Guest guest Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 "I was just diagnosed with prostate cancer on Monday, July 31, 2006, atonly age 52. My new wife and I are trying to cope with the surgery Iwill have to undergo soon." Good Morning pluge. You are welcome to our group and we will all try to help you. Can you tell us a little more about your diagnosis? Your PSA readings, Gleason score and staging number will help us help you. Any history of how you came to your diagnosis is also helpful. You need to be an informed patient and my best advice on that is to get a book titled "A Primer for Prostate Cancer the Empowered Patient's Guide" by Dr, Strum and Donna Pogliano. It is available at all good booksellers and many libraries. Learn about your disease so that you can make informed decisions about your treatment. You have options. I read a post this morning from one of our members who is a 24 year survivor. This could be a goal you could also reach for. My best to you and your bride. "il faut d'abord durer" Hemingway New member aged 52 Comment from user:I was just diagnosed with prostate cancer on Monday, July 31, 2006, atonly age 52. My new wife and I are trying to cope with the surgery Iwill have to undergo soon. from pluje Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2006 Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 Hi Pluge, I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis. ABOVE ALL DO NOT PANIC AND RUSH INTO TREATMENT. Your cancer has probably been growing in your body for several years. It will not kill you any time soon. Take the time to learn all the options. It is your responsibility to make the treatment decision, but it should be a well informed decisions. I had my prostate removed in 1992- but we did not have as many options at that time. I would not choose surgery today. I believe that there are better options. If I had it to do over, I would choose brachytherapy, (seed implants or HDR). Of course there are other options such as External Beam Radiation or IMRT, Proton Beam radiation (it is one of the better therapies, but expensive, some insurance may not cover it), Cryo Surgery and soon we will have High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU). HIFU may be the least invasive of all, but still not FDA approved in U.S. Many are now choosing Laparoscopic or Da Vinci robotic assisted surgery to remove the prostate. But it has the same unpleasant side effects of the Retropubic Radical Prostatectomy (RRP). For advanced PCa, there is hormone ablation and several regimens of chemo. For moderate or rather insignificant cancers. you may be better off just doing Watch and Wait. Pay close attention to several PSA tests. The PSA will correlate fairly close to the cancer activity. No matter what therapy one chooses, there are always some side effects, No matter who does it or how it is done, removal of the prostate has side effects, some more pronounced and unpleasant than others. You are wise to do a lot of research. One reason not to have surgery is because for me, sex was never the same after my prostate was removed. The prostate and the seminal vesicles manufacture almost all of the ejaculate. During orgasm, the prostate squeezes down and forces the semen out. This is a part of the pleasure of an orgasm. One may still be able to have an orgasm after a RP, but it may take a lot more stimulation. Many men who have surgery are impotent afterwards. There are nerves on each side of the prostate that control erectile function. These nerves are difficult to see and quite often they are severed or severely damaged. Another side effect of RP is that many men lose some length and girth afterwards. Several studies have been done on this subject. Go to www.google.com and search for Loss of Penile Length and Radical Prostatectomy. Many men are also incontinent for some time after surgery because the primary bladder valve is intimately connected to the prostate. It is often damaged. Most men do recover urinary continence by doing Kegel exercises which strengthens the secondary valve below the prostate. Unfortunately, a few men never regain continence. A few of these men have to have an Artificial Urinary Sphincter implanted in order to control their urinary output. But even if they do learn to control normal urinary functions by doing Kegel exercises for this valve, when they try to have an erection or become sexually aroused, this valve will open and they may have leakage. This valve has always opened during sexual activities and no amount of Kegel exercises will cause it do otherwise. The primary valve is not involved in brachytherapy, or seed implants so there is little or no incontinence. The impotence rate is also very low. Some men will still have an ejaculate, though it may be much less in volume. Some men are even able to father children after brachytherapy. After a RP, one may be able to have sperm aspirated from the testes and used to impregnate a woman. But it is a difficult procedure, is expensive and may not always be successful. If a man thinks he may want to father children after a RP, he should consider banking some of his sperm. I wish you all the bestAubrey Pilgrim, DC (Ret.) Author ofA Revolutionary Approach to Prostate Cancer-Read the original book for FREE at: http://www.prostatepointers.org/prostate/lay/apilgrim/Read new edition for FREE at http://www.cancer.prostate-help.org/capilgr.htmDr. E. Crawford is co-author of the revision "I was just diagnosed with prostate cancer on Monday, July 31, 2006, atonly age 52. My new wife and I are trying to cope with the surgery Iwill have to undergo soon." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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