Does "Loss of Dignity" have relevance for you vis a vie prostate cancer treatment side effects?

[Darryl]

Does "Loss of Dignity" have relevance for you vis a vie prostate cancer treatment side effects?

[Lettuce231]

Hi Darryl, in answer to your question, yes, but I'm too embarrassed to talk about it 😅

[aloha_spaceman]

I feel like there is a certain freedom in the loss of dignity. Laying naked on a table with a team in the OR for 5 hours. The attractive PA taking out my catheter. Pulling down your pants 37 times for the radiology team. Peeing in my pants. Any feelings of privacy or dignity I had are long gone and I’m free.

[Pinkyboy in reply to aloha_spaceman]

What a great post Mr. Spaceman! I feel exactly the same way. Heck, I have been “exposed” so much, all my junk is in the public domain 😂

[NewGame in reply to Pinkyboy]

Great line!

[dhccpa in reply to NewGame]

Same here. My problem has been forgetting the rules change the moment I leave the clinic! The freedom thing is pretty heady....

[fireandice123 in reply to Pinkyboy]

I assume they see men’s junk all day long and what I have isn’t in anyway exceptional. I find freedom in that.

[mababa in reply to Pinkyboy]

What junk? Can’t even find mine anymore.

[Kaliber in reply to mababa]

Yeeesssssssss …. Exactly ? What junk …..Rotflol. If I can’t even find it, no one else can. ….. brothers alike that think alike …kewl ……..

😁😁😁😁😁

[Mjex in reply to aloha_spaceman]

Amen to that, brother.

[9020B]

If you truly have dignity it is yours to keep regardless of what anyone else does.

[Pinkyboy in reply to 9020B]

Oh, yours is a thoughtful post… well, it got me to do some what-passes-for-thinking. I feel I still have all appropriate “dignity” for an 85 year old. What I have happily escaped is “modesty.” 😊

[kreg001]

it can be troubling to race to the bathroom, get wet drawers, to no longer have sex and also be lethargic. But, I’m arrogant, historically sure of myself, and proud to be the patriarch of three kid and three grand kids. Makes up for self consciousness.

[Conlig1940 in reply to kreg001]

kregoo1 The way to go . Pissing your pants at as a SENIOE CITIZEN -- Hell no big deal in the big picture . Being on this side of the turf - watching your family grow up , having grandkids and them going off to UNI . etc . This is called being alive and makng the most out of our remaining years .

I often quote James Dean : " Live life like you will live forever - Live today like you will die tomorrow " .

Or as George Burns responded , taking a puff on his stogy , to Bob Hope as they both were in their late 90's . and Bob asked : " George , at our age , Do you every think of dying ? "

"Well Bob , first thing every morning I wake up . I read the Obituaries - If my name is not there - I have breakfast " .

Have a great day and keep smiling . It's the silver bullet for better health . Happiness , the consummate healer . Worrying shortens your life .

[Kaliber in reply to Conlig1940]

Spot on ….Lol

[Mgtd]

Never gave it a thought. It is just part of life.

[NanoMRI in reply to Mgtd]

These challenges have expanded my understanding of the challenges our mom's faced.

[IKNY]

Never lost dignity in my fight to survive.

I grieve and mourn my loss of sexual ability, virility, physical prowess and general sense of well being.

I mourn the loss of the majestic penis that nature had blessed upon me.

Learning, with difficulty, to accept its diminished stature brought on by RAPL and Lupron/Nubeqa.

So that I may live.

So that I may love.

Dignity is in survival

[anothercyclist]

Eh, who cares? We're not 30 year-olds with raging hormones. A full and happy life does not have to have a sexual component.

[IKNY in reply to anothercyclist]

For me it does…

lol, my hormones never stopped raging.

Prior to RAPL, 3 times a week min, sometimes more.

So, for me, it’s devastating. I am truly thankful that this happened in my older years and have tremendous respect and sympathy for younger men so afflicted with this disease.

MSK, Dr. Mulhall says I’m an anomaly to still have a libido during castration.

Calls me a 5%’r

Given the challenges, pump and trimix, I am still very active with what I have and thankful.

