Prostate Cancer Surgery Side Effects – That You May Know Nothing Of

I don’t know of anyone under the sun who would rather not have one definitive fix-all solution to any ailment that there is… and without side effects too. But one should be so lucky – prostate cancer is definitely one disease that is not like that. Torn between several existing procedures that are meant to aid with the disease in some way, several new procedures for treating the disease continue to spring up all the time. Why? It’s because there is not definitive cure for the malignancy of the cells of the prostate gland, and worse, all the existing treatments have their own side effects that may not be very palatable to deal with.

Surgery is one such. Called a radical prostatectomy when used for dealing with prostate cancer, it can be done through an incision in the abdomen of the patient or through an incision in the perineum. Either way, the intention is to remove the prostate gland, and with it the cancerous tumor that is growing with it. One might then wonder how or why there should be any side effects to the therapy.

Here it is: besides the common risks that are synonymous with any kind of surgery, the unique location of the prostate gland specifically poses a special problem by itself. The gland is located underneath the bladder, partially surrounding it. It also is very close to the tube leading from the bladder to the penis called the urethra. As a result it is extremely difficult for anything to affect the prostate gland without affecting either the bladder or the urethra, or both.

This is why some of the symptoms of prostate cancer include problems with urinary function and with sexual performance. This is why there are quite a number of complications or side effects that occur from the prostate surgery that is intended to treat the condition and perhaps cure it. One of those side effects is the loss of continence or urinary control.

After the surgery, most men find it difficult to ‘hold their leaker,’ as it is called in vernacular. At least for several days they have to wear a catheter around their ankle with a tube from their penis to the sac to collect urine. For the most part though, a good portion of continence returns after a while – sometimes up to ninety percent of it.

But even graver is the fact that the nerves that control erection are closely located to the prostate – lining it on the sides even. As a result, even with nerve sparring to protect and avoid damage to the nerves, many men end up impotent and unable to achieve a proper erection again for the rest of their lives. Some semblance of it returns after a few years, but for the most part the man has to do it with medications (Viagra), which may or may not work.

How Can Radiotherapy Help With Prostate Cancer?

Radiotherapy is perhaps one of the longest standing known treatments for various forms of cancer across the spectrum of the disease all over the world. Discovered late in the 19th century by German Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, it was already in use for medical purposes by the turn of the century, and today, there are constantly newer and newer applications for the radiation in medicine, and it remains one of the favorite options for cancer treatment.

Specifically, doctors prescribe treatment for prostate cancer patients based on the apparent aggression of the carcinoma, the stage of its growth, whether or not it has metastasized, the age of the patient, and his general health. Naturally, the purpose of treatment is to eliminate all of the cancer, or at the very least, as much of it as possible. For this reason, they aim to catch a patient’s prostate cancer in its earliest stage for if the malignancy is at a very advanced stage, the purpose of the treatment may only be palliative for the most part, intended toward making the patient as comfortable as possible for as long as they can manage.

Therapeutic radiology in particular (or radiation therapy, or radiotherapy) makes use of high-energy particles or waves (x-rays or gamma rays) to focus damaging radiation on the region of a prostate tumor with the intent of inflicting as much genetic damage on the tumor as possible. The radiation often causes damage to most of the cells in its path, meaning that it is harmful even to healthy cells in the human body. However, even though this same radiation therapy kills cancerous cells, it only damages healthy cells such that they are able to reproduce quickly.

As a consequence of the damage, though, there are side effects to radiation treatment for prostate cancer, and indeed various other forms of cancer. The patient will tend to experience such symptoms as fatigue, skin changes, and loss of appetite, and radiation proctitis, which may result in diarrhea and mild rectal bleeding. Other side effects may be related specifically to the areas that are being treated, which in case of prostate cancer might be fecal and urinary incontinence, including the milder hair loss and a decrease in the number of white blood cells. The upside of this is that most of the side effects of radiation treatment for prostate cancer are short-lived because the healthy tissues recover from radiation much more efficiently, and the patient’s health is restored.

Generally, prostate cancer treatments may be administered alone or in various combinations with one another. Radiation therapy in particular is often an alternative to surgery in many cases. One form, external radiation therapy, beams radiation from a machine onto the body; a second application (brachytherapy) applies internal radiation therapy through radioactive material sealed in “seeds” inserted into the prostate.

Radiotherapy may also be employed for later stages of prostate cancer, but often simultaneously with chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or prostatectomy; or one after the other.

Living With Prostate Cancer – Sex After Surgery

You are not alone; I was there too. Heck, I’m still there even right now; and there are days when I look down at my limp member and wish I did not have to rely so much on the medications to be able to get it up, but this is not one of those days.

Being diagnosed with prostate cancer nearly killed by all by itself. Even though the doctor ran me through a list of treatment options and specifically told me that I was in luck because they were able to diagnose the disease in its earliest stages, the last thing I felt that day was lucky, and I totally did not hear a word of what was said in the oncologist’s office before I turned and walked slowly out as though in a trance.

I had a car crash that day, only ten minutes later, just before I got home. I was still dazed and clueless as I drove, and I didn’t see the little boy on the road until it was almost too late. I swerved and missed him narrowly, but I did end up in with my Honda Accord wrapped around a lamppost; or was it the other way round? For some reason, I did not have scratch on me, or else it would have complicated matters. I ended up back in the same hospital, spent the night in admission, and it was in the morning when I was about to head on back home that I now finally was able to hear what the doctor had to say about my condition.

The malignancy was still growing and might take several years before it started to metastasize. Right now, they could catch it with some hormonal therapy for a couple of weeks, some radiation therapy shortly afterwards, and finally some surgery, and I would be as good as cured.

Cured? Surely, that could hardly be true. But the oncologist took one look at me and paged a urologist who came in and confirmed the prognosis. I was only just over fifty years old and with a few lifestyle changes, a brand new diet, and some exercise, the carcinoma might never again find itself to my prostate. A couple of months later, I had the surgery and then I started to live with the reality of the side effects of a laparoscopic prostatectomy.

I still had some good sensation down there and I was still able to achieve orgasm, but my ability to achieve erection was seriously impaired, as was my ejaculation. I was never going to be able to have sex again!

But I was only panicking. After a word with my doctors, I was given a referral and eventually ended up with another doctor who soon had me on the little blue pill. Sure you know it – it’s Viagra. Viagra and Cidafil actually are medications that cure impotence, and they did it for me; they still do. I think about the fact that I can never make babies again from time to time, but I am glad that I already have two big boys who are both halfway through college. At fifty eight now, six years after prostate cancer surgery I can still have sex.

Plus, Harriet called me just a few minutes ago and said she might be pregnant with my baby! My baby! Sure, there are days when I look down at my limp member and wish I did not have to rely so much on the medications to be able to get it up, but this is not one of those days. I just had to get me the results of that paternity test first.

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