Interview 13

Age at interview: 71

Age at diagnosis: 70

Brief Outline:

Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999, external beam radiation and hormone treatment 1999.

Describes his hormone treatment and how Zoladex injections were given.

It was brought home to me when the scan, the CT scan, showed up some spots on my ribs which the consultant said he was unsure about. He didn't know whether that was a secondary infection or whether it was a previous injury. And as a result of that he prescribed that I should have radiation treatment and that he would also at the same time give me the hormone injections.

So I've had the hormone treatment now for 18 months, I suppose coming up for 2 years, in fact November's one will be the last, it would complete the 2 year treatment. The PSA levels have gone down very significantly down to negligible, less than one and I don't think there's much point in talking about .1s or .2s because I don't think it's that accurate but it's less than 1.

I had one monthly injection principally to test it, test my system to see that I didn't get any untoward side effects and subsequent to that they are once every 3 months. And they consist of Zoladex, this consists of a slug of wax which is inserted below the skin in the tummy.

How does that feel?

Well it's not the most pleasant sort of injection, it depends how well you are with injections. I mean they don't bother me but we're talking about a big needle, I mean we're talking about a needle with a diameter of about 2mms, and it's a solid slug that goes in under the skin. And it's done that way because it slowly dissipates over a period of 3 months.

Do you have a local anaesthetic?

No, you can do if it bothers you, you can and the GP offered it to me, in fact he was more squeamish than I was (laughs). I had the cheek to tell him how to do it one time because the first time left me with a tremendous blue bruise.

Can you feel it once it's under the skin?

No, no, no it depends. I mean if it's given properly its all right, the needle, you know there's a needle being pushed in your tummy but it's sharp and it goes in quite easily.
 

Suggests that there is no point being pessimistic.

Everybody was concerned naturally and you tend to look on the black side. But I've always been very positive and I feel that you know if there are things I can do then I will worry about doing them, if there are things I can't do then there's no point and I feel that we've done what we can do. The family knows the situation, we obviously will take steps to make sure that as far as possible things are put in their right place as it were. And the last thing I'm going to do is walk about wringing my hands and crying in my beer as it were because as I said if I can do something about it then I will worry about doing it but if I can't then what's the point.

Describes his hormone treatment and how Zoladex injections were given.

It was brought home to me when the scan, the CT scan, showed up some spots on my ribs which the consultant said he was unsure about. He didn't know whether that was a secondary infection or whether it was a previous injury. And as a result of that he prescribed that I should have radiation treatment and that he would also at the same time give me the hormone injections.

So I've had the hormone treatment now for 18 months, I suppose coming up for 2 years, in fact November's one will be the last, it would complete the 2 year treatment. The PSA levels have gone down very significantly down to negligible, less than one and I don't think there's much point in talking about .1s or .2s because I don't think it's that accurate but it's less than 1.

I had one monthly injection principally to test it, test my system to see that I didn't get any untoward side effects and subsequent to that they are once every 3 months. And they consist of Zoladex, this consists of a slug of wax which is inserted below the skin in the tummy.

How does that feel?

Well it's not the most pleasant sort of injection, it depends how well you are with injections. I mean they don't bother me but we're talking about a big needle, I mean we're talking about a needle with a diameter of about 2mms, and it's a solid slug that goes in under the skin. And it's done that way because it slowly dissipates over a period of 3 months.

Do you have a local anaesthetic?

No, you can do if it bothers you, you can and the GP offered it to me, in fact he was more squeamish than I was (laughs). I had the cheek to tell him how to do it one time because the first time left me with a tremendous blue bruise.

Can you feel it once it's under the skin?

No, no, no it depends. I mean if it's given properly its all right, the needle, you know there's a needle being pushed in your tummy but it's sharp and it goes in quite easily.