Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your diagnosis?
We've heard some folks in the community mention being treated poorly by their boss or even being fired following diagnosis. Do you think you've been discriminated against because of your prostate cancer diagnosis?
I can fortunately say no, this has not happened to me. When I was diagnosed with de novo stage 4 prostate cancer, I wasn’t sure how open I was going to be. I knew I could trust my boss and I can credit him for making my initial months far more comfortable mentally, not having to worry about my job. I decided pretty early to be completely open about my diagnosis and the amount of support I got was amazing. All bosses differ. Your mileage may vary.
It'd be interesting to see the end result and how childhood experiences remotely affect a disease decades later and how those experiences were quantified as related to PCa, because right now I'm not buying it. And, I'm too old to respond anyway.
The expression " You are what you eat" makes some sense to me. I would suspect that consuming junk food for years on end as a child and then as a young adult and so on -- would over time lead to heath issues. Our bodies were designed to consume real food as in fruits, vegetables, fish and meat vs the list of unknown chemicals, dyes and white sugars often found in manufactured edibles that our bodies really do not know how to handle. Just one man's opinion 😀 Dennis (ProstateCancer.net TEAM)
I'd like to respond to two things here - how my bosses responded to my needs as a caregiver for my husband's prostate cancer, and Dennis' comments about the impact of nutrition on our health. I was surprised because I wasn't sure what to expect, but when my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer I was told I should take whatever time I needed to take care of him (paid time) and when we were at a point where my spending time working was feasible, I could work from home and not leave him alone for as long as necessary. I was forever appreciative of those opportunities and understanding. Dennis has a valid point about nutrition proven by scientists, nutritionists, doctors. We truly are what we eat. I wish at this ripe age of 70 I could change my ways over the past many years to be more in line with a healthy lifestyle, but it's still not too late to change now.
Its never too late to start eating healthy. While you cannot go back for a "do over" for the past years you can make changes and possibly feel better in a few days. Laying off the white sugar and eating more vegetables etc gave me more energy and had me feeling better. What's not to like about that ???
Best tip I ever received was -- shop the perimeter aisles of your supermarket (that is where there real food is) and do not shop the interior aisles where all of the man made junk foods live. An easy road map to feeling great again ...Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM)
I was not discriminated against. In fact all things considered it was quite the opposite.
I had only been with my company for about a year when I was diagnosed, and they knew I was already a 5 year survivor of another cancer.
My company supported me and allowed me the time that I needed.
Fortunately mine was slow moving and contained to only the left side, so as I got my second opinion and consultations on all the various treatment options I selected SBRT which was 5 sessions of radiation over the course of two weeks, and I was done.
My employer brought someone from another branch in the company to cover the few days I was not there.
I didn’t need to take the full days off, but by the time my treatment was done I would not feel like going into work, and they allowed me to take paid time off for everything.
