Sir Brian, I am very sorry to hear about your diagnosis. My heart and thoughts and prayers go out to you.
As other have said, cycling will not and should not aggravate your prostate issues. You should feel free to keep cycling until you have any kind of medical tests or procedures where you are advised against it by a medical professionals. Until then, the exercise will help both your body and mind.
The nation wishes you all the best for successful treatment and a speedy and full recovery.
Thanks for sharing your experience on your blog. I have my biopsy on Friday and am kind of anxious, alternating between acceptance and denial. Hoping it will come back negative. But I’ve got two positive tests and an enlarged prostate, so then I swing back to acceptance or perhaps “fearing the worst” would be more accurate.
That said, seeing the light at the end of your tunnel is super helpful! For now it’s wait and see, but you’ve given me hope and possibly an alternative to chemo and radiation.
For everyone, thanks for your kindness and for sharing your prostate journeys. I’ve not seen anyone posting that they didn’t recover. But then, they don’t get to blog from heaven, or wherever Sufferlandrians go. Maybe that place wouldn’t be so idyllic.
A prostate biopsy is not fun…they stick a unit up through the rectum and take at leasr 16 core samples of your prostate. There’s a good chance of getting an infected prostate…prostatitis -which I got and had to take strong antibiotics for…I was riding the whole time - I took a dremel tool and widened the opening in my saddle to relieve pressure on the perineum area…worked well.
The problem was that the antibiotic made me sun sensitive and after going for a 5 hour ride, I got a severe rash from the sun sensitivity. Silly me!
16 cores!? Ouch! Do they put you out for the procedure? And the dremel to make the hole bigger! For a second there, I missed that the target was the saddle instead of the derrière!
I’m sorry you are going through this. I’m a two time cancer survivor and I can only speak to my situation but I came back stronger than ever.
The only advice or perspective I could give is to take the recovery from your treatment seriously. Your body is working very hard to recover from the procedures. The bike will be there when you get back.
best suggestion:ask your physician
next best suggestion: bear in mind that even if he tells you that cycling is out of the question, another exercise program is always an option. physical exercise is one of the best adjuvant cancer therapies. there’s heaps of evidence. afaik you’re German? check out the OnkoAktiv website, run by the NCT (Nationales Tumor Centrum) at the University of Heidelberg.
perhaps you can find a provider in your area or at least someone who can give you advice what you can do or even build an exercise program that suits you
update:
sorry, forgot to post a link to this video that was only published two weeks ago by the ACSM about cancer and exercise
My urologist just said today that it’s no problem to do all usual activities including cycling. Considering cycling the 60 km to my biopsy appointment (NOT cycling back afterwards though, obvs ).