Living after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer: a qualitative analysis of patient narratives

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the experience of living after radical prostatectomy (RP) for localized prostate cancer (LPC). Ten men were interviewed after RP. The interview text was qualitatively analyzed using the content analysis. The men suffered from worry, anxiety, and distress, and longed for life as they had lived it before the diagnosis. Changes in bodily functions after RP include urine incontinence (UI) and/or erectile dysfunction (ED) making the patient feel like a changed man with a lost sex life, with changes in his intimate relations with his wife, and with lowered self-esteem. Most men choose to cope on their own. Coping strategies in our study population included finding new areas of interest and a new focus in the present. In the present study, living after RP meant striving to gain control over, and become reconciled with, the new life situation as a changed man living with an altered self.