Prostate, Males Age Over 65+ In Treatment

Contents

1. Discussion Introduction: Turning adversity into a major victory
2. A zest for life keeps cancer in the background
3. Take your time finding the best doctors and treatment choices
4. Candid discussion about sex, intimacy, impotence, and erectile dysfunction
5. Final Comments: Expanding your knowledge and your life

Robert	Tony	Don

Discussion Introduction: Turning adversity into a major victory: Andrew Schorr, Robert, Tony, Don

SCHORR: Hello, and welcome to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors Network, the service created by and for cancer survivors. I'm your discussion leader, Andrew Schorr, in Seattle. Today's topic, "Living with Prostate Cancer for Men 65 and Older." On the phone with us are three prostate cancer survivors from across the country who have been diagnosed just in the past couple of years or are in treatment or have recently completed it. Over the next few minutes, we'll discuss such issues as minimizing the physical and emotional side effects of cancer treatment, getting the best possible treatment, getting the issue of prostate cancer into the open with friends, family and the public, continuing to find information and support that you deserve.

Let's begin. Robert Alexander joins us from Newville, Pennsylvania. Robert, you were diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago and I understand that you are now getting hormonal therapy and that you are married. I think you told us that you've tackled the question of getting past anger about prostate cancer. How did you do that? How did you get past being angry that this happened to you?

ROBERT: I think I went right through about four or five of these aspects of I guess It's anger, or it's denial, you know, you deny that maybe the lab made an error and got the names mixed up and some guys pretend that cancer doesn't exist in them. Some react with despair. I think I had a little bit of that . Procrastination - didn't quite make it, didn't have much of a chance to say I'll wait awhile and see what happens, and there are very little in the way of alternatives. That sort of came later. But I think the anger part of it may have passed rather quickly and probably it was a good thing that it did. I went to a fiftieth high school reunion at the time and I overheard a couple of classmates talking about cancer and saying it was the best thing that ever happened to them, and that almost knocked me over.

SCHORR: You'd already been diagnosed at that time?

ROBERT: Yes, I had and I thought, what in the world are these people saying, but then I discovered a little bit more about them - these are people I knew fifty years ago in high school and ours was a small high school, but the stories of several of these indicated to me that they were demonstrating the ultimate courage by turning this adversity into a major victory. You know, the idea of crisis into opportunity. And that set me to thinking so I did realize that it's not an understatement to say that cancer is a crisis of unparalleled proportions, for both the individual and his family. Over the next several months I came to terms with my own situation and began to see that in the crisis of this prostate cancer were the seeds of an incredible opportunity for me, not how long I might extend my life, although I was hoping for something about that, but how I might expand it. It came a little later but I think it's all associated with the idea that this presents a paradigm of prostate cancer, that is, a new way of thinking and for me that was the beginning of trying to do something constructive for myself.

The first thing that we did was, and I am very blessed to have a wife who was very anxious to do everything possible including change lifestyle change our diet our nutrition, change almost everything, and of course we did because we picked up and moved shortly thereafter to a retirement community in Pennsylvania. We were in New Jersey at the time, we were there for 28 years, and this represented a total change and we got ourselves going on a brand new regimen.

SCHORR: Tell us a little bit about the specifics of that. What did you do, what was your life in New Jersey, and then what was the idea of moving out of there and you mentioned changed in your diet, what changes did you make?

ROBERT: Okay, we lived in New Jersey and I commuted into New York. Looking back on it, it was a rather stressful occupation. I was in the reinsurance industry which is or can be a very stressful occupation, kind of like the financial investment firms, you know you go in early, if you company has as mine had office scattered world wide then there was the need to be in touch with people in Europe quite early and demands were being made on what we could do, I was in financial analysis.

SCHORR: I have this image of the midtown Manhattan kind of New York retrace.

ROBERT: I was and it wasn't midtown (laughing); it was downtown in the World Trade Center.

SCHORR: Right in the thick of it. And then you'd come home to Newville PA and exhausted probably. Oh, excuse me you came home to central New Jersey exhausted and then you have the prostate cancer diagnosis weighed on you. What treatment did you have?

ROBERT: I was told it would be inoperable. It was stage C possibly D, and I was not a candidate for surgery.

SCHORR: So you decided to change your life and take the therapy?

