Cancer is a scary word, and it honestly should be. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. It is a disease that shows no mercy, and one that affects not only the person afflicted but the entire family. Prostate cancer is a very common form of cancer that affects men. It is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in men as more than 25,000 men die each year.
Given this, you would expect that men and their doctors would do everything possible in order to eliminate the cancer after a diagnosis. However, as most prostate cancer experts will tell you, prostate cancer is a slow moving cancer, meaning it could take years or even a decade or more for the cancer to spread or cause any debilitating effects.
And the side effects of surgery often do leave men wondering whether they made the right decision. Generally, prostate cancer can be treated either with chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, or some sort of a combination of these treatments. Prostate surgery removal is usually the most common treatment, but men often discover that there is one side effect they weren't expecting to be such a life-changing condition: incontinence.
If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, your urologist likely will tell you that you will have trouble controlling your bladder for a year or more after surgery. You may have to wear pads or adult diapers. Additionally, you will likely need to do kegel exercises in order to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles - these are the muscled used to retrain your pee. The prostate gland is located in the urinary system. When surgery or radiation occurs, there are a number of different issues that could happen. The nerves around the bladder, for example, could become damaged, affecting bladder function.
The important thing to keep in mind is that every medical procedure will have the risk of side effects. There is no free lunch in nature. However, some side effects may be more manageable than others. It's imperative to keep an open communication with your doctor to determine what makes the most sense for your condition. He or she may suggest monitoring for a given period of time to determine when it makes the most sense to actively treat it. Depending on your age and the condition, you may not need treatment for some time.
In other cases, you may end up having to wear adult diapers or doing kegel exercises for a short period. The goal is to provide the best treatment to deliver the best quality of life.
