Things feel different during the brachytherapy cycle

It's not so much the operation of having the radioactive seeds inserted into your prostate. It's more about how you feel afterwards and what the "new normal" is all about. The operation itself was no big deal from the end user point of view: go into hospital, get anaesthetised, come round, feel a bit sore, wee through a catheter, bleed a bit, have catheter removed, stop bleeding, manage to wee on one's own, get discharged. Easy. (I'm pretty certain it was quite a big deal from the point of view of those doing the operation though because the little operating theatre was packed!)

Nor was it about the first few weeks, apart from the need to get over the anaesthetic and then to recover from having your bits bashed about a bit. Everything was generally OK, although blood in urine and semen might seem a big deal.

No. It's really about the fact that as you reach the peak of the radiation (about six weeks or so after the operation), you feel rather weird. That's the best way I can describe it. Sometimes you feel ready for anything and you want your normal life back - it's on those days that you're likely to try to do too much and forget that you're carrying cancer-destroying materials in your prostate. When you do go for it - a long walk, a nice bit of lovemaking, a few drinks - you suddenly feel wiped out and the best thing to do at that point is give in and have a snooze.

Gloria is getting used to this now. Oh, here he goes again, she thinks, back in the saddle, or so he imagines, and, of course sometimes these displays of masculine energy end in some rather disappointing outcomes. Without going into details, Gloria has had to be quite patient from time to time, shall we say?

There's also this sense that somehow you don't feel quite right. Nothing you can hang your hat on, but just a vague feeling that things are going on in the depths over which you have no control. If you're a worrier, this is going to give you food for thought whereas for me, I just think that I feel a bit off that day.

So, I've learnt (the hard way) that if I'm feeling great then by all means I should go for it, do stuff and make the most of that feeling - but I should expect consequences. If I'm feeling not so great (never really crap to be honest, but just a bit under the weather), then I know that's because the seeds are working their magic and that if I try and push it, it will all end in tears.

As a normally fairly lively sort of chap, this regime is not quite to my taste, but I don't have a choice. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I have had this cancer caught by the wonderful NHS and its doctors and nurses. I'm getting great treatment so STFU and stop complaining, Rod!