Review: Localized prostate cancer pack part 2

The pack came with 2 DVDs. The first was on the medical objectives of diagnosing and treating prostate cancer. I thought it was a very good way of getting a lot of information across quickly and without boring the person to tears. One interesting thing I learned from it was how much younger the mean age of diagnosis has become. It used to be a disease of over 80 year olds, then 70 year olds. Right now I think of it as 50s or 60s, but one of the oncologists on this DVD was saying that men should start having their PSA tested once they hit 30. Considering I just met a 37 year old with prostate cancer, this might not be a bad idea.

The second DVD was on secondary issues, the most important which were incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Again, a good way of getting a lot of info across, and it features some men who told their own stories. The incontinence section was a bit redundant and obvious. The sexual section was actually really good, because it outlined the worst, best, and usual case scenarios, and many different options. The best part was that it put them in an order, of "try A first, then if that fails move on to B, then C, etc" and gave objective criteria to help men make decision of when to give up on earlier attempts. One interesting thing I learned was about the timing of sexual treatment. They recommended taking a month to just recover before starting on needle injections. These should be used for 2 months before moving on to oral medicines. And after so long (I honestly can't remember now, but I want to say 1 year), if the orals aren't working, it's time to give up and get a prosthesis implanted.

Closing thoughts: resources like this tend to not get into the hands of men until after treatment completion, which is too late. At the minimum, it needs to be handed over the moment they get diagnosed. But ideally, some of this info, like the need to start getting your PSA tested in your 30s, needs to be disseminated well before the cancer is a blip on the radar. And this is just one disease of many. How are health professionals supposed to disseminate ALL the information that is important to society? I don't have an answer.