ROBERT: That's right, I had already retired so this was like the crowning blow. Like, retire, get word of this and we'd already decided that we were going to move back to my home state, so we went ahead and did that. That was part and parcel of the whole changeover. You asked about the diet and so on, we had really begun to eliminate animal fat and dairy and a lot of those other good things that are part of the standard American diet. They call that fad. But we dropped a lot of that and substituted pretty much what is called raw and living foods, and we became vegetarians, pretty much.

SCHORR: Vegetables and fruits. You talked earlier about expanding your life, that prostate cancer became an opportunity to expand your life. So you moved to a retirement community and moved back into your home state into an area near where you grew up and get away from the stress of your former life. How do you feel about life now? I understand you're still going through hormonal therapy.

ROBERT: That's right. We got out into central PA and I couldn't find any support group. We had a lot of them in New Jersey. I felt I really need something like that the support of others, you know, solid support, advice, whatever would come with that. I never had any idea that I was equipped to lead something like that but when I inquired out here I was asked if I would become a volunteer. They were going to start a group and they needed a leader. We had 3 physicians for our panel and another colleague of mine from Harrisburg, and we started off in November of 1996 with 21 men and it rather quickly began to buildup and I think we have about 120 now. It was a great outlet, and we learned as we went and this led to work in activism that is advocacy and facilitating else work as there are a number of other groups around and eventually took over two years to do it and I didn't have that in mind when I first started but I was asked to get involved in formation of something called the Pennsylvania Prostate Cancer coalition. That's maybe a state wide group. We already have the newsletter, which I do the newsletter for the support group in Mechanicsburg, that's a Man to Man group, and also for the ones in Hershey, which is an US TOO group.

SCHORR: Robert I want to ask you then, with all these activities, despite the fact that you're still undergoing treatment and may be for a while, it sounds like you have a pretty full and satisfying life.

ROBERT: That's right I really haven't' had much time to worry about my treatment and I had enough cause I suppose to worry about it the last half year because it was my PSA sort of began rising, but it really didn't deter me. I'm very thankful that I was so preoccupied with everything else that I didn't have too much time to commiserate about it, there were to many other things to be done. I think one of the great things about being involved with this support group is that there are men coming there who are considerably worse off mentally I suppose or emotionally than I suppose I was. That's gratuitous, I realize, but I can see now there's a mission here and our job really is to be there and to work with these men on a one to one basis. One at a time - we're not looking for big numbers, we're looking for ways to share with other men and I believe we've go to become knowledgeable advocates for ourselves and our neighbors because we are all intertwined and if we are giving of ourselves to our neighbors, that means the man next door or across town or the next town.

SCHORR: Even while you go through it yourself.

ROBERT: That's right. But you would not be able to comfort those, if you want to call it comfort, the afflicted, that's the biblical term, if you - the only way you can do it of course is the fact that you have gone through it or are going through it yourself.

SCHORR: There is a quote from Emerson, I'm told, that is especially meaningful to you?

ROBERT: Yeah, you come to a realization at some point and this leads into it, that sometimes we need to ask ourselves - you really need to have some justification for living, men particularly, and what better way to justify living than by helping another? Sometimes we need to ask ourselves why did our creator put us here and what is a successful life?

And I think Emerson had good answer to that which is "Laugh much and often, to win the respect of intelligent people, and to win the affection of little children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition. And to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." Then, it's not Emerson's quote, but in retrospect, in giving of ourselves to our neighbors, we do enrich our lives and we have to remember that we are each here to learn to give and to love this life is our teaching lesson. I would add to that "it is not dress rehearsal".

SCHORR: Right, Robert, thank you for sharing all that.

A zest for life keeps cancer in the background

We're going to continue our discussion and now let's jump to Connecticut and bring in Tony Roman, who is in Torrington. I know you're 79 and you're a five-year cancer survivor of prostate cancer, you're a widower and you too are getting hormonal treatment like Robert. You haven't had support groups in the area, so what have you done to stay informed?

TONY: I don't go to any organization that has a cancer survivor group, we are going to form one in the coming month. The hospital has sent me a brochure and they wanted to find out how many of the fellas would be interested in attending such meetings.

SCHORR: And you find the need to reach out to others?

TONY: Oh, yes.

SHORR: What does it mean to you, I mean there are other men who don't want to talk about it. How is it helpful to you to talk about it and talk to other men who are undergoing treatment for this disease?

