i was at a social function last night and met a man and his wife.   the
conversation turned to prostate cancer.

i was told that he had prostate cancer and it was the least of their
worries.  it seems that both of the daughters - which are in their 30's
have breast cancer and this couple is having to deal with that.

anyway, the conservation returned back to pca and i ask him about his
treatment.  he's a veteran and told me that his psa had jumped from 5,
then 7, then 9, and finally 12.  they told him that he had pca and put
him on casodex and lupron shots.  and that's it.  he's been on this
treatment for 18 months now.

he has no idea where he stands.   he didn't understand the different
types of treatment available to him.  so, i made time to explain what's
going on in his body and what his options are.  and that since he opted
for the hormone treatment, it is usually reserved for advanced prostate
stage.  this bothered him.  he doesn't know what his stage is, other
than they found a lump on one lobe and told him that he was stage 2.
he doesn't know what his gleason score is and he did ask, but wasn't
told.   and he doesn't know what his psa level is at the present time.
add to this mix, the fact that they are changing doctors on him and he
sees a different doctor almost each time he goes over there.

later than night, met a maintenance worker and told me that he just
turned 60 and had prostate cancer.  i ask if they did a biopsy and he
said, "no, they went up through the penis"  i ask again if they told him
if he was sure he has prostate cancer and again, he said yes, in fact,
he had chemo for a year.   but he had no knowledge of what his psa level
was or is, he doesn't know what staging is, nor a gleason score.  and to
top it off, he hasn't been back for over 6 months and had no appts with
the uro.

his fellow maintenance partner, who was 50 had never had a psa test and
is aware of what his buddy is going through, because they work together,
but didn't feel that it applied to him.

so, you see, it's not all one world in the treatment of prostate cancer.
i'm finding this out more and more as i talk to men about it.

just thought i would pass this experience on.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc