It’s often said that most men will die with prostate cancer rather than from it. Autopsies of older men show it’s there even though it never created a problem. But when men are younger prostate cancer is cause for concern. And debate about the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has not helped. The test’s validity as [...]
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Last week I wrote about the power of patients getting together and trading stories. As I wrote then, meeting in-person is simply unmatched. But now we have something almost as good – connecting on video to make a human connection: “Talking Heads for better Health,” if you will. You probably have noticed that we have [...] The old joke about psychological therapists is they are among the biggest consumers of therapy themselves. Lately, I have been noticing more and more how a significant portion of the people we meet wearing white lab coats have a very personal connection to the medical work they do. For them it is not a job, [...] I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago when it became clear the American Cancer Society was mulling over whether screening recommendations should be changed for breast and prostate cancers. The concern, of course is, are some indolent, non-aggressive cancers suspected or discovered and patients are harmed with invasive tests and/or unnecessary or premature [...] I have never had a mammogram. No doctor would recommend one for me, a 59-year-old male. But they would for any woman over 40. Yet many women don’t have them, or forget to keep having them yearly. So our partner, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, is spearheading a novel campaign in the Pacific Northwest to [...] The other night we had a very provocative discussion about prostate cancer treatments. There are many treatments and, unfortunately, no clear answers as to which is the right one and when. Yes, there are strong recommendations to do this or that in a given situation, but is anyone in urologic oncology really sure what’s best [...] The phone rang this morning on our new Patient Power Hotline (877-232-5445). On the line was a worried woman from Lawton, Oklahoma. She’d been diagnosed with malignant melanoma that had spread to her lymph nodes. She was waiting for more test results to learn how far the spread had gone. She had listened to our [...] Dear Patient Power Friends: Comedian Bernie Mac (“Ocean’s Eleven”) died Saturday while hospitalized for what was said to be pneumonia. He had been living with a chronic lung condition, sarcoidosis, which he had previously said was in remission. We will miss Bernie as he was a talented and unique comedian. His death gets me thinking [...] |
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