HOW ONE MAN HAD TO DEAL WITH PROSTATE CANCER

 

You may be wondering, what does this guy know about Prostate Cancer?  Is he a Doctor?  Does he have some type of degree in medicine?  Well the answer to both of those question would be no!   However, if had asked me if I had prostate cancer and have I had prostate cancer treatment, sadly, the answer to those two questions would be yes!

There is nothing I can say or describe, or write about how it feels when you first hear the doctor say; ‘Sir, we have your biopsy results back, and You have Cancer!”  They are devastating words filled with dread, misunderstanding and fear.  Somewhere  in the back of your mind, there is a glimmer of hope that says you can beat it.  Later, I was to learn that Prostate cancer has one of the best cancer survival rates.  However, when you first hear that term “cancer” – your life changes forever!

This comes from the Prostate Cancer Foundation from 2012, the latest year that data is available:

“Of the more than 242,000 American men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and the 28,000 who will die as a result of it this year, a disproportionate number of African-American men will be represented in each group. The disparity is eye-opening: African-American men are nearly 1.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian men and 2.4 times more likely to die from the disease.”  See Full Article here:

That is not a pretty picture for African-American men.  So I wanted to share my experience with this process in hopes of helping those of you who may be facing prostate questions in your life now. The technology to treat Prostate Cancer is changing and upgrading quickly.  So I don’t claim to know the best treatment.  Nor can I tell you what  you should do if you find yourself in this same position.  But what I want to do here is to take you through my journey from detection through life after treatment, so that you will at least have an idea of what to expect!

Beginning in April, I will post three articles on my prostate treatment journey:

1. The Buildup

This could also be called the Detection/preliminaries.  I’ll take you from my first PSA test that showed that there might be a problem, all the way through the biopsy, which was far and away the worst part of the ordeal for me!

 

2.  The Treatment

Here I’ll take you through the process I used  to choose the right treatment, Then we’ll discuss the surgery I included in my treatment to implant seeds in the Prostate.  Finally, I’ll cover the countless Radiation Treatments that were included !

 

3.  The Aftermath

The last article will focus on Life after treatment – the good and the bad and how I have handled it.

This is a must read for all Afro-American men.  I hope you will join me and pass along your comments!

 

See Below a book by Patrick Walsh on Surviving Prostate Cancer.  Walsh is well-known for his work on nerve sparing surgery that revolutionized Prostate surgery.  Although I am not the biggest proponent of surgery for prostate removal, the book covers all aspects of prostate treatment, so pick it up if you would like more information!