I've been writing about my own Prostate Cancer journey since September 2015. I was diagnosed following a routine PSA blood test a few months earlier.

I have a family history of Prostate Cancer, my father Colin died of the disease over 42 years ago so over the past 20 years I've been having regular PSA blood tests.

In my opinion a single PSA test doesn't prove very much unless the result shows a very high level. In my case the level had been 3ng/ml but it suddenly raised to 4.1ng/ml, still not a high figure but a 33% increase and this required further investigation.

I met a Urologist at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex and he arranged an immediate MRI scan. The scan did show several areas of concern and I then had a prostate biopsy. My previous blog in February this year explains the process.

12 samples were taken and 11 proved positive for cancer. All of the tumours were contained within the gland. I spoke to a Macmillan nurse who was very supportive and helpful and I was given a useful booklet explaining treatment options.

The first specialist I saw offered Radiotherapy, daily visits to the Brighton Cancer Centre over a period of at least 6 weeks. I then met two surgeons, one in Eastbourne and one at Haywards Heath who would have happily removed my Prostate with nerve sparing surgery.

I then met the Brachytherapy team headed my Professor Laing at St Lukes Cancer Centre in Guildford, Surrey. Brachytherapy was been used successfully for some time, it involves placing tiny 'seeds' coated in a radioactive material directly beside the tumour, killing the tumour from inside as it were.

In my case each treatment option was viable and after some research I decided on Brachytherapy. The side effects are minimal and the success rate is very good. Brachytherapy is not always an option, if the prostate is too large or if the tumour has escaped from the gland other treatments are preferable.

I had the Brachytherapy treatment under general anaesthetic on a Thursday afternoon at Guildford, going home the next morning. I was a little sore but this went away very quickly and I was able to return to work the following Tuesday. I had regular follow ups with the centre and regular PSA tests.

My PSA level has decreased ever since and is now less than 0.1ng/ml. I'm having blood tests twice a year as a precaution.

It will be interesting to see how the BBC and their writers handle the case of 'Alfie Moon's' recent diagnosis in Eastenders (for my American friends Eastenders is a half hour soap which has been running on the BBC 4 evenings a week for what's seems like ever). Alfie Moon is played by Shane Richie. I do hope that Shane's character is offered several treatment options as I was. 

Thats all for now, if anyone would like to talk to me about my treatment decisions please feel free to contact me via the blog.