I decided not to wait as long between blogs this time as we have a bit of an update to give, having had my most recent blood test and oncology appointment.

We have had a few unsettling times since my TURP operation that I told you about in the last blog. Four weeks after my operation we decided to have a day out in Cambridge for a little pre–holiday shopping. We were in John Lewis (where else), when I received a call from the hospital to make an appointment the following Tuesday for the urology consultant to discuss the results from my operation biopsy. I already had a follow up appointment booked for July, so this short notice appointment sounded ominous to say the least. We were left wondering what had been found that could not wait until the July appointment. I then received a letter from my oncology consultant to say that my original prostate cancer had been re-graded from a Gleason Score of 7 to 9, but that this was normal over time and would not change my current treatment regime. So what had the Urology Consultant found that needed to be dealt with so quickly? We spent a difficult weekend, thinking about what the worst news might be, in order to prepare ourselves for it.

We both went to the appointment. Sitting in outpatients brought back dark memories from when I was originally diagnosed. When we finally went into the consultation room, we were both very much on edge, especially when we saw the consultant, a doctor and a nurse waiting for us. Once we were seated the consultant asked if I had received the letter from Dr Woodward about the Gleason score. I answered ‘yes’ and he then said, ‘So, we just want to see how you are doing after your operation’. And that was it! Having thought the worst beforehand, we positively bounced out of the room. The appointment only took five minutes and we were so relieved at the end of it. We have spent the last seven years trying to remain as positive as possible, but it shows how fragile this can be when faced with potentially more difficult news.

I had my routine blood test last week followed by an appointment with the oncology nurse. The PSA was very good, only having risen marginally to 5.36 over the last three months. This was good news, especially as it had risen slower than the previous test. I did ask what my next treatment is likely to be and at what point it would be introduced. This will most likely be another round of Docetaxel chemotherapy, which is what I had after I was first diagnosed. It will be introduced when the PSA has risen to about 17, so hopefully quite some time to go yet, although there is no way to predict the timescale.

I have mixed feelings about the idea of having chemo again. It was effective, which is a good thing, but it is also pretty debilitating. I do remember being very fatigued for the five months or so when I had it before, but then I was trying to carry on with a full time job at the time. 

One positive point was the consultant has agreed that she is happy for me to travel next Tuesday. We are off to the Maldives again. We really seem to be addicted. This time we are visiting Diamonds Athuruga. We plan to enjoy a relaxing time in the sun, with plenty of good food, fantastic snorkelling and an occasional cocktail or two. We can’t wait.

There are always a series of obstacles to navigate before we go away, this time it has included the recovery from the operation, routine blood test, consent from the oncology consultant, discussion with the travel insurance company and now we have to hope that Iran and Israel don’t decide to escalate things even further. Two days and counting!

As ever. Thank you for reading.