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Newly Diagnosed: Removal vs Radiation
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: May 6 7:00am | Replies (65)Comment receiving replies
I went with surgery. I also had Gleeson 7 (4+3) and I'm 60 years old.
I looked at surgery vs radiation & among other things, it seems that surgery can cause bladder incontinence but radiation could cause bladder AND bowel incontinence.
Bowel incontinence was a hard No for me.
Also, I've read that if you go for radiation & they don't get all of the cancerous cells, surgery later becomes salvage surgery.
My understanding is that the radiation may cause parts of the prostate to turn to mush & the later surgery will then involve scraping the mush from the prostate cavity.
That's probably as accurate & successful as it sounds.
I also wasn't keen on multiple days off work for numerous radiation sessions.
That's my uneducated understanding, anyway.
What do I know... I'm just sitting here peeing myself.
Good luck.
You've come to the right place for guys who understand what you're going through.
Replies to "I went with surgery. I also had Gleeson 7 (4+3) and I'm 60 years old. I..."
I was basically told the same thing, so I also underwent radical prostate removal. The surgery went fantastic, everything turned out great (with the exception of no nerve sparing possible). I too was afraid of the possibility of bowel and bladder problems. I do have basically a permanent light bladder leakage problem (this I was told to expect) but it's manageable using discreet pads, and as far as ED....... it's a fact. BUT 100% of cancer was removed (I was told), and tests have proven that to be so. 1 day in hospital and 1 week being careful at home and I'm back to enjoying life without the worry (plus no extra medication needed, just pee pads). I was 65 at the time of surgery.
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All roads lead to misery in this situation it seems. I get what you are saying, if the risk was bowel incontinence then I would be hard pressed to agree to that either. It all makes me just want to curl up into a ball honestly.