Did you ever wonder where your PCa originated.

Was it Agent Orange in Vietnam?
Bad water at Parris Island, NC?
Over exposure to radiation maybe?
Possible over use of medications that muted your immune system?
Maybe genetic.

Me, well since before my dear late mother there is no history of cancer that I know of.
So, I'm in the radiation camp.
My mother worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the late 40's and early 50's.
I'm very sure they were not nearly as cautious about exposure as we are today.
Mom died with metastatic breast cancer. (Double Mastectomy, Radiation and Chemo)
She lived 35-40 years with it.
Of her six children, four have had or have cancer.
My oldest sister died of metastatic Colon Cancer.
My oldest brother has had/have two types of cancer. Testicular(cured) and Stage 4 Small Cell Lung(currently fighting). He is also a Vietnam vet with three tours under his belt.
My youngest sister currently is being treated for breast cancer (double mastectomy)
Then there is little old me the youngest with metastatic PCa.

I will never know for sure but I did have a liposarcoma that was removed 15 years ago followed by radiation and the radiation field overlapped my prostate area.

According to the surgeon he saw signs of damage from that radiation during my RALP.

For a tumor that was about an inch wide they removed 3 inches in all directions (think small nerf football). The radiation after was concentrated in that one area and then there was this wide field to make sure. I think thats what got me.

For me, I'm going with genetics. Every man in my father's family had 'prostate trouble'. My dad died of PCa. Further back, who knows if it was cancer or not. Every one of them my father knew (father, grandfather, uncles) a one point in their life had TURP procedures.

Every man would be diagnosed with prostate cancer, except that most men do not live long enough, dying from other age-related diseases.

Autopsy studies of people who die of other causes have shown that incidence of prostate cancer starts in the third decade of life and increases 10 per cent each decade. So, 30 per cent of 30-year-olds have cancer in their prostate, as do 80 per cent of 80-year-olds…most never know it.

Prostate cancer is generally part of the aging process for men much like grey hair and wrinkles.

Old age is the #1 risk factor for PC; everything else is secondary.

On a similar vein, having someone with PC in your family tree is a key risk factor for your own diagnosis. Not necessarily that it is hereditary; rather, due to heightened awareness/surveillance.

No prostate cancer that I know of in my bloodline. What caused it? Who knows? Maybe it was the way I was potty trained as a child. That's something Freud might say.

After my surgery I was at the urology clinic for a check-up. The urology nurse had a sense of humor and we were joking around. When she looked over my chart, she noted I had my prostate removed. She remarked "Not enough sex, eh?" I'm like "huh?". Then I learned that there's an actual theory out there that men who have little or no sex are at a higher risk for Pca. But try to get any man to admit to that, even if it is true! ha.

Casey59 said...
TJ123,


Farrah Fawcett posters should have been standard issue to boys back in the day.


\

You mean they weren't? How about Raquel in her fur bikini?

I have no idea. Males in my family usually die of cardiovascular disease before PCa would show up. My father died of a weird type of kidney cancer in his 60s that was likely service-related radiation exposure coupled with smoking. I do everything I can to avoid the cardiovascular threat (no vices, vegetarian diet for over 40 years, very regular exercise) and so far I am good on that. PCa? It just is what it is.

I figure that our sole purpose here is to pass on our genetic material and then stick around long enough to take care of our offspring so they can pass on theirs. After that we serve no purpose and the universe comes up with a variety of ways to exit us from the system. .