Newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and still gathering information

Welcome to the club nobody wants to join. I'd recommend Dr. Patrick Walsh's Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer Paperback – October 3, 2023. It's on Amazon for about $20 and it helped educate me fairly quickly on key points to consider. It's organized in a way that makes it pretty easy to drill down on things applicable to your specific situation. One other thought I'd share is that for me (I was diagnosed on 3/30) the more you educate yourself the better you'll be able to discuss treatment with prospective providers and the better you'll be able to make the decisions you'll have to make. It's like drinking from a firehose at first, but it's worth the effort to get knowledgeable as quickly as possible. I guess one thing that surprised me was I'd never really been seriously sick before, so I didn't appreciate that I'd have to ultimately select my course of treatment. Yeah, you'll get recommendations, but the final decision on how you proceed will ultimately come back to you. So it's pretty important to understand your options at each step as thoroughly as possible, especially since selecting an option might eliminate other options going forward. Best wishes.

It’s a long process and each time you find something new you wish you had known that before. I was diagnosed with gleason 8 at age 51 three months ago. I have been researching ever since and still find out new important stuff. But I moved from being more inclined towards radiation to surgery.

Retired guy, I love the analogy, drinking from a firehouse, perfect! lol I remember listening through the door during my last visit when the PA was talking to the doctor before I met him. Her comment was, he asks a lot of questions, funny! But I have been reading everything I can. When I finally met the doctor I told him I had been reading about him, he asked how much and I answered everything I could find on the internet. Even watched a video of him pealing a shrimp with a da Vinci robot so yeah, knowledge is power.

Roof, I was pretty set on going the non surgical route as well but as I learn more I find myself leaning more towards surgery

TOPF, sorry for the typo, my phone thinks you should be called Roof

I tried watching some videos on what goes on in a RP surgery and when they said "peel back the prostate" I just stopped the video. I couldn't watch that.

I can’t either, I don’t have a connection with the shrimp like I do with my prostate. My doctor is the chair of the urology dept here, can’t go any higher up the ladder

We welcome you do this horrible club but we don't want you here, just as we don't want to be here either. There is so much information out there, so much on here and you go from being completely ignorant of the details of prostate cancer to having the entire world dropped right on your head at once.

It's easy to be totally overwhelmed, scared, and full of dread. I was too. And I bet most guys here have similar stories.

Remember that PC is treatable. There are so many guys on here that were treated 10-25 years ago that are still kicking. The side effects you read about are not guaranteed. I'm a couple months since my RARP and don't have ED or incontinence. Of course that's circumstantial, but this is not a guarantee that this is just the beginning of your suffering.

My advice is to read stuff people post here. Talk to as many doctors as you can in urology, medical oncology and radiation oncology so you can determine the best path forward for you. Read the books already recommended on here, they are excellent resources.

I can say that the months before my surgery were far worse than the months after it. The worry is real, the stress is sometimes unbearable, but 1 in 8 will get prostate cancer, so you aren't alone and you can bet that there's not 1 in every 8 guys dying from it either - or our cities would be far less congested.

We are all here for you. We've all been there. We are brothers now in a really crappy club.

Glad you liked it. Looking at my post, one thing I should correct is I was diagnosed on 3/30/2024 at age 70. I did end up having the surgery and I'm glad I did as after the surgery the pathology came back with cribriform and IDC (both bad). I am continent and although I do have some ED I am now able to have intercourse with my wife (although not yet at the level before surgery). One thing that helped me decide was I asked my surgeon what the odds of incontinence and ED were for me specifically with him during the surgery. The odds he gave me were better than I expected. Of course, I have no idea what would be the best treatment for you. Keeping educating yourself and asking your questions. Best Wishes.

Hi Bruce - this part of your journey will, hopefully, be the worst. You can check out my profile for some data points but what I’d like to say to you is that this doesn’t have to be as bad as you fear. I was lucky to catch the PCa early at 66 yrs old and decided to have surgery to “get it outta here.” No regrets.

In your research you’ll find the long-term prognosis is nearly identical for surgery vs radiation, I believe. Your decision may well be dictated by what is found with these subsequent tests. I also found intellectual comfort from reading Dr. Patrick Walsh’s, “Surviving Prostate Cancer,” and “Life After Prostatectomy” by Vanita Gaglani about regaining continence in 10 weeks post-surgery. In my case, everything worked just fine and I’m glad I didn’t stress over the unknown any more than I did.

I like to remember the idea that we can’t choose the things that come our way in life, but we sure get to choose how we respond to them. I’ve found a perspective of optimism has served me well and is sure more fun than being the “black cloud” I would otherwise be.

I wish you the best in your journey and look forward to reading your posts subsequent to treatment where you share your good news!