Eric - Interview 34

Age at interview: 81

Age at diagnosis: 71

Brief Outline: Eric was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999 and received radiotherapy. The treatment helped bring his PSA levels down, and he is monitoring his PSA levels with the help of his consultant. Cancer does not affect him on a day to day basis anymore.

Background: Eric is married and a retired company director. Ethnic Background: White British.

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Eric was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999. He received radiotherapy and his PSA level dropped to a very low level, which was a big relief. At this stage he felt like he was cured, but was told it was just in remission. He now keeps an eye on his PSA level and has to ask his GP for six monthly blood tests to monitor his levels. 

 

At one stage, his PSA readings started doubling and Eric got a bit anxious. He never received any advice from his GP about what his PSA level should be, or at what stage he should seek further action. The GPs in his local surgery don’t always know what is going on with his cancer, and don’t have knowledge of his past history. This is why he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in them. In order to get better advice and care regarding his prostate cancer, he bypassed his GP and wrote directly to his consultant. Eric wishes his GP would have spent a bit of time explaining his PSA test results with him and advised a course of action. Now, he keeps a chart of his PSA readings, which he sends to his doctor as well so they can chart the changes in his PSA levels and see when it goes higher. 

 

Nowadays, he doesn’t experience any symptoms from prostate cancer and doesn’t think about it on a day to day basis. He has found the internet helpful in order to get information about prostate cancer, treatment options and drug trials. However, Eric does think that his children do worry about his cancer, and thinks they could do with some extra support and information about what to expect and what the effects are. 

 

Ten years after having radiotherapy for prostate cancer Eric is getting up twice a night to pass...

I still get up in the night, only about twice. Well, I don’t know whether it’s the PSA, whether it’s my prostate or not, because it’s always the same time. I think it’s a habit because about two o’clock in the morning I get up, go the loo, come back, and I get up again at about half past five, six o’clock. And I reckon it’s a habit. I don’t think it’s down to this, you see. It can change that sometimes, if I’ve been very physical in the garden or something like that and I’m really tired when I go to bed, I’ll sleep right through. So I don’t know. I don’t think there’s that much to worry about in that sense. 

 

And when I told the consultant, I said, “I’m still getting up two or three times in the night”, he said, “Well, that’s all right”, you know, “It’s not a problem is it.” I said, “Well, no, it’s just it disturbs your sleep a bit.” So he said, “Well, it’s all right.” He said, “Most people get to your age”, he said, “When they get to your age they’re up in the night anyway” , but he said, “What about the day time?” I said, “Well, I’ve no problem with the day time”. 

 

I notice that it might be me. I don’t know because I notice things can affect me. If I drink tea, if I have a cup of tea, that immediately goes through me. Coffee is not so bad, that takes longer. Beer takes longer and wine takes longer, and I can drink milk all night long and it doesn’t make any difference, but tea, and I drink quite a bit of water. That was something they told me at the hospital, “Drink lots of water”. And I do drink lots of water. And they also said it would be a good idea not to drink much water after dinner at night, you know, which I’ve have to do now, have your drink, whatever it is, and then don’t have anything else, see. And that’s pretty much what I do actually. 

Eric described how it was frightening when his PSA level started to rise. It was unclear what his...

Until then I was all right, you see. But the trouble arose with the following test, which took place in 2007, when the PSA reading had doubled. So I waited for another six months, took another test, and it had doubled again, and that’s when I started to get a little bit anxious about it. So I asked the GP, and he said, “Well, there’s still no problem about it. Don’t worry, because the levels are very, very low, you see”. He never told me exactly what the level was when I should start worrying medically, you see.

 

Yes, you see this level stayed down for all these years, six years, until June 2006 it was point three eight. In December two thousand and six it went to point five nine. In March it was five point eight, the following March. The following July it was five point six eight. So there’s not much difference. Then point eight two, then point eight five, so all of those four or five readings it had more or less, it had grown a little bit, but it had stayed down, and then in October 2008 it suddenly went from point eight five to one point four. So that was a big jump, you see, and then six months later it went from one point four to two point six. So you can see the climb, the steepness. December, six months later again, from two point six to three point seven. So I expected this last test, right, to increase by the same amount again, so I expected about five point two, five point four, something like that, you see, or even six, but it wasn’t. It was four point two. So I can’t make any sense of that other than to say I was relieved. Anyway… 

 

It can be quite worrying to see that sort of trend and then to know that it’s not got that bad and it’s….

 

Yeah, yeah. I was looking at the percentage difference in the climb rate, and it went, at one point, it was eighty-five per cent higher in six months, and that frightened me, see, and now, of course, it’s much better. So some people might argue that you’ve got this information and you frighten yourself to death, but I don’t look at it that way. I look at it from the point of view of it’s like looking at the fuel level on your car. You’re driving along, fuel level is going down and you think to yourself, “I must get to a station before I run out of petrol altogether”. It’s that sort of attitude really that I’m adopting, and so I’m happy with four point two.