Ever had one of those dreams?

I expect you have......the one where you are trying to get somewhere, but the thing you are aiming for just keeps moving away from you, or you are sent into a new maze. Guess what? Just happened!

If you have been following this blog, you may remember that there are a whole load of options potentially available on the treatment front. Not sure whether I have written in detail before though. Apologies in advance if this gets a bit OTT.

Five options were put to me:

• Do nothing, just keep an "eye" on the tumour. Rejected as too dangerous
• Surgery. Rejected due to very high risk of collateral damage (you don't want to know!)
• Radiotherapy. Possible and orthodox, but still a high risk of collateral damage
• Bracytherapy (a more targeted version of radiotherapy). Possible, but also has a high risk of collateral damage
• Cryotherapy, a form of highly selective freezing. Definite possibility as much less potential collateral damage
• HIFU (High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound). As cryotherapy

I did a bit of research on academic papers and found a sixth: Photodynamic Therapy. Similar to the last two, but uses light instead of cold or sound waves

The way I figured it, the last three offered the best chance of "preserving structures" i.e. whole bunches of rather important nerves and arteries, and have good reported outcomes, so these were the ones to push for. Knew I would have a battle on my hands to get there as it would mean getting referred on to one of the London hospitals, but seemed winable. My educated guess of how it would go is roughly as follows:

• Meet Oncologist and go through the non surgical options.
• Tell him that I was not really interested in any form of radiotherapy and persuade him to refer me on.
• Battle with the local Clinical Commissioning Group to get the referral approved
• Go to London, get treated

Potentially hard work getting the CCG to approve and might require calling in a few favours from NHS contacts, but ultimately smooth (if a little painful for the CCG). Worth it!

Then I saw a programme on Channel 4.........

Channel 4 has a wonderful reputation for being socially aware. This means that they can put on programmes which are basically reality tv for those who think that "Bake off" and "Benefits Street" are beneath them. Tonight's offering was a programme on treating cancer, meeting people who had just been diagnosed, watching their treatment and then recording either their joy at cure, or in the case of one chap, his incredibly postive response to hearing that there was nothing more that they could do. And one of the people had? You have guessed it, prostate cancer! They showed how wonderful one of their "new" treatments is (HIFU). And which hospital was it? Yes, the very one that I had hoped I would be referred to.

Upshot of C4's socially responsible reality show is that there will now be thousands of people queuing at the door and a waiting list running into months or years...................if you want crap timing for a television channel to try to win an audience through watching other people's suffering, you really could not make this one up.

Hope to despair in one easy step!

I had hoped that this blog would have a very limited life; now looks like the blog and me might be in the wrong sort of race thanks to C4

Sorry, depressing blog post today. Good therapy for me, but probably not much fun for you as the reader. An upbeat song to compensate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJaca9UIqcw