TONY: Well, I've had a few of my friends who had prostate cancer and who passed away. They were my age, in fact one was about a year older and another was 2 years older than I, and I never did get to talk to them about what type of treatments they were receiving. I told them that the doctor when I first when to him he examined me and after he took some of the tissue from my prostate and had me look under the microscope and see the little fishes wiggling, he said, this is your cancer that you have in your prostate. And when he told me I had cancer I just couldn't believe it because I felt good, I had plenty of energy, I was to a certain degree sexually active, I did most anything I wanted to do, and there he tells me I've got cancer! He asked me if I'd be interested in having surgery done on the prostate. Well, I got in touch with my doctor when I had my yearly exam and he's the one who told me my PSA was a little high, to go see a urologist and have my prostate checked out. When the doctor told me I should either have surgery or go on medication, I called my original doctor and he said Tony, at your age I wouldn't recommend surgery, have it treated medically with hormones and whatever medications and my doctor called the urologist and told him he'd rather I didn't have any surgery done on my prostate.

SCHORR: Tony, I have a question for you. We mentioned at the outset that you're a widower, although you gave us a little clue you said you'd been somewhat sexually active. Have you had someone, a partner or somebody to share this with to help you with it?

TONY: Well, yes, I have a few girl friends, that they know that I have this prostate condition.

SCHORR: But I mean emotionally, someone who's kind of there for you. We heard Robert talk earlier about the anger he went through. Was this tough for you emotionally, and do you think it was tougher since you are a single guy?

TONY: Believe it or not, I didn't feel any different than when I didn't know I had prostate cancer. I said to myself, I can't believe I have this condition, when I don't feel any different. My appetite is wonderful, I do physical work outside, yesterday I was out mowing my lawn with a handmower, a power mower, but I was out there a couple of hours and I came in, the only thing I find is I'm losing, I had quite a bit of hair on my chest and legs and arms and this medication I'm taking evidently my hair is practically disappeared on my chest and on my head it's thinning out quite a bit and I cannot, I enjoy a good glass of beer and a Manhattan, now if I have a couple of beers and a Manhattan, I'm really woozy. I cannot drink as I did years ago. Not that I drank heavily, but I just enjoyed 2 beers after working outside or whatever.

SCHORR: Tony, you sound really together, if you will, about this that despite this cancer work tied to your name, you're okay.

TONY: I tell you quite frankly I don't feel like I've got cancer. The only thing is I don't have the energy I had. I cannot do what I did, but then again, I am 79 years old. And when I read the obituaries every morning, Joe died at 65, John died at 71, a friend of my mother, DePaoli, he just passed away a couple days ago. 78. I know him very well. And here I am 79. I'm going to have to look for my name in the obituaries pretty soon!

SCHORR: I hope not. So that's the idea.

TONY: I cannot feel that I'm ready to cash in the chips. Because as I say, I do almost everything I want. Sexually I am not active any longer, but it doesn't bother me one bit.

SCHORR: Are those girl friends still supportive of you?

TONY: Want me to tell you something? You might have to bleep it out - but I have a very good finger. (laughs)

SCHORR: The fact is, you still have good intimate relationships with women despite having gone through the prostate cancer therapy and you sound like you feel pretty okay about your life?

TONY: That's right. I don't - I've got a daughter and a granddaughter. I have been very heavily invested into the financial market- I've been investing for the past 40 years and my brother in law, god bless his soul, he passed away some years ago from cancer of the brain, and fortunately it didn't last very long, and I felt so bad about him, but he got me interested in the financial market. He worked at American Brass and Copper factory and he had me buy some copper stock at one time, I knew nothing about the market and I bought some at around $4 a share - I've got a portfolio of around 45-50 different stocks plus investments in tax-exempt bonds and some mutual funds.

SCHORR: So the point is though that you are interested in the stock market and your successful relationships with women and your kind of zest for life keep you going, and it sounds like the prostate cancer is way in the background.

TONY: Prostate cancer is secondary. When I get the paper in the morning I read the headlines. I was sorry to hear about Kennedy, but I eventually end up in the financial page and I'm studying that for over half an hour or better.

SCHORR: Good for you.

Take your time finding the best doctors and treatment choices

Let's bring in the third member of our discussion. Don Colley is in San Jose, California. Don is 68 and married, with some young kids, right Don?

DON: He'll be eight tomorrow. Eight and five year olds.

SCHORR: And you're 68. Wow. And Don, carrying on with that young family, you're diagnosed two years ago with prostate cancer and I know you had seed implant radiation therapy.

SCHORR: Any therapy beyond this?

DON: None.

