I appreciate the question and understand your feelings. Personally, I reconcile the apparent disconnect by viewing everyone's case of prostate cancer as being unique. Out of the approx 30K men in America that die every year, there are some less than 50 years old and only living a few years after diagnosis. And there are others that have lived more than 15 years after diagnosis with varying degrees of life quality.

This topic is discussed often in many prostate cancer forums. One of the recurring themes that I read is how a person talks about their cancer to others and in many cases, patients only refer to their cancer as being "Stage 4 Cancer," because the population generally understands Stage 4 Cancer as being serious, with more knowledgable people understanding that it means metastatic and, in most cases, incurable.

No one but a PC patient and perhaps their immediate family can really understand what it means to live with incurable metastatic cancer. Often our relationships with some family members and friends grow stronger and often they grow more distant. We can only choose how to live the years we have remaining.

I take actions every day to fight the disease, especially in terms of my health (diet, exercise, etc), so that I have more years of life. But the disease does not define me. I am defined by the actions I take every day in all of my life roles as a husband, father, sibling, friend, etc.

Best wishes in your journey.