It’s nice to be able to ask specific question of people who know.
Are you such a person? Will you volunteer your knowledge to help me navigate this very scary thing? Because I love my father above all other beings on this earth and right now I do not feel like I have anywhere near the emotional bandwidth this may require of me, so I seek information and understanding, and yes, hope.
Thank you.
I’d like to help, but I don’t understand the question?
you might you and your father might find local cancer support groups. a hospital might know of them.
these groups have people facing and surviving cancer. you will find bunches of men concerning prostate cancer. there are lots of stages and circumstances of that cancer and treatments that might apply.
My father had a very aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Thread here.
I learned some stuff during that…while we have people on the board much more knowledgeable, I’ll be happy to answer anything I can. Feel free to post here, in my thread, or PM me.
I just came from dinner with him (and the rest of the family). His cancer and side effects of recovery aren’t even part of our lives. Well, a little part of his, I suppose…
No info to offer, but I’m sorry to hear about your dad.
I have known two men who had it. My stepdad, in his 60s, who chose to just get rid of the prostate entirely. He and my mother were already in separate bedrooms and afaik not sexually active due to her health. He had the surgery, after healing, never had another elevated PSA. I have no idea if it gave him ED.
The other man I knew was in his 50s and wanted to preserve his sexual function, so he and his wife decided to try the radiation seed therapy. His cancer came back. They went to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. After two years of therapy which included blocking his male hormones. He went through a kind of menopause with the hot flashes and yoyo moods. He had normal PSAs for a year or so, but when he decided the hormone replacement just wasn’t worth the side effects, the cancer came back and quite aggressively. I haven’t been in touch with him four about four years now, but he is still alive. He pops up on FB once in a while. I have no idea if he is cancer free at this point, or if managed to preserve sexual function.
I don’t have any specific medical information to share. But my dad had a very early stage of prostate cancer about 6 years ago. They performed some kind of surgery to remove it and after a few weeks of recovering at home, he was fine.
So it is a very treatable form of cancer.
Sorry to hear about your dad. Here’s my story:
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 50; I had no symptoms and only got a PSA test because the local hospital send me a card to have it done for free. I had robotic surgery to have the whole prostate removed 3 months later. I was back to normal activities with no restrictions in 5 weeks.
No cancer cells were seen outside of the prostate during the surgery and my PSA’s have all been none-detected for 3+ years, so I consider myself pretty lucky.
I do have ED, which does get me down sometimes but my wife has been very understanding and flexible about that. Meds like Viagra, Cialis, etc. are not helping much on their own, but a “trimix” injection does work for intercourse.
Urinary function is nearly 100% normal (men have 2 urinary sphincters, but one was removed with my prostate). I do have some minor leaking under certain conditions but it’s manageable and I didn’t need pads after about 3 months.
Overall, my life is back to normal except for the ED. I also suggest the support group, with one word of caution. I went to a group just before my surgery and the comments were kinda scary. The nurse running the group pulled me aside afterward and said that the group was mostly men who had poor outcomes; the large majority do quite well and don’t go to the sessions.
Good luck to you and your dad.
And here I was thinking I was the only Doper who had had prostate cancer.
Anyway, I could have pretty much written this (at least as far as the outcome is concerned), except that since I don’t have anyone who would be affected ED is pretty much a non-issue. I also didn’t use a support group.
I did participate in the thread that Digital is the new Analog links to, but if you have any specific questions feel free to ask. And best wishes to your father.
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer 10 years ago at 65 years of age. I had seed brachytherapy on a wednesday, and was back at work the following Monday, albeit reduced hours. I worked till I was 72 when I had a quintuple heart bypass. I had bladder problems for about a year, but not bad enough to affect my life too much. At the moment I am clear of cancer, I only have slight ED, which at my age is not a problem.