YANA
- YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW
PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE
AN
INFORMATION GUIDE
TO
PROSTATE CANCER
A
diagnosis of prostate cancer is shocking. Life will never be the same. Everything
changes. You feel lost; you don't know what to do.
The late Robert Young, who was diagnosed in the latter part of 1999 with a PSA
of over 1 000, compared it to being dropped, without your consent, into a new
country with a language, customs, terrain, roads and rules which are all foreign.
You are in a Strange Place, and it's frightening.
This booklet is intended, like a good travel guide, to help men (and their partners
and those who are close to them) to find their way around this Strange Place.
From it they can learn some of the basic language, customs and options. It will
enable them to find a path through the Forest of Fear
to Diagnosis. They will be able to cross the
Doubtful Desert to get to Treatment
and to decide which option may suit them best. It will take them through the
highs and the lows of the Plains of Recovery and may
help them deal with the side effects of treatment. It will give them a significantly
better chance of reaching the final goal of Remission.
Ideally, all men who have prostate problems or an elevated PSA will also read
this booklet before they start on their journey. They will be able to deal with
the issues they may face better than those men who were completely unprepared
for the distress of diagnosis.
What follows is not intended to take the place of the more personal and detailed
information and advice, which can only come from a trained medical advisor.
Its goal is to provide a better understanding of some of the basic aspects of
prostate cancer.
Before exploring this new country and all its facets, it should be said that
the normal reaction to a diagnosis is one of shock, dismay, fear and confusion.
But uppermost in the minds of most newly diagnosed men with this disease is
the question:
HOW LONG HAVE I GOT - HOW SOON WILL I DIE?
The most terrifying thing about the word "cancer" is its association with an
inevitable and often painful death. Many men on hearing that they have prostate
cancer assume that it is a matter of days or weeks until they die. Some immediately
set about ensuring that their finances are in sound shape for their loved ones
because of this perceived limited time. They are wrong! Only about 2% of men
diagnosed with the disease will have died from it within ten years of their
diagnosis, and for most men their life expectancy will not be changed by the
diagnosis. They will live well beyond the ten-year time span that is used so
often as the outer limit of life expectancy. A recent study, using US statistics,
projected the disease specific survival rate at 20 years as being a little over
87%.
Of course prostate cancer can, and does, kill many thousands of men each year
throughout the world. It should not be underestimated or treated lightly. But
many more men survive the disease than succumb to it. It is important to know
that.
Accurate figures are hard to come by, and there are none that directly relate
to South Africa. The data generally available relates to the United States of
America, which seem to be representative of results for men living a Western
lifestyle and on a Western diet. From these we can say that about 3% of the
total number of men who die each year die from prostate cancer. To put that
into focus, the percentage of men who die each year from heart disease in the
US is about 35% of the total deaths, and the percentage of deaths from other
forms of cancer (mainly lung cancer) is about 27%. The annual death toll from
prostate cancer in the US is slightly lower than the number of deaths from road
accidents. With the problems on our roads in South Africa, driving in a car
is almost certainly a greater hazard to life than prostate cancer.
Studies show most men will develop prostate cancer if they live long enough
- but very few will die of the disease.
TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
Because of the high survival rates and the relatively slow progress of the disease
in most men:
ONE: No one should give up hope as far as this disease is concerned. The journey
to recovery or remission through diagnosis and treatment can be a long and hard
one. It is made easier by the knowledge that there is a good chance of successfully
completing it.
TWO: There is time for men and their families to educate themselves about the
disease and then to work with their medical team to make the best choices they
can.
GO
NOW to Part 1 - Preparing ForThe Journey