Prostate Cancer and Bladder Cancer

My dad (58 years old) was first diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in June 2009 and after lots of testing, ER visits, Kidney scare, week long hospitalization and a whole lot of drama and finally meeting the surgeon who might perform the prostate removal surgery, he was diagnosed with a bladder tumor (malignant) in September 2009.

Prostate Surgery on hold (Gleason 6; PSA: 5.9 in May 2009; CT scan negative). He had his first surgery to remove the tumor in the bladder, but we still have to wait till we get the green light (bladder tumors completely gone) until we can move forward with the surgery. He will have another surgery in December to confirm bladder tumors gone and once that is confirmed then he can get the surgery.

I wanted to know if there was anyone who was on a similar boat and to see if there was a correlation. My dad seems to still be in denial re prostate cancer and thinks the bladder cancer caused/affected prostate and therefore once bladder tumors completely removed there will be no prostate cancer. I was told the cancer in bladder and prostate are different but just not sure...

Also if you are on the same boat if you could share the course of treatment taken for prostate cancer. My dad is not 100% sure for surgery which by the way will be the robotic assisted one by Dr. Gill at USC. This is all so difficult because there is a language barrier for my dad and I am the one trying to get him as much information as possible because ultimately he has to make the decision. I am rooting for surgery but he is leaning for the seed implantation method but doctors keep pushing surgery due to his age.

Any advice on fighting with the insurance company would be greatly appreciated too. Aetna HMO...so far been ok except for tons of delays.

Thanks for all the useful information!

Post Edited (jojobruin) : 11/26/2009 12:50:19 AM (GMT-7)

Andrew (Ohio State) will weigh in with some info and has some similar things to share on this particular journey.
As for PCa if it travels anywhere in the body it is still(always) PCa and it is also possible to have different cancers going on in a patient, also (bladder, colon etc.). The surgeon doc will likely not know what cancer you probably have, until they get the info from the pathology report (those types of specialists-docs) that can actually identify what it is. Get copies of your pathology reports, and other tests and learn about the details and bizarre words that you can find out what they mean which might help you in understanding what the dragon is.

If you go with surgery just learn up front all you can, so you know what you will likely have to prepare for and find someone whom is very experienced is wise too. All treatments in PCa have their place, not endorsing anything herein.

Andrew that is a great message and post and unbiased to almost too unbiased. You two folks probably need to talk off line, in my blanking opinion.

Z-Bob

JoJo

I have a twenty year old daughter, so I can sort of understand how awkward your dad may feel. I can for instance imagine that he might find it easier to tackle some things in private by say reading about them rather than by talking about them. So your idea of getting him to be with you while you are reading posts may be a help, especially if it meant you could leave him to search about in the forums on his own too.

Anyway language wise, I have a couple of suggestions, and as with everything related to such a complex problem I make them knowing that it is better to be told something that you already know than not to be told something you didn't know.

I am not sure what info you have been able to find in Spanish on the Internet, but I had a quick Goggle for some. And I found sites where the info seem to match that on some of the basic English language websites that I have found over the months. Many medical sites in English-speaking countries also seem to have translated versions of their pages in many languages including Spanish.

The important thing if you want to use Google is to use Advanced Search.

You need to search for "Cáncer de Próstata" as a group and opt to search only in Spanish.
some of the sites I looked at included:

http://www.cancer.gov/espanol/tipos/necesita-saber/prostatahttp://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1ncer_de_pr%C3%B3stata
http://www.drgdiaz.com/eco/prostata/cancerprostata.shtml
http://www.dmedicina.com/enfermedades/cancer/cancer-prostata
http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/cancer/prostatebook/es/prostate.htm
http://www.tecnologiahechapalabra.com/salud/especialidades/articulo.asp?i=594

If nothing else it may help with finding out what various things are called in both languages. (I speak from more than 25 years' experience of living with two languages and having been being treated for my PCa in Dutch.)

Good luck with all your and your dad's decisions.
Alfred

Get all the information you can find, meetings can be good, although might have biases to keep in your thought bank and add it to your knowledge database, it will help you make a more rational decision on your own situation, after you have plenty of information.

Book to read on PCa (covers most all possible patients presentations to some degree) and has case histories to read about(laymens terms too) etc....about priceless to some of us patients:

'A Primer on Prostate Cancer-The Empowered Patients Guide' (Dr. Strum & Donna Pogliano)-find at: www.pcri.org (directly), amazon.com, maybe ebay books, barnesandnobles.com

Info websites to add to your education process: www.yananow.net, www.prostate-help.org, [email protected], www.pcref.org, www.paactusa.org, www.phoenix5.org, www.pubmed.com, www.marinurology.com, www.prostateforum.com, www.hypertext.org, www.cancer.gov, www.webmd.com , www.doctorleibowitz.org, www.cancerfacts.com, www.bostwicklaboratories.com, wwww.prostateoncology.com, www.medscape.com, www.prostatepointers.org, www.medline.com and alot more available too.

Adios