Early diagnosis saves lives
- Is your night regularly interrupted by the need to urinate?
- Is your day disrupted by toilet visits?
- Once there, do you find it difficult to start?
- Is the flow weak when you urinate?
- Do you feel you have more to come when you have stopped?
In the light that 10,000 men a year die of prostate cancer, that is more than one an hour, we are out to raise awareness.
We want to inform men who have symptoms possibly related to prostate cancer that they are taking a risk if they do not check the symptoms out with their GP. Currently many GPs, avoid testing for prostate cancer unless requested to do so. They say that the tests themselves do not prove you have prostate cancer, nor do they prove you haven't, but they can be an indicator that something is wrong, especially if the symptoms are present. This is why, although we would like to see a foolproof accurate means of routine screening of all men over fifty, we feel that until one is found, if we can get the advice to men with related symptoms to check themselves out with their GP, lives can be saved.
A PSA blood test is your right. If you are concerned insist on a test.
Any man with symptoms that are possibly related to prostate cancer needs to know one thing as soon as possible, and that is, have I got prostate cancer? The odds are that he hasn't and the visit to the GP could discover another reason and solution for his problems, but, if he has, getting checked out early could save his life with less of the consequences of major surgery, and less cost to the NHS for hospital treatment,a win/win all round.
To know if he has the symptoms, he needs to be told what they are.
The aim of our poster is to make men aware that the problem they may be having with their waterworks should not be ignored.
Our target is to advise possible victims of prostate cancer to go to their GPs as soon as possible. This is why our poster headline says "ARE YOU OK?". This is why we list the main symptoms of prostate cancer, above, and why we wish to display our posters in urinal areas all year round where men could be experiencing the symptoms.
The GP check up, what the treatment will be for prostate cancer, what the consequences of the treatment will be and what the function of the prostate gland is, is immaterial until the man knows what is causing his problem and whether or not he has the cancer.
The initial check up is a normal blood test, with blood taken from the arm. If concerns are raised an internal examination may be carried out, this can be embarrassing but not painful.
If the man is unfortunate enough to have prostate cancer there is normally plenty of time to study the consequences and options of treatment. There is a wide range of options for prostate cancer caught in its early stages – the later the diagnosis the fewer the options and greater the consequences.
Monty & Patricia