Interview 12

Age at interview: 70

Age at diagnosis: 68

Brief Outline:

Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, TURP in 1994 and 1998. Hormone treatment following diagnosis.

Explains that he has not told certain family members as he does not want to worry them.

I haven't told my sister, she lives in X, yes she doesn't know now. And there's family in Walsall and Staffordshire I haven't told any of those.

Do you mind explaining why you prefer not to

I don't want to worry them

You don't want to worry them?

No, no I don't want to worry them. I'm not feeling bad about this in terms of my health, sometimes I can't believe it's happening to me anyway. And if I start to unnecessarily pass that information then what would I be doing it for, would I be doing it for, in order to court sympathy from it, why would I be doing it? I can pass the information as and when I have a problem, which is obviously a problem and something else has got to happen, something else is going to happen to me. But at the moment no I don't see the need to do that.
 

Explains why he was discouraged from having radiotherapy.

So this is metastatic, whatever we call it, cancer. Time passes a little bit now and again and we go back to the urology department and now these options once again are out on the table but the surgery one is no longer an option and of the other two I thought I might receive the radiotherapy, personally, but you know I'm not the expert, I just thought that, but they said the hormone injection is the thing to go for at the moment, this is the way to go, not the therapy, the hormones. And before the injection of the hormones commences we have some tablets which does the same thing so for a couple of months or so I was on these tablets, I forget the name of them, leading to the commencement of the injections at the local health centre which I've had now, I must've had about 3 of those now, they're every 3 months. There's a monthly one and a 3 monthly one, I'm on the 3 monthly injections.

Did they explain why you weren't a suitable candidate for radiotherapy if that's what you thought you might've liked?

Mm they said there were side-effects from it which at this stage they didn't think it was suitable, there were nasty side-effects and they thought that the hormone treatment was the kinder way to go about it at the moment, so one accepts it, that's it, I had to accept that. But yes I was, something at the back of my mind, engineering-wise made me think that the therapy was more of a solid and more preventative method than these injections but they, they said no to that, the hormones was the best way to go so you know I had to accept that.
 

Describes how treatment is reducing his PSA level.

Is this the PSA test?

The PSA test... it was around the 200 numeral Okay, which is high, denoting some cancerous activity in that area. Then as the injections took hold, somewhere after the first injection, may be towards the second injection, the count dropped to 5, from 200 to 5, I couldn't believe it when he said this you know, 'Is that so?', and he said 'Yes it's good news, it's down to 5.' Then the last time I went, a few weeks ago now, the count had dropped again to 1.8.

Oh that's good.

So the injections are working! You know they go alternatively left of your stomach, right hand of your stomach and I've had 3 of those now and the count is down to 1.8. Now this was told to me as I say a few weeks ago, and the doctor said that is very good indeed, good news, the count is normally between 4 and 1, you know, well at 1.8 I'm obviously down at the good end of that.