Like A Regimental Soldier
Yesterday (8 April) was an important day for me. I was prescribed two hormone implants that had to be inserted a set number of days/weeks apart; had I been prescribed a third it would have been implanted yesterday.
The implants are important. Prostate Cancer growth is associated with testosterone and the implants (Leuprorelin/Prostap) are designed to get testosterone out of the equation. In the usual case, that ought to stop cancer cell growth and also, during and after radiotherapy, stop cancer cell regrowth. That’s fine with me, but shutting down testosterone has side effects that strike different men in different ways. In my case I’ve had night sweats and weight gain. This morning before breakfast I was 10kg heavier than I was in October 2025 just before the first implant, without any significant change to diet or lifestyle.
The probable cause of the weight gain is the body’s reaction to the shock of androgen deprivation: it tries to store energy in the form of fat in order to synthesise the testosterone that has gone missing. That fat lodges primarily around the waist and chest. I understand that, but after spending a long time losing weight and keeping the weight off it is frustrating to put it on again even if it’s for a good cause.
In my head, today is the day on which the impact of the last hormone implant begins to diminish, albeit slowly. I have a hanger in my wardrobe for what I call my ‘target’ shirts. These are shirts that fitted me last autumn but don’t now. They are my proxy targets for recovery; I have no heroic ambitions but I would like to be back into those shirts by Christmas as a marker of progress. Six months to lose all or most of the weight it took six months to accumulate doesn’t seem to me to be unreasonable, assuming that the hormones and radiotherapy did what they were supposed to do and no further treatment is required.
Oops.
My next checkpoint with the oncologist is in early June, by the way. I do not expect any nasty surprises but I’ve learned to take these things as they come. I do have some general blood tests lined up for next week though which ought to show if the metabolic impact of the hormone implants has had any hidden consequences.
In the meantime, I’ve put off today’s gym session after an accident with an 18.5kg dumbbell on Monday resulted in blood, steristrips and bandages.
No serious harm done but it does inhibit my ability to use the gym equipment a bit and I don’t want to run the risk of reopening the wound.
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