What have you learned from your experience with prostate cancer?
A prostate cancer journey can teach us a lot. As patients and caregivers, the experience of navigating prostate cancer can come with many lessons.
What have you learned?
What advice would you give others?
What do you wish you knew when you were diagnosed?
This is a space to share those lessons with others in the community. We look forward to hearing from you.
Breathe, you will get better. Stay positive-helps your body fight. Work out. Second opinions- Fifteen year survivor-stage IV.
Two things I learned....first, I'm not prepared for death as of yet. Secondly, the idea of living with PC doesn't make me happy.
I learned a lot —> that I had to: become a student of prostate cancer and take the time to learn all that I could, ask for referrals in all treatment modalities, ask for second opinions on all scans and images, not rush a treatment decision, keep my emotions and fears out of the treatment decision, advocate for myself, and share in the decision-making.
Advice I would give to others —> get PSA testing started early (starting at 45y-50y) and annually. Early detection leads to more options available to treat prostate cancer. For those already diagnosed —> get as much information as possible (beyond just PSA, PIRADS and Gleason) before making a treatment decision. There are many additional tests available to understand cancer aggressiveness.
When I was first diagnosed (in 2012), I wish I knew that the success rates of surgery vs radiation are statistically equivalent, and that side-effects and quality-of-life are often the treatment differentiators.
Trust your instinct, Trust your Doctor, Trust your treatment, Trust your family
