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Posted 6/28/2010 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
"I HAVE Prostate Cancer" or "I HAD Prostate Cancer" ? How do we respond?

steve

Posted 6/28/2010 9:44 PM (GMT 0)
I prefer..."I am a cancer survivor"

I guess it is a matter of how you view life...too many cliche's to post...but you get the meaning.
Posted 6/28/2010 9:44 PM (GMT 0)
I have prostate cancer until I see a string of zeros and then just might say I was treated for PCa. Not sure there is a right or wrong here Steve, just a personal preferance although others might have a different perspective.
Michael
Posted 6/28/2010 9:46 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting thought, haven't had the option to think about the "had" term.

May I suggest

Positive margins and/or detectable PSA = have

Clean margins and undetectable PSA = had

For me right now it's "fighting PCa" my wife when she talks to others says Dave has PCa.
Posted 6/28/2010 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I definitely don't want to put the cart before the horse, the thought just crossed my mind.

steve

Posted 6/28/2010 10:24 PM (GMT 0)
Having survived 4 different bouts of dangerous cancers in my life so far, I take Les's answer as "Cancer Survivor"
Posted 6/28/2010 11:14 PM (GMT 0)

I've expressed this opinion before: I really don't care for the term "survivor."

Hey, if your plane crashes and you live, you are a SURVIVOR. The danger is OVER and you have SURVIVED. Ditto is you come home from a War.

Sorry, the analogy fails with cancer.  We go from one PSA to the next. It SUCKS. We learn to deal with it because we have no choice.

SO, WE ARE DEALING WITH IT.

Mel

Posted 6/28/2010 11:55 PM (GMT 0)
If you die from something else, you had PCa. Until then, you can't prove that you don't, so you have it. Maybe someday there will be a perfect test, and we can really go back to living out of the PCa shadow. Would be nice.
Mel, I could observe that I had no more choice to get PCa than I would to willingly chose the plane that would crash, or be the target of a hit and run at a crosswalk with the light, so survivor works for me.
Posted 6/29/2010 1:58 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Steve,

The way you wish to express it is your choice.

I do like the thought that you are in remission from Prostate Cancer, and that is one way to express it.

I like survivor, because all of us that are living have survived all the ailments of life and shows that we have the determination to press on.

Everything posted here seems valid to me and it is totally up to you, kind sir.

Barry
Posted 6/29/2010 7:38 PM (GMT 0)
One criteria for judging what to say is surely if you are or are not a member of the zero club. Which I have not yet been.

At present I am thus: "being treated for prostate cancer"
I sometimes also say "I was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year"

I can see "I've been treated for prostate cancer" being a possibility in the (near) future.

I've not survived it yet, nor am I fighting it or struggling against it. Nor am I a victim.

So am I a "PCa player" perhaps or even "PCa drifter" as I float on down stream to the next test.

I'm also a prostate-free zone.

Alf
Posted 7/1/2010 12:50 AM (GMT 0)
If it comes up in conversation I say "I had it. The Uro yanked it out about a year ago. I'm doing great." That's been enough to answer everyone so far. Even me.
I'm not a survivor or a victim. I'm just a guy that caught a bad break but hopefully caught it in time.
Jeff
Posted 7/1/2010 4:11 AM (GMT 0)
I like the saying " I have a history of". Makes it sound less like something I have and more like I've moved on. Say it any way you want :-)

Paul

 

