prostate cancer has spread

[klover]

My father in law recently found out that he has prostate cancer from a routine blood test. As he had no symptoms we were all hopeful that the scans would show that it hadn't spread. He went to get his results today and found out that the cancer has spread to around the gland, and he has been advised to start a treatment of raiotherapy. Although he is not my real father he is like a dad to me and I feel terribly upset. All of the things I keep looking up on the internet don't look very hopeful. Can anyone offer any advice.

I'm sorry for your news, klover, its always shocking to get a cancer diagnosis and am not surprised you're so upset.

My father has/had PC, and although the cancer in his case was contained within the gland, his wife's brother also had it (in his 50s) and it wasn't: both were treated with radiotherapy implants, my DSM's brother five years ago - and he's fine now - and my dad earlier this year. Its no picnic, but dad - who is 82 - has continued quite well with his active life, and six months on is feeling good. Its also very very effective.

I suppose 'spread to around the gland' can mean several things, and I'm no expert, but AFAIK if its still localised - ie not travelled into distant glands/lungs etc - the outlook can be pretty good. Fingers crossed tightly for him, hugs to you..xx

thankyou for your message Elibean it's great to her that there are happy endings to the diagnosis. They have confirmed that the cancer is around the gland but that it has not spread to other organs or bones. so fingers crossed. x

hi klover, my dad had lung cancer diagnosed about a year ago, had his whole lung removed in the hope it was contained, but they had found it had spread to one of the lymph nodes next to the lung. that had been removed too, and he had follow up chemo. Touch wood he is ok now, although i know it is early days. If theya re treating the gland and that is successful, then hopefully they will have caught it early enough.

I really feel for you, i know how frightening and upsetting this is.

If it has only gone just outside the gland, then his chances are still pretty good. Ideally, he would want to be looking at radiotherapy given as IMRT, or conventional radiotherapy plus a high dose rate brachytherapy implant, as those give the highest doses of radiation to the prostate gland while keeping the amount of radiation to other parts of the body as low as possible.

Do you know which radiotherapy centre he'll be going to ?

Prostate cancer and radiotherapy is an area that I specialise in at work, so I'll be glad to answer any questions you have.

Thanks cmotdibbler for your message. He has not decided yet on what treatment he will go for but I will talk to him about it tonight. I'm not sure exactly where he is going apart from London no specifics. But I will post another message once we've had our chat.

My Dad was diagnosed with prostrate cancer 2 years ago.Luckily it was contained within the gland.
They gave him brachytherapy - a type of radiation treatment, where they insert radioactive seeds into the prostrate.The only concern with this was, that he could'nt have my 2 Dc's sit on his lap due to the radiation, for a while.

Whilst he was waiting for his brachytherapy treatment , he had a course of steroid injections, these help with keeping the tumour at the size it is at. My Dad had other medical conditions, so took a while to get them sorted before he was able to have the operation.

It wasn't a picnic, Myself and my 2 Dc's were living with them at the time, and as I was at home with him all day I saw how it affected him, more than most.
Obviously after the operation he was sore,but my Dad's main problem was with his water works, he had to take medication to help with it, but unfortunately it left him incontinent for a short while afterwards. He found this incredibly humiliating.

Physically , he was tired and out of sorts for about 8 weeks, but then picked up quite quickly.

He's had to go back for regular checks, the last one being a fortnight ago, where he was given the all clear. Now he'll only need a check up once year.

Sorry if I've blathered on, but we were all terrified when he was diagnosed, but I just wanted you to know there are good treatments out there for this, that are very effective.

Good Luck and thinking of you, and your family xx

Exactly same experience as my Dad, moonmother, except that he was never fully incontinent, just had to be able to get to the loo fast at all times (diarrhoea as well as urgency) for the first couple of months. Glad your Dad has the all clear.