JanettoB

My father died of prostate cancer ten years ago. He had the cancer for 10 years and was treated with hormone therapy throughout the years. Prostate cancer is "usually" a slow cancer and some doctors figure that when a person is 65 years old, that they had lived their life and don't treat this type of cancer aggresively.

My brother was diagnosed last year at age 48 years of age. He had two our of a 20 stick biopsy come back positive. He went to Baltimore's John Hopkins and had the "nerve sparing" surgery done there. Fortunately today, he is neither incontinent nor impotent. The normal surgery done for prostate cancer usually leaves a person incontinent and impotent.

Anyway as to your question. I am an American living in Venezuela. When my father's cancer spread to his spine, I asked a neighbor who is a doctor how long my father had. He answered "Not long.....go as soon as you can." He lasted about a month after that question. I don't know how long the cancer had actually been in the spine.....maybe it had already been several months.

My father died when his lungs filled with liquid. He was cheerful at 10pm joking with me and then at 3am he sat up in the bed and said "I can't breath". He was gone at 7:30am.

So that you will know what to expect, when the lungs "start" to feel up with liquid, you will hear a gurgling type noise when the person breathes.

Had I known that my father was actually dying at that moment, I would have given him extra doses of morphine to make sure he didn't feel a thing.....hine site. But then I might have felt guilty that I had killed him too.

Thank God that he went pretty quickly.

Wish you the best....Janetto