I suppose it was 5 years ago or something like that, I was going to the GP about something else but it had just struck me that urinating wasnt quite the same as it had been. I think there was probably some dribbling or something or stopping in the middle and then having to go again, something like that in a mild kind of way. And I mentioned this to the GP and he immediately referred me to a urologist and this was about 5 years ago something like that. And he initiated a battery of tests and about the test concerned, kind of bladder function, peeing and all that and one of them was a PSA of course and at that stage, at the first take my PSA was 6, slightly above the level of 4 which is supposedly normal. He didnt propose to do anything but then I had to go back in 6 months time and have another PSA.

Right can I start please by asking you how you first discovered you had a problem with the prostate.

I had water retention which is agonising and as a result of that I went to the hospital and they then had me in, this would be about 3 years ago and…

Did you go to your GP first?

Yes I would have done yes

And did the GP do anything or say anything?

No, well what happened was this water retention was at night and my wife who’s been wonderful throughout, I just cannot over-emphasise what help shes given me, got my son to run me up because that’s what the local doctor on call had said, take me to the hospital.

But when you say water retention, you couldnt pass urine?

I couldnt.

You couldnt go to

And it’s agonising, it’s the most ghastly feeling, I thought Id die, Id like to have done.

And did you know about your brother-law’s experience, was that what prompted you to go very quickly to the doctor?

Not really, no not really, this had happened years before, but when I had the experience of a lack of potency, it was obviously, there was something there, because I never had any trouble, we were married for fifty-two years, never had a problem before, and then I was getting up at night and so on and so on, so that all pointed to having an investigation which I had.

And did you have any symptoms at all yourself?

Yes I had the symptoms, I had difficulty passing water like whenever I, an urge and if I don’t go straight away, I hold it for a while then I couldn’t start.

I had to so painful start and then, this is something I was I actually experienced.

And how long had you had that symptom for?

Oh about six months.

Perhaps we could start, Id like to ask you how you first discovered that you had a problem at all, or what made you seek help?

Well it first occurred one evening just before I was going to bed. I went to pass water and I noticed a trace of blood in it, not much. I thought well that’s very odd, but I thought it would pass and then later, just before actually going to bed I went to the toilet again and there again was this trace of blood.

How long ago was this?

Two years ago, 2 years, I think it was in the April of 98. I thought, well I should see my doctor. He was reassuring, very good, he said Oh Ill make some notes, and he said there will be some tests I would like to make, he said it could be many things, and he said I don’t wish you to be alarmed. And so that set it off from there.

I went to my GP, I can remember the exact date, it was the 10th August 2009, I woke up with the most excruciating back ache, back pain, and I couldn’t go to work, I went to the doctor and said I’ve got this terrible pai, and she said, Oh, we’ll give you some painkillers and it should sort itself ou, that continued for a while, I went back to my doctor a number of times, during a three month period and saw different doctors, they all said the same, You’ve just got back problem, it will sort itself out, just take painkillers, take the cheapest you can ge, and they kept on that it was just a muscular skeletal problem, I asked if I could have an x-ray and they said, No, you don’t need an x-ra. I was seeing another, hospital doctor, in connection with my cholesterol levels, and on a regular monitoring, I mentioned to him that I had this back pain, he said, How are you, I said, I’m fine except that I’ve got this back pai, he said, Oh, go and have an x-ray, it’s probably nothing but it’s worth having a loo, so he sent me for an x-ray, I had an x-ray, and he said, Well it’s showing something, so I think you should have an MRI sca, at this time, the thought of prostate hadn’t entered my head at all, because all I had was this absolutely excruciating back pain.

I had the MRI scan on the Saturday, on the Thursday before, I went to see my GP, and said that I was having the scan, and said, Would you like to have a copy of it, and she said, No, I don’t want to see it, I’m (going to) send you to the local cottage hospital to have, to go to a physiotherapy clas. On the Sunday I then went off to work in Romania, on the Tuesday, I got a call from the hospital, saying, Can you please come in straight away, because we think there is something seriously wron, so I got a flight back to the UK, and went straight to the hospital, they admitted me immediately, they said, don’t go home, don’t go home, come straight from the airport, come straight in, because we’re very worrie, so I went in, and immediately they started tests, and after a few tests they said, Well, we think you’ve got prostate problems, prostate cancer, we think it’s metastasised into the bones, we need to do biopsies, on your bones, and your prostate just to make sur, they did that, and then I was diagnosed, that all happened towards the end of November 2009, so, I went to the hospital, as I was saying, I was in hospital, I had, I was diagnosed, and they started my treatment, and so because it’s metastasised into your bones, I’ve lost two vertebrae which have been completely replaced with tumours, it’s in my hips, it’s in my ribs, it’s in little bits of my abdomen. They said, We think the best treatment for you is hormone therap.