SCHORR: Okay, so that has been helpful for you. As you went down this road of being diagnosed with prostate cancer and then finding a fairly new approach, I know one of the things you told us you feel strongly about is finding the right doctor. Why is that so important?

DON: Well, there's a lot of doctors out there in prostate cancer and a lot of them don't really know what they're doing. I talked to from 6 to 12 patients a week from all over the United States and am somewhat from all over the world, England, Australia, will call me and tell me their horror stories that they went to their general practitioner who sent them to a urologist, neither of which knew what they were doing. Then my original diagnosis or beginning of this thing, I went to my GP or primary care doctor who didn't believe in PSA! I had to fight him to get a PSA in 1995 and then in 96 he refused to get one. I'd already started my research and then 1997 I had to fight him to get another one and there was a rise so at this point I said there's a good possibility I might have prostate cancer and what do I do next. I went on the trail and he sent me to a urologist who said well we'll stick four needles in you, Don and if any of them are positive, we'll just cut it out.

SCHORR: And you said?

DON: That was the extent of that conversation. By that time I knew enough that a 4-needle biopsy is not sufficient, it's inadequate and is not what is being done today. So I knew that he was behind the times.

SCHORR: How did you know this, by the way, was this from reading books or talking to people, searching on the internet.

DON: So I started searching the internet, joined the mailing lists, the discussion groups, everything that I could, research on doctors for prostate cancer.

DON: Ended up going to the radiotherapy clinic.

SCHORR: So, having gone, racked up a lot of frequent flier miles Don, I might say, as you sought the best medical care for you, spent a lot of time doing research in front of a computer, what would you say to men who are in treatment now and maybe they're on hormonal treatment like Robert or Tony, maybe they've been offered surgery maybe they've had surgery but there's other stuff yet to come, followup treatments. What can they do. Is there strategy you would say or the way they approach their doctor so that they can feel they are getting the best care.

DON: I think what they need to do is get knowledgeable themselves. Books to read and there are some good ones out there. However, they all are dated. Anything more than 2 years old is out of date. - on the Internet. There's enough mailing lists, when I got started with this whole story I started to write my own story on the Internet and my own home page.

SCHORR: Now, Don, I heard on the radio even today that some companies will give you computer for free if you get on their online service. But there may be many men in your age group who have never used a computer, so if there's this wealth of information out there and your own website, any suggestions as to how they could get access to it.

DON: Most of the public libraries will let you go in and they have computers you can use. I don't know about the schools whether you can get into some of the schools or something - a lot of people use them at work. There's a surprising number of people who are on and looking for that information and it's excellent information.

SCHORR: Don a couple of other questions for you before we have Robert and Tony chime in. I understand your background, you have young kids now an you're married, but previously you were married twice before and if I have this right, both your wives succumbed to cancer.

DON: My first wife died after married for 25 years at age 43 of breast cancer. She fought it for 8 years. My second wife died of lung cancer.

SCHORR: So, here you are, this word cancer comes in a third time into your life and now for you personally. We heard Robert talk about the anger he worked through first and you sound almost, I don't want to say passionate, but you sound almost scientific about it, about your information search and going where you needed to go, but I don't hear a lot of terror or anger that you worked through even thought cancer had affected your personal life so much and the loss of your spouses.

DON: There was not. I've been there, done that, I knew what to do, I proceeded on to do what I thought was necessary, it just became another part of my life.

SCHORR: So what would you say if men, like Robert got through his anger and Tony fortunately it wasn't an issue. What would you say to a man who was newly diagnosed or currently in treatment, how they can expeditiously move on and take control of both their health care and their future?

DON: Stop. Slow down, don't rush. They've had prostate cancer probably six to ten years when they're diagnosed, another two months five months 8 months is not going to make any difference. There's no hurry to get any type of treatment on most of the cancers that we have. So stop, slow down and do your research. What happens is so many times you go the urologist and he says he's doing a biopsy and he comes back and says, oh, you've got prostate cancer, we're gonna cut it out. Report the hospital in 2 weeks. We don't get a chance to see what's happening. The patient doesn't have a chance to see where he is. Anytime the diagnosis is made with one PSA there should be two or three PSAs before the biopsy is even done.

Candid discussion about sex, intimacy, impotence, and erectile dysfunction

SCHORR: I want to talk with Robert and Don particularly cause Tony you've told us a little bit about this. The question is sex. Robert you've continued with hormonal treatment, Don you have a young family and now you're married again with kids. Can you talk frankly for us just a bit about how your sex life has been affected by the treatments you've had or not and also the related issue of intimacy and communication with your spouses.

