Your chance to share your story

[Woodicould]

PCAI Digest recently sent out a call for stories from guys and their partners on their experience when the Prostate Cancer treatment reduce a man’s sexual function or desire.
So if you have a story here’s a chance to share it. See the details below.
I wrote Paul to see if this call for stories would fit on FT. He wrote me back and gave me a take on his philosophy which I wish he would write more about. We guys, when we hit a wall with our sexual function/desire due to changes caused by age, injur or disease often the wall is our own unwillingness to move on from thinking sex and intimacy has to be based on what we did to create children. There is more and we need to find it. Maybe we can create a thread for that specific topic.
Any way for those with stories, here is the relevant info from Dr. Walker.

Lauren Walker, PhD
Psychosocial Oncology Clinical Fellow
Registered Provisional Psychologist
Psychosocial Resources
Tom Baker Cancer Centre
403-355-3214
lauren.walker@albertahealthservices.ca


Dr. Walker's proposal:


Seeking Sexual Narratives

I am a psychosocial oncologist who works with
prostate cancer patients and their partners. My
focus is on helping couples maintain a good
quality of life when the man’s sexual function is
affected by prostate cancer treatment.

My research [see citations below] and that of
many others has documented that the quality of
life of most patients (and their partners)
deteriorates when treatments for prostate cancer
reduce the male’s sexual function or desire. Some
men and their partners, however, are able to
overcome these difficulties and find ways to maintain sexual intimacy.

My clinical colleagues and I are interested in
documenting the strategies used by patients, who
are able to remain sexually active despite the
negative impact of prostate cancer treatments. We
would like to collect as many of these stories as
possible. If you are a writer, or would like to
try your hand at writing a descriptive narrative
of your story, or your fantasy¬fictional or
non-fictional¬we are looking to produce a
collection of erotic stories that center around
renegotiating sex after prostate cancer
treatment. We could then offer this collection of
“erotica” to other patients, who are finding it
difficult to recover from what they lost from
prostate cancer treatments. This is not a
research project, but rather an opportunity to
create an anthology of stories to help other patients and their partners.

Any stories sent my way will be use anonymously.
The identity of any of the senders will be protected and kept confidential.

If you also pass along your permission for us to
publish the stories as part of a collection, your
names and any uniquely identifying information
will be stripped from them. In the case of
publication we will request editorial privileges,
but will discuss potential changes with you. If
you are opposed to having your name removed and
perhaps would like to retain identified credit
for writing your story, this can also be possible.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you
have any questions or suggestions about this
project. If you are interested in an example
story to help guide your writing, please also contact me directly.

Regards,

Lauren Walker, PhD

lauren.walker@albertahealthservices.ca


Selected Publications:

Hampton, A.J., Walker, L.M., Beck, A.M., &
Robinson, J.W. (2013). A brief couples’ workshop
for improving sexual experiences after prostate
cancer treatment: A feasibility study. Journal of
Supportive Cancer Care, 21(12), 3043-3409.

Walker, L.M. & Robinson, J.W. (2012). Back to the
basics: Origins of sex therapy, sexual
disorder and therapeutic techniques. Reproductive
System & Sexual Disorders, 1:2.

Walker, L.M., Hampton, A.J. Wassersug, R.J.
Thomas, B.C. & Robinson, J.W. (2012).
Androgen deprivation therapy and intimacy: A
pilot educational intervention to help prostate
cancer patients and their partners maintain
intimacy in the face of ADT. Contemporary
Clinical Trials. 34:227-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2012.11.007

Wibowo, E., Wassersug, R., Warkentin, K., Walker,
L., Robinson, J., Brotto, L., & Johnson, T.
(2012). Impact of androgen deprivation therapy on
sexual function: A response. Asian
Journal of Andrology. 14: 793-794.

Walker, L.M. & Robinson, J.W. (2011). Sexual
adjustment to androgen deprivation therapy:
Struggles and strategies. Qualitative Health Research, 21, 444-453.

Walker, L.M. & Robinson, J.W. (2011). A
description of heterosexual couples' sexual adjustment
to androgen deprivation therapy for prostate
cancer. PsychoOncology. 20(8):880-888 DOI: 10.1002/pon.1794

Elliot, S.E., Latini, D.M., Walker, L.M.,
Robinson, J.W., & Wassersug, R.J. (2010). Androgen
deprivation therapy for prostate cancer:
Recommendations to improve quality of life.
Journal of Sexual Medicine. 7:2996-3110. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01902.x