[kiteND]

I believe that dignity is inherent in the human person. It is never lost and cannot be taken away. Nor is it dependent on a person's physical condition. It can only be respected, disrespected, or ignored by others - and sometimes one's self.

What we think of as "dignity" is often a person's self-perception of embarrassment or inadequacy. Those feelings, however, are fleeting and superficial. Understanding the true nature of dignity helps us cope with feelings of embarrassment and inadequacy.

Unfortunately, there is little we can do about whether others respect our dignity, especially when we have changed in our appearance, strength, ability to remember, etc.

[TuffNuttoCrack]

What dignity?

[ron_bucher]

Why do you ask?

My experience is most cancer survivors are more dignified after their diagnosis because they tend to have more empathy and respect toward others who experience misfortune.

[j-o-h-n]

I lost my dignity at my first wedding, when my best man met my bride for the first time and whispered in my ear. "I never realized that you've got your head up your ass" man was he right.

After that every little shit that happens just means a little shit that happens ....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[Kaliber in reply to j-o-h-n]

Omg !!!!! Rotflol

[TuffNuttoCrack]

if you call “Testez” that’s testicles plural the size of PeaNuts dignity. Wait a minute, where are those jewels hiding? Come on J-o-h-n, I’m sure you’ll have some sage wisdom here.

[j-o-h-n in reply to TuffNuttoCrack]

I figure that all my heavy breathing while sleeping sucked up those pee wee marbles and now they're called nipples in my man boobs...

Also I consider my 39 sessions of Radiation to my naked crotch as being DIGNIFRIED.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[TuffNuttoCrack in reply to j-o-h-n]

John I’ll one up you. I had this two hour MRI of my heart where you have to have absolutely no movement of any limb in your body.

The thing was supposed to last one hour but due to extreme Arrythmic activity they couldn’t get a good image all blurred.

My kids are nurses and they see a lot of things.

So the MRI tech and nurse kept going and going and going…. oblivious to my pressure build up. Finally I yell I got to pee! So they said do not move, do not flinch one iota and they rolled me out of the MRI and wouldn’t let me get up. So I say how we going to do it with me flat on my back? Apparently this was not their first rodeo! I couldn’t even raise my head and somehow all that pressure was drained without a drop lost! Talk about ….what do you call it….. Dignity….,there’s no place for it when you are lying flat on your backside.

I got you John. You are out Johnned for once!

[j-o-h-n in reply to TuffNuttoCrack]

I have to admit you cracked your Nutts more than me. I only have one question to ask...Was that you I saw lying there and biting down on a piece of wood in the Youtube training film?

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[TuffNuttoCrack in reply to j-o-h-n]

Don’t let your imagination run away from you. I got the last word buddy.

[j-o-h-n in reply to TuffNuttoCrack]

No problem............. I know the words "I surrender" in 108 different languages.....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[Gearhead]

Yes.

[Dont08759]

having rectal cancer 35 years ago was a great introduction to loss of dignity! I so remember the excellent young urology nurse teaching me how to cathetzise myself and wondering why I wasn’t embarrassed!

[sammittman]

Wow, I thought that I was the only one who is missing a penis. This really helps me realize that I am still alive and have brothers in the same boat. I had to create a nice little funnel out of a milk jug handle so I could sit to pee without having it squirt out from under the seat lid. It feels liberating to admit this to anyone, thanks.

[Darryl Partner in reply to sammittman]

Indeed

[Carlosbach]

I could get philosophical on this question Darryl, but briefly -- I have not lost my dignity and self-respect to this disease.

I have been embarrassed, especially by the physical changes I’ve experienced. But, those changes do not lessen my worth. This, despite the seeming indignities of incontinence, emergency catheterization, numerous DRE’s, rectal biopsy’s, treatments for impotence, and numerous other emotional, physical and sexual side effects.

When I demonstrate compassion for the nurse inserting the catheter, for the young Dr. performing the DRE, for the aide cleaning up after I missed the urinal, and for myself when my erection fails, I can preserve my dignity despite the ignominies of this disease.