READERS' RESPONSES:Not all cases of prostate cancers are the same and neither are the treatments
Re: My Health Experience, Healthplus, September 15th
Dear Sir,
Every man who reads Michael Murphy’s article and who has been similarly diagnosed with prostate cancer can readily identify with the terror and fear outlined in it.
Remembering my own period of angst again has caused me sleeplessness over the last few nights, and I recall the depth of despair I felt when the surgeon told me that I had very little time to think about my choices.
To quote, “What you have inside your prostate is not a little pussycat but a ferocious tiger. If he gets out of the prostate he will devour you’’.
My local GP diagnosed prostate difficulties in November 2006 when I was in my mid-50s. It was confirmed through biopsy in spring 2007 and I had Brachy treatment in University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) in August of that year.
While I can empathise entirely with Michael, I am writing to highlight to your readers the fact that not all cases of prostate cancers are the same, and not all outcomes of treatments are the same either.
There is a constant, however, in that the sooner one takes action against the cancer, the better the possible outcome. After confirmation of the diagnosis, both my family and I scoured the internet for treatment options, as well as conducting visits to clinicians for first and second opinions.
My partner also spent hours researching alternatives and food supplements that can retard the growth of the cancer. I visited Guy’s Hospital in London to check out High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (Hifu) as a treatment option to discover that a much more suitable and effective service was being offered on my doorstep by Prof Frank Sullivan at the radiation department in UCHG.
Everyone who survives cancer feels that it has a miraculous aspect to it and this was my miracle. Prof Sullivan assessed me and deemed that I was a suitable candidate for Brachy therapy, a much less invasive treatment than the conventional one of removing some or all of the prostrate through surgery.
After the preliminary tests and having digital images of my prostate created, I spent about three hours in hospital on a Wednesday morning in early August 2007, where radioactive pellets were inserted strategically into the prostate in pre-determined locations.
I went home in the afternoon and rested, although some patients are capable of resuming work immediately.
I had a sore right thigh from being spread-eagled after the treatment, due largely to the stiffness in my thighs from playing football at a younger age.
I had to be careful afterwards for a year in ensuring that I refrained from being in close proximity to pregnant women or of holding young children on my lap for more than 10-15 minutes. This was difficult for my youngest grandchild as we have that special bond together.
However, thankfully I have none of the horrendous after effects, such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction, as outlined in Michael’s article. I readily admit that this was a huge worry for me during the diagnostic period.
I would like your readers to know that my experience is also a possible outcome to this disease. I cannot express my appreciation sufficiently to the wonderful team at the University College Hospital Galway, in particular to the team fronted by Geraldine in the radiation department, and to Prof Sullivan and his team for giving me another chance of having a full life.
This treatment is offered on a national basis in UCHG and has been complemented this year by the setting up of a rapid- access clinic to diagnose potential candidates for this and the other treatments available.
This whole experience has become a revealing and enriching insight into human nature when fellow patients, frequently in greater pain than me, would sit with me, crack a joke and ensure that a healthy regard for the grim reaper was sprinkled with humour and spice.
Two years on I’m living a wonderful lifestyle and my PSA levels have reduced from 6.8 to 0.9. I have just returned from holidays where I snorkelled the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, visited a cleaning station for sharks, swam with manta rays, went to Aida on opening night and caught a dose of gout en route.
I am equally hoping the next time the grim reaper comes knocking on my door I’ll be able to tell him to come back again later. In the meantime, I have a lot of living to do.
Yours, etc,
Patrick McDonagh,
Galway.
(by e-mail)
Re: Iodised salt, Readers’ Response, Healthplus, September 22nd
In response to the article asking where you could get iodised salt, several readers have said they bought it in Lidl.
Reader responses are welcome. E-mail healthsupplement@ irishtimes.com