I'm wearing 'Depends'

We just learned two weeks ago that my husband, age 51 has prostate cancer....what a shock....he has probably had it for a year and it was not caught, even though he has his yearly check-ups...we dont have the options some men may have at early stage because his cancer is on the whole prostate, so robotic surgery is his only choice and by that i mean, taking the whole prostate out....TOTAL SHOCK.....we will not know if the cancer has spread to other areas outside of the prosate until they take biopsies of the other organs once surgery has been done.

surgery is scheduled for May 4.

He had absolutely no symtoms.....NONE. His PSA was a 4.5, which the doctor said should have actually showed at least a 10 because of how long he has had this cancer.

We are devasted but are thankful there still is an option available out there vs. not being able to do anything at this date.

I dont care what the consequences of what the removal of the prostate are....as I told him, he has lips and a mouth, and hands to take care of business with me.....lol.....I just want this cancer to leave his body.

By the way, the gleason showed a 7.
 
The Link

Hi Mary. Show your husband the above link. He can get lots of info there. Mainly, however, he needs to talk with his physician.

If he wants, he can PM me for ideas about catheter comfort, etc. In general, the whole thing is a MAJOR inconvenience, but not as horrible as one would think. As far as pain, I used the heavy drugs for only the first day and one half in the hospital. Then I moved to Tylenol. Have him ask his doc about medication for bladder spasm. This works well, and removed one of the major painful issues. Before surgery, my plan was to use heavy pain meds frequently, but I found that this was not needed, and the side effects of the narcotics made them a PITA.

As far as work, housework, etc. He will be worthless for two weeks, semi-worthless the next week, and then be able to do some stuff the following. I was told to lift nothing heavier than a gallon of milk for six weeks following surgery. I have not lived by that rule completely, but I am very careful, and can feel when I am stretching things too much.

Good luck!

NtB
 
Thanks to all the posters here for their stories.

I'm 51 and haven't had a prostate cancer check yet. After reading this thread, it just moved way up on my to-do list.

F cancer.
 
Yeah, colonoscopies suck...as does having a heart attack, but y'all's stories make my heart disease seem like a case of the sniffles.

Your thoughts about your experiences are quite uplifting and can help the rest of us get through our own travails.
 
Thanks for the link Bob. My dad is a prostate cancer survivor at age 78, being cancer free for almost 13 years so far. Parkinson's will get him before cancer will, I think. Even though he had his treatments ( radiation and surgical castration) long ago, there are still hundreds of questions we have about what is happening to him. That site is great!

Thanks again for posting. Here's hoping you are out of the Depends and into Viagra very soon!
 
I don't know about that, ScoPro. When I start feeling too sorry for myself I always say, "At least I don't have heart disease." I guess it's all relative.
hookem.gif
 
Yeah, it's nice that the incontinence and impotence rates go from like 80% to under 30 after 18 months. Here's hoping you're in that 50%.
 
Thanks to all for the well wishes! I'm over 5 weeks post surgery, and the dribbles, although still there, are getting better. Any progress encourages me, but I think I need to expect some plateaus. I've been moving furniture, which I'm not supposed to do yet, but it was either that, or get a divorce. With my Viagra stage coming soon, divorce seemed out of the question.
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