DON: Almost any prostate cancer treatment you get the problem of erectile dysfunction or impotence. Almost all of them have a danger of impotency. But there's also something else involved that's not talked about a lot and that's their own psychological makeup. You know we are getting to be old men to begin with, and as old men we're losing part of that and it's awfully hard to say following the treatment if this guy is much less or much more. In my personal case, 8-10 months after I'd had the treatment, I became impotent. Strangely enough, you can't get erection, you can't get penetration, but you can still climax. Doesn't make any difference with that. So you can play with your wife in whatever way you want to and she can play with you, and you can arrive at a climax both of you together. You just cannot penetrate so you use other methods. Along about probably 15 or 16 months after treatment I began to be able to get an erection again. Was a little limp at first but it gradually worked its way back to where now I can get almost a normal penetration. I guess I'm not as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was. Probably be the best definition of that.

SCHORR: Why don't you tell us a little about honest communication between you and your wife as you've gone through this and concerns you might have had and knowledge in your case that probably there were going to be aftereffects of the surgery that would affect your life.

DON: Well, we talked about it from the very beginning - my wife is Japanese, born in Japan, she's younger, she's 40 now, maybe a little different than what you would have with an American wife, for example. But I said, you know, honey, there's a good chance that I will never be able to have sex with you again. She said, so what, I'd rather have you alive. We talked about it as it came along and as we were trying to get it going or get it up and we found out we could not and we would just do other things. It's never been a problem.

SCHORR: Good for you. Robert, what can you share in your case?

ROBERT: Well, hormonal treatment, which is also called chemical castration, because it actually does neutralize the male hormones, it really cuts it right out. - oh, that sounds like surgery. But it - you experience loss of libido, you have some metabolic problems sometimes, sometimes you do - and this problem really is more of an emotional one because it affects your masculinity. The same thing for the impotence that comes about with radical prostastectomy.

SCHORR: How did you and your wife deal with this?

ROBERT: Well, initially we ignored it. We tried to ignore it. I guess the first six months or a year we really were trying to work our way through all of the changes that we were doing and we, so the intimacy kind of went by the boards for awhile. We have tried since then to restore that but of course you've got to go about it in an entirely different way. I mean, I can't, because there's absolutely no feeling there, I have to be as intimate as I can possibly be really going about it because I want to give of myself to my spouse. You really have to put a lot into it in order to make anything happen.

SCHORR: Robert, one last thing I wanted to ask you about though was how would you say, we talked about sexuality, but your overall relationship with your wife, how is that? Don talked about his wife saying, I want you alive. How about your communication with your wife through this?

ROBERT: Well, that's precisely the same with my wife. And we did begin to communicate, because there was anxiety about that. I was not able to be doing anything. We weren't able to be doing anything, and we had to rediscover ourselves, we had to find massage and there's a lot of other touching and feeling, and there are 23 other hours in the day, so you have the opportunity then to express affection and mostly that's perhaps more what your partner wants to have, wants to have that assurance than it is whether or not you are still able to perform in bed.

TONY: I have a few friends who really love to be played with, and all I need do is excite their clitoris, and they go bananas. This is all I need to do. I don't need to penetrate.

SCHORR: So, Tony, you've had successful sexual relationships in spite of changes for you.

TONY: I really do it just to satisfy them, not to satisfy myself. I could do without it, but it makes them happy and that makes me happy. That's how I feel about it.

ROBERT: I would agree with Tony, I think there's so much prejudice and secrecy surrounding male orgasm and impotence and incontinence that there really many prostate cancer survivors may feel helpless in face of the poverty of available information and options. The chance obviously to talk about it in a comfortable setting. And sometimes there is the opportunity to do that in a small support group meeting but it doesn't always work out and I found for that reason it was a lot tougher for me to get it going, to find out what all I needed to do to actually provide affection and warmth and love.

SCHORR: (LAUGHING) Well, we're going to give you Tony's phone number. (all laugh). I have a question for Don before we wrap up here. Don, you also have pretty young children. Now, not every man who is 65 or older who's gone through prostate cancer is going to have young kids, but maybe in a second marriage or they may have grandchildren, but others that hear about this diagnosis of cancer whether it's dad or granddad can become real concerned. How have you communicated with your children about dad having dealt with cancer.

