A man, Jerry P., wrote in one of the PC forums how, after he'd been diagnosed with prostate cancer, some of his friends suddenly vanished. This is a common complaint. So I wrote Jerry a letter I want to share with you. And it would nice to hear of your experiences. Sometimes friends and acquaintances do [...]
I initially posted my previous message about depression and PC treatment on a site I have been frequenting which brings together people from diverse backgrounds. You might be interested to read the responses I got, which came from a broad spectrum of the PC community: patients and their partners, a surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, a number of patient advocates and [...]
All serious illnesses cause emotional distress. But prostate cancer patients may be even more vulnerable. This is because treatments for PC often cause erectile dysfunction (in at least 50% of men who've had RP, for example), which is highly correlated with depression. Also, some men who've undergone treatment have been left with distressing side effects [...]
Everybody has wondered at some point where in the world there cancer came from. Sir Paul Nurse, a Nobel Prize winner and head of the prestigious Rockefeller University, opines that the vast majority of cancers are random events. The only behaviors that are known to correlate with cancer are smoking and exposure to sunlight. But [...]
Faster Cures is a novel organization created by the financier Michael Milken, who also founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Faster Cures' goal is to find new ways to bring drugs to market faster -- the average is 17 years from conception to the time the drug hits the market. Faster Cures sends me a newsletter, and in this issue, they [...]
One of my stated goals for this blog is to try to discuss and so help improve the doctor-patient relationship. There is a disturbing article in today's New York Times which claims that the doctor-patient relationship is "on the rocks". That many patient no longer trust doctors. And that the advent of the Internet has affected things, sometimes for [...]
I have removed the full text of this article. To read it, please go to the site below and click on info for "Companions". See "Ten Pointers for Women". http://phoenix5.org
This is an NCI funded study that men and their partners may want to participate in. If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you may wonder how you and your partner will cope. The Telephone Education and Support Project is designed to help men and their partners during the prostate cancer experience. We will [...]
Tuesday night I fell asleep with my radio on. A few hours later I awoke to hear that a "wonder drug" had been discovered for prostate cancer. Exactly what I had been dreaming about. I was half-asleep at the time, so in the morning I set out to find out more. The BBC reported that an experimental [...]
Self-advocacy can be a positive experience and often gives a person a sense of control in a time of uncertainty. Advocacy doesn't have to be time-consuming or difficult—it can be as simple as asking more questions at a doctor's appointment. Furthermore, being a self-advocate doesn't mean that you are responsible for your cancer care alone. [...]
