“I’m a retired anaesthetist, so I’ve seen an awful lot of surgery.” David laughs when asked how he came to choose Mr Alan Doherty for his radical prostatectomy in 2024. “A lot of surgeons will tell you they’re 100% successful, but that’s not 100% true. Their training, experience and skill levels all really vary.”

“I worked in the private sector for a while after I retired from the NHS, and I used to pass Alan in the changing room,” David continues. “He’s a really personable chap, I just knew we’d get on – but more importantly, I’d heard that he gets good results. Alan went through Senior Registrar Training, so he can tackle more challenging cases and has a reputation for being technically good. Thankfully, that turned out to be spot on!”

Less than two years after his initial diagnosis, David is now cancer-free. His diagnostic journey offers reassurance for anyone who’s recently been told that they have prostate cancer.

The first clue: getting up more in the night

In 2022, David noticed that he needed to get up more than usual in the night to urinate. “As with many men as they get older, I developed some nocturia, as the prostate often enlarges slowly and benignly with age."

And while it wasn’t too bothersome, it was progressive and caused enough of a change of habit for David to book in for a check-up with his GP. His PSA test came back as a high 7.8.

David was 71 years old at the time and had been retired from the NHS for about 10 years. “My GP referred me for specialist care, but unfortunately it was hard to get to see an NHS consultant face-to-face. After a few telephone consultations, I was booked in for a prostate MRI.”

A series of investigations

The MRI showed that David had an almost cricket ball sized mass in the left side of his prostate that was about 100cc in volume. “I was called back in, and when I arrived, they said I was scheduled to have a transperineal biopsy with a locum consultant, right there and then. That was a bit of a shock. I didn’t really have time to take it all in.”

The biopsy revealed that David’s prostate was cancerous on the left (11/12 samples positive) and that the right was clear (0/9 samples positive). A further abdominal CT scan and a bone scan seemed to show that although the mass was large and serious, the cancer was localised and contained.

“I finally saw a very pleasant clinical nurse specialist, but they were the only person I really talked to face-to-face in the whole six months,” David recalls. "The options presented to me were either to have a radical prostatectomy to remove the mass or a course of radiotherapy or chemotherapy."

Time for a second opinion

“My experience of surgery told me that if you see something really bad, you take it out. I’d been thinking hard about it all and concluded that if I needed a procedure, I wanted Alan to do it. Thank God I made that call.”

David first went to see Alan on 31st July 2024. Alan works as part of a multidisciplinary team, and at their regular MDT meeting, one of the oncologists raised the potential risk that David’s cancer may have metastasised to his pubic bone.

“So, despite the ‘all clear’ I’d received on the chance of the cancer having spread, Alan suggested I go and have a PSMA PET Scan just to be sure.”

Illuminating new views

The new scan was booked in for 30th August. “A PSMA PET scan’s advanced imaging can accurately confirm whether a cancer has spread. It uses an extremely radioactive contrast medium, Gallium-68 PSMA, which binds to prostate cells and literally lights up any cancerous ones,” David explains.

Was it painful? “No, you don’t feel much, just a sense of something being injected through a vein in your arm.” And the images produced were extremely revealing.

“I got the results within 24 hours. It showed the tumour as expected, but also one lymph node glowing. The cancer had unfortunately spread.”

Open surgery offered the best outcomes

Alan suggested open surgery via a procedure called a mini laparotomy. David was happy with that approach: “From my own experience in theatre, there’s nothing like a surgeon getting his hands in there, getting good access and clear views, so we were on the same page with that.”

David was booked in for a radical prostatectomy and lymph node dissection in early September 2024. The whole operation took just over two hours, conducted via an incision that ran from his belly button to his pubic bone, about a hand’s span.

Guided by the PSMA-PET scan, everything cancerous was removed, including the worrying lymph node and a few of the surrounding lymph nodes for good measure. Histology showed that David had a large acinar adenocarcinoma of the prostate (the most common type) and that the removed lymph node was indeed cancerous too.

A steady recovery with minimal pain 

David had a three-day stay in hospital before returning home. “Following the op, I was in ITU overnight, then returned to the ward. My drip came down the day after surgery, and I had a drain in for a couple of days too.”

“I didn’t need any opiates once I came round, it really wasn’t that painful. I just had non-steroidal anti-inflammatory suppositories and paracetamol for pain relief and was able to recover gently in the hospital.”

Being cancer-free again feels great 

Since then, David has had his PSA measured every three months at his GP’s surgery, and his levels have been consistently undetectable, which feels extremely positive. He’s seen Alan yearly too for a check-up, in December 2024 and December 2025.

Does David have any advice for other men concerned about their symptoms or going through a diagnosis? “Actually, what surprises me is how confusing and unreliable all the advice out there is. The way I look at it, monitoring your PSA is the best way to really see what’s going on. Prostate Specific Antigen: the clue’s in the name!”

So, how’s David feeling now? “I’m a man over 70, so I’d be lying if I said that my nocturia was completely cured. But it has greatly improved, and I am delighted to be cancer-free. I really don’t know what would have happened if Alan hadn’t recommended that PSMA PET scan and that cancerous lymph node had been missed.”

Would you like a symptom check or a second opinion? We offer a FREE initial consultation with one of our highly experienced nurse specialists, in person or remotely. Just call 0121 756 6705, and our friendly team will get you booked in.