So, it has been a few months since I have been on here, but wanted to share a brief story of my journey thus far. It is two years exactly to the day; I got a prostatectomy.
Since then, there have been many ups and downs and unforeseeable side turns.
After my initial diagnosis in July of 2018, I weighed all my options and decided surgery was the best option for me. My hope was that they would remove my prostate and I would be cancer free. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Three months after surgery, I still had a pc level that was slowly rising. I was advised to do 44-sessions of radiation treatment, along with Androgen Deprivation Treatment (ADT) for a minimum of 1 year or more. To address the physical side effects of ADT (a zero-level testosterone), and penile atrophied, I was put on trimix. Slowly as my testosterone decreased, so did my desire for sex. The trimix dosage had to eventually be increased to the maximum 100 cc dosage, just to get me semi-erect. During this time, I became increasingly emotionally volatile, and I witnessed some significant changes to my once very fit body. I had poor blood circulation, my hands were in a constant state of swelling, and the simple act of making a fist became impossible. I craved junk food, gained 20lbs, and I had very little desire to exercise. However, to counteract all that was going on with me physically and emotionally, I sought to find ways to gain some control over my life externally. Despite the constant feeling of wanting to bury my head under the covers, I pushed myself to move forward.
My history of being in personal therapy, and various therapy driven groups, I instinctively knew I was suffering from grief of my old self, and that I was in a mild depression.
To counteract, I increased my visits with my therapist, joined a therapy group and sought a psychiatrist to help with the depression side effects of the ADT medicine.
Recently in January of this year, I was told that I don’t have any signs of cancer, but the treatments I had undergone left me with a venous leak in one side of my penis. My options were to continue the penile injections, or explore the option of getting a penile implant. Either way, any chance of returning to pre-cancer natural erections were very slim and most likely zero.
So, after weighing those options I decided that I didn’t want to inject myself every time I wanted to have intercourse for the rest of my life, and I opted for the implant. The Covid-19 experience delayed my surgery by a few months, but it was finally done in July, 2 years to the week of my first diagnosis. I am at the end of healing period and next week, I will go in and see a specialist on implant inflation and deflation training.
I am looking forward to finally getting back to intercourse sex and the slow return of my normal testosterone level has me pretty horny these days. I would have never imagined that this would be my journey at 53 years old, but I remain grateful that although I have experienced many challenges with PC, I was also provided many solutions. I guess more will be revealed as I continue on this journey.
Please please please think carefully before doing ADT
Recently Diagnosed 
Regarding shrinkage...
