I guess as they say: Been there done that re prostate cancer. A cancer survivor of slightly over two years. Cancer killed by radio active iodine. I think it is an absolute must that you take an aggressive stance against the disease and partner with the urologist and oncologist to select the best therapy. Problem is that there are at least 4 options for you and you must make the utimate decision as to treatment. This can only occur if you become educated about the disease. It helps if you can find a prostate cancer support group including the patients and their partners. Get your PSA's and DRE regularly. A simple bloodtest and a finger up your ass once every six months or a year will go a long way to ensure your longevity. To say nothing of peace of mind. PC is generally a slow growing cancer and even if yours is not discovered, you have a good chance of dying of something else. But we are talking generally about older men in their 70's or 80's. But as a younger man, you can't afford that risk. I was watching my PSA for over a decade before it began to slowly rise. One biopsy showed no cancer. The PSA continued to inch up and the second biopsy a year later showed 15 per cent cancer in one lobe. It was time to act. Don't be frightened by the word cancer. It is not a death sentence. PC kills about 40,000 men die a year. I would hazard a semi professional guess that about 10,000 of those men could have been saved had they been treated earlier before the cancer escaped the gland. Ain't none of us gonna get out of here alive but I like to reduce the odds a tad and eliminate as much as possible of my becoming a prostate cancer statistic. If any of you readers would like to talk with me about it, I am open to conversation. Thre are some post operative issues that should be addressed and it is best if you talk about them. Knowledge will combat fear everytime.

Nice to see this forum.

I had prostate removed in 2000 due to prostate cancer. Looking at possible castration now to reduce odds of recurrence.

Wayne (imported) wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:22 pm Nice to see this forum.

I had prostate removed in 2000 due to prostate cancer. Looking at possible castration now to reduce odds of recurrence.

Wayne,

After you had your prostate removed were you able to have an orgasm?

Were they different?

DocT

DocT (imported) wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:00 pm After you had your prostate removed were you able to have an orgasm?

Yes, I have been able to orgasm.

Were they different?

Yes. Since the prostate removal left me impotent, I can only get hard using Muse [urethral suppository]. Then if I masturbate or orgasm, it is totally dry - nothing comes out. There is the release of tension, but I find that since nothing comes out it's a bit like sneezing and clamping your nose.

Wayne...well put. The feeling is there but nothing comes out. It can be frustrating.

I don't understand why doctors are so leery about reccomending castration for curing prostate cancer. Assuming that sex is for reproduction, once the prostate is removed there is no semen to carry the sperm. Therefore, it would make more sence to both cure prostate cancer & prevent testicular cancer with castration.

I have had prostate cancer and am totally impotent. I do have a penile implant, however, and I got that more as a psychological lift for myself. I do know that if the cancer reoccurs, I will opt for castration very early on into the therapy simply because cancer feeds on testosterone. Once again, life is a series of trade-offs. I once had a 50ish lady, and I will add very sane, too, tell me that she wished someone would cut them off. She said, "They're no damn good to me now that I can't have any more children plus they hang down so damn low that they have become a nuisance." I feel pretty much about the same way with my balls.

madscientist1 (imported) wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2005 7:01 pm I don't understand why doctors are so leery about reccomending castration for curing prostate cancer. Assuming that sex is for reproduction, once the prostate is removed there is no semen to carry the sperm. Therefore, it would make more sence to both cure prostate cancer & prevent testicular cancer with castration.

Some prostate cancers are best left alone. The 'cure' is worse than the disease because the disease follows such a protracted course. A man in his 80's with prostate cancer can usually live at least 10 years with monitoring and symptomatic treatment only.

In medicine as it is emerging today, surgeries are finding less and less favor and are yielding to sophistocated diagnostic tests followed by less invasive interventional procedures usually involving fiber optic scopes and limited surgical interventions designed to lessen shock to the body. These treatments have extremely low complication rates and statistically have the same or in some cases even a better survival rate than the 'standard' surgical treatments for cancer used a decade or two ago.

