Friday 18th September 2015

Sitting at home this evening after the operation at St Lukes Cancer Centre, Guildford yesterday afternoon.

Arrived in St Lukes at 12.00 noon yesterday and shown into the Day Surgery unit where one the the Brachytherapy doctors came in to discuss the operation and have me sign the consent form. There were three procedures during the afternoon and mine was the last so I had a few hours wait. I went to the operating theatre at around 4pm.

I was told the the operation went to plan and 86 x Iodine129 'seeds' had been inserted. I was later given a card showing total activity of the implant is 1350.2 MBq.

I recovered from the anaesthetic quite quickly and I remember thinking about my father who died from complications following prostate cancer 34 years ago. I was quite upset. I was taken for a CT scan almost immediately then taken to the Surgical Short Stay ward.

I'd never had a catheter before and the feeling was quite unusual. The tube is inserted into the penis and up into the bladder. a small balloon is inflated which effectively fills the cavity and without much input from me pee flows into a bag beside the bed. It was difficult to relax and I couldn't sleep constantly feeling the need to pee.

The catheter was removed at midnight which was quite painless however the 'need to pee feeling' stayed for the rest of the night and I suffered from slight incontinence. The volume of pee was measured and ultrasounds taken to measure the pee left in the bladder. This is done to assess the urine flow through the prostate as swelling can start almost immediately. I was given Contiflo XL 400 mgs capsules which counteract the swelling and I will be taking one capsule per day for the next 3-6 months.

I have also been given anti-biotic Ciprofloxacin 500 mgs, Ibuprofen 400 mgs and Senna tablets

I had one unpleasant experience during the night, I suffered some bleeding from the needle entry points. It was substantial but only lasted a few minutes.

Having emptied my bladder several times and the measured flow was acceptable I was discharged at 7.30am this morning.

There is some bruising around the perineum and some appearing on my scrotum which makes sitting a little painful. I went for a short walk this afternoon and felt fine.

I have a burning sensation when I urinate so I have increased my water intake which seems to help. I've also had some Cranberry juice.

I am worried that my first bowel movement may be difficult so I'm hoping the senna tablets will help.

Thats all for today, tomorrow I shall reflect of my treatment so far.