Interview 37

Age at interview: 63

Age at diagnosis: 54

Brief Outline: Diagnosed with prostate cancer 1993, TURP in 1993, hormone treatment.

Background:

Considers the effect of his work and personal life on prostate cancer.

When I was first told I was a painter and decorator and I used to do spraying and all different kinds of work and I used to use different thinners and catalysts and stuff like that you know and I used, and at first I thought may be I got that by using these things, getting through my skin and that. But that's only my theory, that's just something that I thought about. But when you read up about it, there's lots and lots of people get it, I think it's just something that happens.

Is there any history of it in your family?

Well no, no my father died of leukaemia but it's just not connected at all. I spoke to the surgeon about that and he said no there's no connection. I also played football, I was a goalkeeper and I thought may be getting knocked about a bit round the stomach had something to do with it but no, no, according to the surgeon and them it's not, it had nothing to do with that.

Suggests the test should be a national thing to help prevention of cancer spreading.

Women get screening tests for breast cancer which has helped an awful lot of people and I think men when they get to 50 they should get these PSA tests as a national thing you know so that they can catch things early, stop the cancer spreading into bones and stuff like that you know. Because there's some people,some men have a thing about the down below parts of their body. They won't go to the doctors, they won't tell anybody anything, they wouldn't tell their wives or anything and I think if this test was made a national thing they would catch a lot of people early and make life a lot easier for people you know.

Considers that it has brought him and his partner even closer.

At the beginning it brings you an awful lot closer. To be honest my wife and me weren't married when I got, we'd lived together for abut 12 years and then we decided oh we'll get married so it's...

A happy story.

Yes so it's, that's the kind of things that happen, it brings people, although we were quite close anyway you know it just brings a little edge to it you know.

Considers that radiotherapy took away a lot of the pain he had been experiencing.

But the bone metastases it can move about it a bit you know so every now and again you have to get a check up. At first I had a lot of pain in my lower back and the pelvis area, my shoulders, and I got radiotherapy for that which took a lot of the pain away.

Could you explain what that was like to have some radiotherapy?

The radiotherapy was, it's painless you know you just lie there and they give you the radiotherapy.  You can feel a bit tired after you get it....

Did you just have the one treatment or more, how many times?

Well I had one in my right, the right side of my pelvis at the back and one in my left at the back and both shoulders and it did ease it up a lot.