DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Dr. Eid, I had mentioned we have Jim and John off-camera with us. Maybe you can ask them how they first came to know that they had this problem.
J. FRANÇOIS EID, MD: Both these gentlemen, both Jim and John, had prostate surgery for prostate cancer and they both did very well. As sometimes happens, one of the consequences of the surgery was loss of erections. They dealt with it. They are going to share a little bit about their experience with us today.
John, do you want to say anything?
DAVID FOLK THOMAS: John, you knew I guess from what Dr. Eid said that one of the byproducts of prostate cancer surgery is impotence. Were you prepared going into this?
JOHN: I think more than a byproduct, it was a fear. Probably why it took me three months to get the operation after the diagnosis was that I was looking for different options -- that being C, that being a radical, that being ignoring it.
When I realized that my age and the situation that I was in mandated the radical only because of the logic of the future of my lifespan, I went through the decision with the fear of incontinence and impotence. What I was told, however, that I was starting to go through an era of new medications, hence the pill that would enable someone who was having slight difficulty possibly to have the erections and there were other types of procedures down the road.
