Be honest with your partner about what to expect, both in the short and long term. The loss of interest in sex was much less of an issue than I anticipated, though probably somewhat natural anyway as age increases. The side effects are more due to the ongoing hormone therapy injections than the radiotherapy.
I was initially disappointed that I could not have a radical prostatectomy, due to a risk that the prostate cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. However, after the radiotherapy life very much returned to normal, I'm back at work and living a very normal life, which seems to be a less probable outcome after a prostatectomy.
Yes
Very good support from cancer specialists, oncology team, made me feel that the treatment I have had/am having is the best one to meet my prostate cancer needs.
I wasn't aware that a reduction in the size of my penis and testicles could be an side effect of hormone therapy until I heard it on a podcast a year or so into treatment. However, at 60 years old the phrase "size isn't everything" couldn't be more relevant, and in my opinion a small price to pay if the hormone therapy is helping to cure or treat the prostate cancer.
I've not been experience the apparently most common side effect of hot sweats. At one point I thought that the hormone therapy was causing my breasts to grow but with hindsight this might have simply been caused by my reading this somewhere and looking for the evidence to fit with what I expected to see. Certainly in photos there doesn't seem to be a marked difference over the last 2 years of Hormone Therapy taking. The injection is certainly making it more and more difficult to keep weight off, I'm struggling to maintain my weight though convinced I'm eating significantly less (and better) since my diagnosis. I'm also noticeably less strong that I was pre-treatment, and need to be careful when I think I can do something, because there's a chance I'm overestimating my abilities. I little bit of short-lived lymphodaema in my legs was sorted quite quickly with compression bandages.
The hardest part of all the cycle from initially seeing a urology consultant through investigations, MRI, PET & CT scans, blood tests, through to diagnosis and treatment was not knowing what the problem was, the scale of it and the treatment. Once I knew what lay ahead, mentally I focused on getting on and dealing with it, so the actual mechanics of hormone therapy, and the side effects that I knew to expect, weren't too much of a shock for me. It's not impacted my life massively, I'm back at work, I have quarterly injections and 6 monthly blood tests to check my PSA, so there impact of the hormone therapy part of the treatment has been reasonably minimal. I'm not as strong as I was before treatment, but have learnt how to deal with this by reminding myself that I don't have the strength I once had. I'm missing having sex, and don't know whether I will again or not, but this is much less of an issue at 60 than it would have been at say 20 or 30.
Yes
The benefits of the treatment far outweight the side effects for me.
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