cancer is classified as a disability! :-) Took me 5 mins to clear Passport Control with my wife when we returned from visiting the Cologne Christmas Markets (which I can recommend btw!). Without that hack would have been 90 mins easily! So lets not let this challenge get us down for too long. We can do this and beat this! David

Edited by member 10 Dec 2024 at 10:52  | Reason: Not specified

Very interesting Dave, thanks for the long reply, it pretty much mirrors my experience. It does provide some comfort reading about and knowing of others going through the same.
There’s not enough time or space here for me to fully describe the full torrid impact of Prostap on my body. My current worry is the increasing pain that I’m feeling in my feet and I’m really hoping that it doesn’t lead to mobility problems.
Looking back, it’s fair to say that the ordeal of chemo and RT was a doddle compared to the relentless ravages of Prostap. I’m 18 months on it now and  have my 7th tomorrow - nightmare!
Still, like you I’m not lying down, I’m determined to keep active which is obviously key to getting through this, even though it seems that no amount of activity/exercise results in any weight loss or improvement of fitness.
At the end of the day we are lucky, lucky that we managed to get it diagnosed in time.

Keep going, we’ll do it.

All the best

Spongebob

Hi David,

Thanks for the updates.

Glad to here all is going well. I'm looking forward to my last Zoladex injection too (June 2026) and hopefully for recovery of testosterone and feeling more normal!

I know there will be fear when it comes to PSA testing though. At the moment I'm quite relaxed about it with the HT doing it's job.

All the best 

John