Monday 28th September

In my last update I said I was going to write some reflections of my treatment so far. I'd planned to do this earlier but I thought I should wait a few more days.

Today is Monday 28th 11 days post operation and I'm feeling much better.

The senna tablets helped and I had no trouble with my first bowel movement, there was no bleeding. I'm continuing to take Senna tablets as they do seem to be helping. I have experienced some slight incontinence and I have found myself rushing to the toilet several times. The feeling of a full bladder is still present, but nowhere near as uncomfortable as before.

I'd decided not to work in the week following the operation but I felt fine so I went back to work, one full day last week, and although it was a long day I had plenty of energy. Having said that I have had one bad day, yesterday. I was aching all over and felt very lethargic. Today I feel like a different person, much better.

I'm convinced BrachyTherapy has been the best option for me. I consider that I was lucky to have such an early diagnosis through the diligence of my Endocrinologist Dr Wheatley at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath. When I first met him we discussed my family history and he agreed that regular PSA checks would be a wise idea. Those first few years formed a base test level so the small increase was spotted and further treatment advised. I owe a lot to Dr Wheatley.

I think the thing that worries me most about Prostate Cancer is the total lack of symptoms. If I had not had the PSA tests the cancer could have silently grown and I would have been none the wiser.

I would urge every man over 50 to ask their General Practitioner for a yearly PSA test. It's a simple blood test which takes a few minutes.

The National Health Service

All of my treatment has been provided free of charge by the NHS. Much is said and written about the NHS, funding, quality of service etc. I can only comment on my experiences so far.

Everyone I have met, Receptionists, Nurses, Porters, Doctors & Consultants have been excellent and I could not have wished for better service. The hospitals appear to have the latest equipment and all of this gives you confidence in the treatment received.

The various hospital infrastructures are another matter. From a service users perspective the first issue is often car parking. With various centres of excellence doted around the country it's often impossible to use public transport so car parking is important.

Hospitals evolve, they are rarely designed from scratch, and this leads to long twisting cold  corridors, hundreds of doors and tons of signage (not necessarily where it can be seen easily). In my ideal world every hospital would be relocated to an 'out of town' site where space wouldn't be a problem.

A good example is the Royal Sussex County in Brighton which is having millions of pounds spent on a huge refurbishment. Surely it would have been better to build a brand new hospital on a greenfield site and sell the existing land to partly fund this. I understand the argument about building on greenfield sites but new planning regulations do allow for this. If we can build a sports stadium surely a hospital can accommodated.

I urge everyone who values the NHS to write to their MP to insist that funding is secured to allow the NHS to improve further. 

I'd like to know what you all feel about this?

Thats all for today