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Supporting someone diagnosed with prostate cancer

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Has prostate cancer invaded the lives of both yourself and someone you are caring for?

Answers to some of your questions.

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What is prostate cancer?

In Quebec, 12 men a day are diagnosed with prostate cancer and nearly 900 families lose a loved one to the disease each year. Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of prostate cancer. It accounts for 95% of all prostate cancers.

Detecting and treating prostate cancer at an early stage increases the chances of successful treatment.

There is no screening program for prostate cancer in Quebec. However, there are screening tests that allow for early detection. The choice of screening tests must be made by the person concerned in consultation with their physician.

Information, a remedy

As with all cancers, access to care and information is essential. “Information is the first remedy,” as PROCURE says.

As with all cancers, a cancer diagnosis represents a sudden plunge into an emotionally charged vocabulary. PROCURE provides a glossary of prostate cancer terms and a series of animated vignettes: Symptoms, Risk and Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment , Role of Hormonal Therapy.

Every year in November, many sensitization initiatives take place around prevention, risk factors that could lead to prostate cancer or changes that could occur, such as blood in the urine or erectile dysfunction.

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Questions and possible solutions

The person I am caring for seems very anxious and nervous about the treatment steps and the outcome. What can I do about it?

Tell them about the CHUM Prostate Cancer Support Group (in French only). Its mission is to provide moral support to people with prostate cancer and their loved ones: 514 890-8000, ext. 24619. And don’t hesitate to reach out to them for yourself.

My brother often talks to me about the impact of the disease on his sex life. What advice can I give him, considering that I am a woman?

Learn about the side effects of prostate cancer treatment, such as nausea, diarrhea and fatigue, so you can discuss them openly with him. Why not watch this webinar together with Winston McQuade and sex therapist Sharon Dugré (in French only), or browse through this article entitled M’aimeras-tu encore après? (Will You Still Love Me After?—in French only). If your brother prefers to talk about it with a man who has gone through the same journey, tell him about the Quebec Cancer Foundation’s telephone peer matching service.

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