WELCOME!  Thank you for visiting our ustooflorence website.  We are about Prostate Cancer!

“You have prostate cancer,” four little words that create an urgent need for information.  On this website, that information will come from the personal experiences of men who met prostate cancer face-to-face and wrote of their own very personal Journeys in hopes of making someone else’s journey a bit easier.

You will quickly see that no one is stating in his Journey that he is “cured”…”likely cured” is as close as one man comes.  You will notice that even those men who have great results from treatment continue to be seen by their urologist – just in case.  Time will undoubtedly prove that some of these men whose cancer was detected early will have been cured.  For good reasons, the word “Journey” aptly describes our life following a prostate cancer diagnosis:  The first part of the Journey is spent gathering all the information we can to help us make the first major decision – what to do about it.  This decision can result in undergoing treatment for the disease or placing ourselves under the strict monitoring of our urologist with active surveillance.  Following treatment, we enter the life after treatment phase which can seem endless – because that’s essentially what it is.  As we continue to show no signs of a recurrence, our PSA tests and office visits will become less frequent.  However, we may never get out from under the watchful eye of our urologist.  For those who choose active surveillance, their lives become a Journey consisting of frequent PSA/DRE testing and periodic biopsies, watching for any changes that could signal disease progression and the need for treatment.  The simple fact is…once diagnosed, there is no escaping a Journey.

For those men who choose treatment, the pre and post treatment phases are interwoven – one can’t think about his treatment without looking at the prospects of life after that treatment.  In many cases, the latter determines the former.  In other words, many men choose their treatment based on their comfort dealing with certain potential risks.  The two that usually top the list are incontinence and impotence – though not necessarily in that order.  Of course, as men gather their information, they soon realize that no prostate cancer treatment is totally free of those risks. The men who have contributed their Journeys to this website have all faced those risks, made their decisions and moved forward with their lives.  Yes, there IS life after prostate cancer!

For technical information about prostate cancer, i.e. screening, diagnosis, treatment, etc., we suggest checking out www.ustoo.org, www.oregonurology.com, www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/prostate and/or www.zerocancer.org for starters.

However, for first-person information to the following questions (and others that you may have) from men who have personally taken the prostate cancer Journey, you are in the right place.  Just read on…

• Does anyone survive prostate cancer?
• Where do I start?
• Who can I talk to?
• How do I decide the best treatment for me?
• What are these support groups all about, anyway?
• Where can I find credible information?
• What do the Gleason Score numbers mean?
• If I have treatment:
•       Am I doomed to wear diapers the rest of my life? (Incontinence)
•       Is my sex life gone for good? (Impotence)
• What do men experience after treatment?
• How long will my recovery take?
• How will I know if my cancer comes back?

We now invite you to click on PERSONAL JOURNEYS and read the first-person accounts of Journeys with prostate cancer.  Remember: These men are simply telling what they decided was right for them – not for you.  However, it is our hope that reading these Journeys will help you make your decision. 

If you have questions and/or comments about any of the Journeys or other prostate cancer issues, see CONTACT US above.  We look forward to your thoughts.

Us TOO Florence