Prostate cancer is a condition and in this context, a story that does not end. We learn in this episode about one of Mark's colleagues and his transition from patient to patient advocate.

Mark:



A colleague that I worked with called, and he was just diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is a tough road, and a lot of it is because of the unknown. And if you can talk to people who have been through it, you can get a flavor of what might be ahead. Once you've had an outcome that's as nice as what we've ended up with, you give some encouragement to the other people. We try to balance out the bad stories and the bad things that people read with some hope and that good things can happen and they can happen to you.



Julie:



Our daughter is getting married in the spring, and that call kind of had be backburnered a bit because we had to focus on Mark. Time--once we got back the pathology report, then we could turn our attention back to the future and what it held after that.



Mark:



And I can certainly say today, the fifth week post-surgery, I'm fully back to looking at more of the longer-term activities. I'm back to normal, have moved on--everything to be encouraged about.



Julie:



He's had very minimal problems with either one of the side effects, I'm happy to report. I think part of it was preparation and the psychological role that he took.



Mark:



Julie's role has been major. She has been a person to complain to. At times, a person to get upset with. A person to calm me down, to give me another opinion, another view. She's been a friend, a wife, a mother--absolutely critical.