Cancer is not the death sentence that it has been previously. Although many people still die from it, the ability of modern medicine to treat it and to lengthen survival times continues to increase.

Always seek out the teaching centers when looking for treatment for these types of diseases if you are young and can stand the travel.

A-1

After 5 years of searching, I have found a urologist willing to talk with me about castration. She is willing to remove my testicles and scrotum if I wish, as a pre-emptive strike against possible recurrence of prostate cancer. Now that I know I can have them removed - I am giving it very serious consideration about whether or not to go ahead with it. Like others here, I think I would enjoy the look and feel of no balls or scrotum.

Wayne

Two years ago (feb 14, 2003, at least they got to spend one last valentines together) my father lost his battle with PC. It didn't come on slow for him. At his previous physical, he checked out fine, then (before his next scheduled visit) he started having problems with bowel movements. His protate had almost spontaneously grown to the size of a grapefruit, and was compacting all kind of delicate things down there. He didn't waste any time when he learned it was cancer. He read everything he could find on the subject, and discussed articles at length with his doctors (he had a file-box full of neatly organized newspaper and magazine clippings he always took with him to the docs).

I wonder just how much he was able to teach the medical community of East Tennessee by reading, and not ignoring something simply because it was in the margin of a newspaper, beside an ad for used cars...

When they went in to remove his prostate, it was already too far gone for them to do anything, so they closed him back up and (IMO) signed him off as walking dead. Still, he didn't give up. If anything, he was more aggressive in his research afterward, and I think having something to work at kept his mind off the loss of testosterone he suffered (he was a mold and die maker, and couldn't lift the (small) 150 lb (or so) plates of steel he had once carried one-handed. That's not to say that he was in good shape or anything. He'd had Dunlap* as long as I can remember).

The only surgery I remember him having after the aborted prostate-ectomy was when he had his urethra bored out (he likened it to a roto-router). The treatments he was on (herbal, oddball, and Rx) got his prostate back down to slightly larger than normal after a while. He still read and researched everything he found, though I don't think he ever contacted any support groups. He took every chance he had at the new drugs that were coming out, and I remember at least 4 clinical trials he was part of.

Then, in the spring of 2002, he was finally able to fulfill his lifelong dream. He and Mom bought a house (we had lived in a trailer park, but we did own the trailer, for 22 years). The house was a dump, falling down around the guy they bought it from, but Dad never could pass up a steal (30k for a ~2500 ft^2, 4br on 2 acres of rather nice dirt, half woods). He basically retired a few weeks after they bought the house, not having the time or intrest to go stand around the same old hunks of metal anymore. He was the happiest he had been since before the cancer set in, happier than he had been before mom's win against breast cancer.

He and I built a new (better) back porch for the house, then re-shingled the roof (well, what we wouldn't need rappelling gear to get to). We worked all night, not coming down until the sun came up, as a light rain started to fall. I had my first, and last, cup of coffee with Dad that day.** I had never seen him so smiley.

Then, a couple weeks after christmas, Dad started feeling down. He knew something was wrong, but didn't know what. Had trouble sleeping on his back. When this problem got worse over the next couple weeks, he decided it was time to go see the doctor. It was rather grim news indeed. The cancer had exploded throughout his body. It was in everything, his bones, organs, brain. They gave him best-odds of 12-16 months.

He probably would've made it, too, if his kidneys hadn't been plugged up with cancer (they still worked, they just couldn't do their job).

Regardless, he made it seven years, with terminal, inoperable cancer from the get-go. Every doctor who looked at his history asked him why he was still alive, and I'm rather proud of my daddy for fighting as hard and long as he did. If he could do it, not knowing how to spell 'bulb' properly(he had his quirks, like spelling things how he said them, 'light bulb' became 'light bub' on his shopping lists) then you can too! You just have to fight it, and not budge an inch.

I hope my father's story can be of some help to any who read it. He so loved helping people.

*Dunlap Disease: Done lapped over the belt, chunky, beer belly, you get the idea

**I've never really liked coffee, and don't think I ever will, but that cup was the best I will ever have had.