Thank you for you’re lovely responses. This horrible disease has blighted too many lives. The physical & physiological impact touches each man, their family and partner. David has been through the mill both physically and emotionally, three years of HT was hard going, to have the man I love next to me in bed without a speck of sexual interest was hard on many levels. His pain and angst, combined with my feelings of rejection, intellectually I could deal with it, but emotionally it was hard. He had pains, mood changes, hot flushes and skin irritation. The GP was not particularly helpful, having what seemed like a cursory understanding of the side effects. This led to my reading, learning and trying to understand this bloody disease and it’s impact on our lives. The skin irritation was awful, he was prescribed lotions and potions, and eventually we found an a cream that helped. The GP was all for prescribing Pregabalin but David declined. He finished the HT and slowly his interest in sex returned, his skin improved, his moods swings and hot flushes abated. This took about 18 months, we rekindled our physical lives, it was different, we used what resources we could to get an erection, laughing, crying yet continuing to explore our new sexual experiences. He couldn’t use viagra it gave him a headache, I laughingly said I thought that was my line. We can now achieve penetration sometimes, and we can enjoy each other once again. David has always had skin irritations the HT seemed to make it so much worse. Today we are older wiser, with a decent physical relationship, and a PSA of 0.1 this week. We’ve had comments about this being one of the better cancers, oh you’ll
be fine and other crass comments. We’ve also learned a lot about each other, this disease and it’s impact.
This site had helped a great deal, the support, care, concern and humour has kept us going, sometimes when the world seemed a bleak place. David was Gleason 9 tb3 so he had the full works of treatment options. For each man and partner the situation is different, and personal. I hope this gives some insight not just the factual medical, but the reality of some of the feelings, emotional pain, the ups & downs of this all to common disease.
Lets hope the treatments and understanding improves. This year has been hard for all humanity, but especially hard for this with complex health needs. Take care all, and value the insight this community gives each one of us. It has been invaluable. Leila x
Edited by member 21 Nov 2020 at 15:50
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