DON: We did the same thing I did with the first group of kids, who were somewhat older than these and more understanding when their mother got cancer, we talked about it openly at the dinner table and any place we wanted to go, we talked about it openly with friends. This is now 30 years ago that this happened and at that time you didn't talk about breast cancer in polite circles but we did.

SCHORR: And the message about prostate cancer when they said dad, how long are you gonna live? You said?

DON: I said, I don't know. I'm an old man, I could die any day from anything, but we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

ROBERT: I think the answer to that is you've - like one of the postings on the P2P on the Internet, Jim Folkes always signs off, he says, he puts up his signature, I ask God how long it will be till I die, or something like that. And the answer is enough time to make a difference.

SCHORR: It sounds like you all are making a difference.

DON: Let me go back to one thing that Robert said and you said at the very beginning. I found that the 8 years that my first wife had breast cancer were the best years of our lives in our 25 years of marriage. That things changed a little bit but not much, but you looked at each other differently, you performed differently, you did things differently, you live in a day to day basis and you aim to enjoy every day that you can because she may not be there tomorrow. I do the same thing tomorrow. We're going to travel for the next month.

SCHORR: I want to give you all a chance to make a final comment for men who will listen to us who are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer or in the middle of the treatment process and needing maybe some advice. So, Tony, what would you want to leave them as a final thought?

TONY: If a fellow is diagnosed with prostate cancer and if he felt like I felt in the beginning, that I had no pains or aches, I feel good, my appetite is good, I have plenty of strength, and the urologist tells me I have prostate cancer, I didn't believe 'em and I STILL don't believe 'em. They told me I have cancer and I go for a PSA every six months, next month I've go to go for my PSA, in the beginning it was between 7 and 8, and after taking these treatments my PSA is down below zero and it has been below zero ever since I've been taking these treatment.

SCHORR: So Tony your advice to people listening, given that your life really hasn't been affected and you just keep charging on, what would you say to them?

TONY: I would say if you feel in good shape you have no aches or pains, take it with a grain of salt. (laughs)

Final Comments: Expanding your knowledge and your life

SCHORR: Robert we're going to have to wrap up so I'm going to ask your advice for men in your age group who are newly diagnosed or currently in treatment. What would you want to leave them with?

ROBERT: I'd want to remind them that there are creative choices to make and that people who have healthy mental attitudes and reflect positive emotions have a far greater potential for surviving prostate cancer and for expanding, not necessarily extending life, but part of this is what Pittsburgh Cancer Institute calls, a factor of joy, meaning mental resilience and vigor and that they found is the second strongest predictor of survival time for patients. So I believe this kind of thing is terribly important for any prostate cancer survivor to remember, the response is going to be - your response is going to be how well you make out. You have this opportunity as dreadful discovery for many at first, but in that are the seeds of this incredible opportunity to go out and do the things that you have put off, that you might not have done before, go hike the Appalachian Trail, go hike the Continental Divide, go up in a balloon, go to Haiti, I went there for a church mission, get yourself out and away from all this inner directiveness that really plagues men.

SCHORR: Good advice. And Don, some thoughts?

DON: Beg, borrow, steal a computer see your wife --- if you've got a son a daughter or grandchildren, anybody, beg borrow or steal a computer get on the Internet and start out searching for prostate cancer. It will take you everywhere and anywhere.

SCHORR: And get informed. And stay informed, in an area that fortunately continues to change.

DON: Can I make one more? I was at a urologists convention in Dallas, TX and learned what I could and have been - I said I was one of the guys on the internet who tells patients what's going on, and they said, bullshoot. You know, when I find somebody who has been on the Internet and is knowledgeable, I find it much easier to work with them and they know what we are talking about. I wish all of my patients had been on the internet.

SCHORR: Tony, do you have a computer in Connecticut?

TONY: I have access to a computer but I am not interested in having one for myself. I have a telephone, if I need to reach anyone I use it.

SCHORR: Well, it sounds like that support group that you're forming there in Connecticut is going to be helpful for you and for others, too.

TONY: Yes, I think it will be.

SCHORR: Gentlemen, with that, we'll have to close. This has been a very inspiring conversation, certainly for me and I know for other men who will listen to us discussing really key issues for men who are going through a diagnosis of prostate cancer treatment or just afterwards. So I want to thank each of you for sharing your personal experiences and some very intimate insights as well to benefit others.

For the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors Network and from our Healthtalk Interactive Network in Seattle, I'm Andrew Schorr.

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