My journey

June 2020: I am just starting to update this:

The Cotswolds Prostate Cancer Support Group arranged an awareness evening on 31st May 2017 at Marling School in Stroud. I went along and it was suggested that I film the event to help raise awareness. While there, I joined the other 435 men to have a PSA test. At the end of June a letter arrived saying it was 18.96 ng/ml. Nothing to worry about as I had no real symptoms and PSA tests are not very reliable. However this led to a further PSA test, MRI, bone scan and a biopsy. On 19th September 2017 I was told I have an ‘invasive’ prostate cancer (for those liking numbers it was 56cc, Gleason (3+4) 7 and T3a). Great news in many ways as it looks like it hadn’t spread, but I was also told that because of my age (56 then), this was ‘serious and needed attention’. 

Clinic in Germany

The treatment offered was surgery or radiation with about two years of hormone treatment. I had many discussions with various people including doctors about those options and other treatments that might be available like a HIFU trial. I also explored what was happening in other countries and after much thought I decided to try a German Medical Clinic that has a good record of treating prostate cancer with Transurethral hyperthermia. I flew there at the end of November 2017 for the treatment and when I got home this was followed with 6 months of taking three hormones. I share in a blog my treatment protocol in the year after the hyperthermia and other blogs some of the reasons for delaying radiotherapy. In other blogs I share more about the journey after diagnosis, the controversy around the tests, more on why I made some of my decisions and my journey since then. I note again this was my journey and I am certainly not about recommending any particular path for other people to follow.