Facing Misconceptions and Stigmas of Prostate Cancer Together

Two Atlanta-area prostate cancer survivors are joining forces to share their stories in an effort to help others.

Ernie Strauss and Ronald Wakefield met through the patient navigation program of Northside Hospital; the two men in turn built a support network that helps fellow patients navigate the prostate cancer landscape.

They sat down for an interview with CURE and discussed common misconceptions and stigmas associated with prostate cancer.

Transcript

What are some common misconceptions regarding prostate cancer that you have encountered?

Ronald Wakefield: I've spoken to a number of different men. And, typically, men don't want to talk about it. That's one thing. The second thing is, some men don't really want to do anything about it either, because they're focused on, “It's going to impact my sexual function.” And from the very get-go, talking to my personal physician, what he said to me was, “If all else fails, you can get a penile implant.” And he talked to me about this guy who was in his 80s who got it done, and guy’s as happy as ever, he's never been that happy in his life. So going in, I knew that.

So my thing to men is, really, don't let that stop you from seeking treatment. Go seek treatment, take care of yourself. And then there are other things, ways you can deal with whatever you're faced with, after that. So, to me, that's what's critical.

Ernie Strauss: I'll echo everything that Ron just said. My father went through prostate cancer at the same time that I was going through radiation. And so many doctors have said prostate cancer is not what's going to kill you — it's going to be a heart attack or a stroke or something later in life, because it's predominantly diagnosed for men who are in their late 60s, 70s and 80s, and since it's such a slow growing cancer, there's nothing to worry about.

But my encouragement would be, having been diagnosed at age 46, I didn't know my primary care physician was actually testing for this, but they thank goodness they did, because otherwise I still would have just probably ignored everything. So, I would encourage men to not only talk about it, but also ask their doctors what kind of blood tests are they doing, and to go ahead and start getting tested at age 45 or whatever. And the same thing with the colonoscopies. Get your colonoscopy done, because that's where all the stigma resides.

One is the digital examination. When you go to the urologist, there's a big stigma around that, and I was panicking about that. I thought it was much more than it was. It lasted two seconds, if that, and the urologist was like, I don't feel anything. And when it was done, I was like, that's it. And so, to all of my buddies, I'm like, go have the digital exam and get your PSA tested, just in case.

But also, the colonoscopy. People complain about that all the time. That's not a big deal. Yes, the prep is rough, but it's one evening, and then you could possibly have five to 10 years of peace of mind knowing that everything's fine, and if it's not, you get it addressed before it aggressively grows. So it's a lot of just men discussing things, because, again, we're at an age where we need to start relying more upon science and not just think about, “OK, I don't want anything, you know, going up, to possibly diagnose something up in that area,” but it really is necessary, because there's so much preventative stuff that could that can really save your life.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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