Chris's Story
Do the pelvic floor exercises, I found the Squeezy app very helpful, annoyingly so at times. Don't always give in to the urge to pee if you can. The lack of sexual urge is down to the hormone treatment not surgery and takes some adjustment.
Exercise has been important for me and I believe helpful. The hot flushes and night sweats again down to the hormone treatment I believe but you adapt . The sweats more intense than hotflushes . So far I have been lucky with lymphoedema given that I had a bunch of lymph nodes removed. I found that swapping to trunks from y fronts helped in that regard to the slight swelling I got in the groin, top of legs area.
The emotional side effects are down to the hormone treatment than the surgery. Mood swings for sure but am coping and understanding them better. I'm not sure you ever get away from the anxiety and repeated testing that an aggressive cancer diagnosis brings but again you deal with it
The single most way it impacted me as a man was my sex life. That is something I am still trying to come to terms with, I'm not sure I really ever will sadly. That also effects your male ego and sense of masculinity.
Yes
It was made clear to me that surgery and extent of surgery was really the only option, to put put me in as good a place possible, given the grade of cancer, There are so many wonderful things in my life, the trade offs, negative effects, were worth taking.
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