Posted 7/1/2010 5:03 AM (GMT 0)
I was absolutely sure that I HAD it, with a decent string of 0's. I'm with 142, unfortunately. I think you live in the shadow of it (at least I know I will now, regardless of whether I get to a long string of 0's again or not) for the rest of your life. That definitely does NOT mean it needs to dominate you. Life is a lot more than a PSA test, and does not have to mean living in dread from one to the next.
Jeff
Posted 7/1/2010 2:20 PM (GMT 0)
Some of these answers sound like "denial" after the fact. We are all cancer survivors here in the truest sense of the word. I don't know any other way of saying it. We are surviving. Haven't been to any funerals yet for any of us, we survive, we live, we fight this PC, we go on.
Posted 7/1/2010 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
I like Donna Pogliano's words on the front of Dr. Strum's book- after her name- Partner of a Warrior in the Battle Against Prostate Cancer. If you are the uncured scenario, it is surely war if fighting this, all the protocols, agendas, drugs, profits made off of patients. After a while with enough psa tests in your arms, and blood tests and other tests....you been poked, prodded, handled, and given an emotional roller coaster that doesn't stop not only violated with the DRE (LOL) but financially even with insurance, throw in doseages of arrogant docs and highly profittable protocols, gee this is all for me! I love it, and when do we get tied to the rack, stake or shown the iron maiden. It's a great gig sweet heart. Ok, I overstated it 1% (LOL)

Robert Young coined PCa as the Jungle about 8 yrs. ago (I think he knoweth the beast)
his website is/was www.phoenix5.org
Posted 7/1/2010 6:49 PM (GMT 0)
This actually has some real world application. I was a regular blood donor before PCa. Once I was diagnosed the blood bank told me that their policy was to wait until you have been cancer free for one year. They feel I have been free for one year - "Come on down."
I think they are nuts and am waiting until the jury comes back a few more times. I may be cancer free but will not risk someone else's life on it.
Posted 7/1/2010 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hah! Since I'm the original poster, I'm going with.......Warrior!!!

smilewinkgrin

steve 

Posted 7/1/2010 7:25 PM (GMT 0)
..my blood bank told me to be "cancer free" (whatever that is) for FIVE years.  like you say, i think i'm done with blood donating.  oh well

bob

Posted 7/1/2010 8:13 PM (GMT 0)
Do to the ultra rarity of my original 3 cancer bouts, non-PC related, I was put on a lifetime ban of blood donation. Which was a shame, for years I was always in the Gallon Clubs, I miss not being able to give blood.
Posted 7/1/2010 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
Stevmac1- kudos to you in your choice of an adjective
(Warrior types):
Samuri warrior
Ninja warrior
Special Ops warrior

PCa warrior (well it will gain popularity and acknowledgement eventually)!!!
Posted 7/1/2010 11:48 PM (GMT 0)
STW,
The blood donation scenario is interesting. Even if you had advanced prostate cancer (with many cells wandering around in your blood stream) in the normal course of events it would not be possible for a blood recipient to "catch" your prostate cancer. Their immune system would kick in and see your prostate cancer cells with their different DNA structure as "foreign bodies" and attack and destroy them. The difficulty arises with somebody with a compromised immune system. A heart transplant recipient for instance would constantly be on immuno-suppressant drugs and these in turn would prevent an immune response to foreign prostate cancer cells. Under these circumstances there would be a remote possibility that even a woman could develop prostate cancer. As there are instances of PCa recurring at 10 years or more there theoretically would always be a chance of it being "transmitted".
Bill
Posted 7/2/2010 4:14 PM (GMT 0)
A man recently died from ovarian cancer. He was a organ recipient and an autopsy of the donor completed after the transplant showed she had cancer. The "low probability of transmission" killed the man. His family has filed a lawsuit. He was advised of the risk, took it, and lost.
Posted 7/3/2010 12:52 AM (GMT 0)
Until I ever get to zero, I have Pca, that is a fact.


Regards Mal.
Posted 7/3/2010 1:08 PM (GMT 0)

Interesting thread...for me it is definitely "had". 

Tudpock (Jim)

Posted 7/3/2010 11:01 PM (GMT 0)
 

I agree:  this is an interesting topic and thread:  and, there is no one answer.  Some on board here must answer "I have prostate cancer."  That would be the folks with a recent Dx,  those who practice AS, and those who's initial treatment didn't get it all.  For me, and forgive the hubris:  with a couple of consecutive "undetectables" and a positive pathology report I tell those who ask:  "I had prostate cancer, now I don't"  And then a little look in the mirror tells me, "but you might."  And, that's the feeling only members of this forum  can know.

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