What’s Good for the Goose, Is Good for the Gander How many times have we all heard that from our parents and grandparents? The image to the right shows the results of my most recent PSA test. I’m a 10-year prostate cancer survivor so I watch that number like a hawk. The image shows my PSA values beginning in 1994 – that’s the 1.0 number of the far left of the chart – to the point where I was diagnosed. It drops sharply after my surgery in May 2003 and has remained in the .03 – .08 range since then. If the scale looks a bit funny, it’s because we programmed it with a logarithmic function to accommodate a wide range of values. What Did We Include Cholesterol in ProstateTracker? We did this because cholesterol value – total, high, and low – serve as pretty good (but maybe not perfect) overall markers for the body’s general health. If your HDL and LDL numbers are in the ‘good’ or ‘optimal’ ranges, you most likely are in pretty good health. Can You See My Eating Habit Relapse? The green line is LDL (the bad cholesterol) and the brown line is HDL (the […] read more 
ProstateTracker In Action
What’s Good for the Goose, Is Good for the Gander How many times have we all heard that from our parents and grandparents? The image to the right shows the results of my most recent PSA test. I’m a 10-year prostate cancer survivor so I watch that number like a hawk. The image shows my PSA values beginning in 1994 – that’s the 1.0 number of the far left of the chart – to the point where I was diagnosed. It drops sharply after my surgery in May 2003 and has remained in the .03 – .08 range since then. If the scale looks a bit funny, it’s because we programmed it with a logarithmic function to accommodate a wide range of values. What Did We Include Cholesterol in ProstateTracker? We did this because cholesterol value – total, high, and low – serve as pretty good (but maybe not perfect) overall markers for the body’s general health. If your HDL and LDL numbers are in the ‘good’ or ‘optimal’ ranges, you most likely are in pretty good health. Can You See My Eating Habit Relapse? The green line is LDL (the bad cholesterol) and the brown line is HDL (the […] read more The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
Y = f (x) We all have this equation. A formal definition would be, “A function (f) is a consistent relationship such that when an initial value is repeated (the x), we get the same result (the y, or f(x)).” A simpler definition might be, the outcome – the “y” is the result of the inputs ‘ the “x”s, and this is what this article is all about. The inputs – those “x”s that the food industry has chosen to put into our food supply and the outcome on our nation’s overall health – the “y”. You can see clearly the Y = f (x) formula at work in the above image. “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” is a fascinating read about how the junk food we eat is constructed. Every wonder why that bag of salt and vinegar potato chips tastes so good? Wonder why we are the fattest nation in the world and so my of our kids are obese? “In 2011, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that shed new light on America’s weight gain. The subjects — 120,877 women and men — were all professionals in the health field, and were […] read more Should I have a PSA Test or Not? There’s All this Controversy . . .
Should I get a PSA Test or Not? There’s All This Controversy! I get this question from men a lot when they learn that, among other things I do, I am a prostate cancer survivor and head the Prostate Cancer Awareness Project. I’m not a physician, but it seems to me that the question of whether or not men should be tested for prostate cancer is one of the most controversial medical issues we face today. Every prostate cancer survivor has his own story, but I would not be here today had my urologist not given me PSA and Free PSA tests. So, I’m a clear proponent. For some reason, women are much more practical about breast cancer. They know that there are about 230,000 new cases of breast cancer every year – roughly the same as the number of new prostate cancer cases, and that about 40,000 die each year from breast cancer. Prostate cancer is almost the mirror image of breast cancer, with 241,000 new prostate cancer cases each year and 29,000 dying from the disease. So, Why is it that Half of the Medical Community Favors the PSA test and the other Half Opposes it? I’m not […] read more
GU Symposium Day 2
What an Experience Yesterday was incredibly busy here at the 2013 Genitourinary Cancers (GU) Symposium here in Orlando, Florida. I’m here at the courtesy of the American Society of Clinical Oncology as a prostate cancer patient advocate. My sole responsibility is to sit in on as many of the presentations as I can and make that knowledge available to the people in my network – those of you reading this blog and participating in PCAP’s awareness and advocacy programs. Anyone attending this conference, especially a lay person like myself, cannot help but be struck by the level of knowledge and dedication of the men and women working in the cancer research and treatment fields. The level of scholarship is incredible, and the attendees come from all over the world. Yesterday I had breakfast with the Scandinavian contingent, lunch with the French, and a post-session beer with the Germans. Breakfast this morning was with two physicians from India. There isn’t much literature here in layman’s terms, and really understanding the research results being presented demands at least a BA in chemistry and biology and a solid understanding of statistics and statistical analysis. Thank goodness for my stats course at UCLA. Information […] read more 2013 Genitourinary Cancer Symposium in Orlando, FL – Day 0
Well, I’m checked in at my hotel here in Orlando and I have gone through the three day program and read the Day One issue of the Symposium newspaper – all 28 pages. It’s going to be a great conference with many of the best and brightest minds in the cancer battle at the conference to talk about their research results and successes. The first day and a half of the three-day conference is devoted exclusively to prorate cancer. Which, as a 10-year prostate cancer survivor, I find really encouraging. There is, however, a little (more than a little) irony to be found here already. The Expert Editorial in the Day One conference Daily News is titled “The Role of Active Surveillance for Localized Prostate Cancer: Reducing Overtreatment, Improving Quality of Life.” The article’s central theme once again beats the drum of PSA screening resulting in too much unnecessary treatment. The author notes that “Such stage migration [early detection – my parenthetical insert here] has resulted in the number of diagnoses far outnumbering the number of lethal cases (i.e., over diagnosis of those cancers that would never progress or cause harm to the patient if left untreated). I guess this […] read more
Pony Express Riders in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Carrying the Prostate Cancer Awareness Message Prostate Cancer Pony Express riders Randy Moeller and Master Sergeant Gerald Krause visited the Wyoming state house last June during the 2011 Prostate Cancer Pony Express. Cheyenne station KGAB, AM 650, reported on the event for the folks in Cheyenne. Listen to the radio interview here. RADIO INTERVIEW. The 2013 Prostate Cancer Pony Express will assemble in Staunton, Virginia August 9 and 10, and ride to the Capitol in Washington, DC on Monday, August 11th. read more How Prostate Cancer Therapies Compare by Cost and Effectiveness
Have you ever wondered about the cost of treating prostate cancer? Most of us don’t, but it turns out there is a fairly large cost difference between surgery and radiation therapy. A medical research team at the University of California, San Francisco (USCF) recently published a cost analysis comparison. The study looked at the cost to the medical care system “for every year of life gained, with adjustments for complications and side effects of treatment.” The study found only slight variations in terms of survival for men with low-risk prostate cancer, but radiation therapy was significantly more expensive for low-risk prostate cancer than surgery. The study also found that “for intermediate- and high-risk cancer, both survival and cost generally favored surgery over other forms of treatment.” Matthew Cooperberg, M.D., M.P.H, led the study. Read the press release here: PRESS RELEASE Read the study here: FULL STUDY Do you have your free prostate cancer early detection tool? If you don’t have a prostate cancer early detection tool, there will never be a better day to have one than today. Just click the icon below. ProstateTracker is free, anonymous, and will alert you if you have a rising PSA (prostate specific antigen) […] read more How to Win the Spare Tire War
150 lb. and 22% Body Fat. How Can This Be? This is the year for me to get back on track with my eating habits. If you are feeling the same way, follow this blog, because we are going to take a yearlong trip through all of the diet recommendations and fads we can find. The goal is to develop a food program that will keep our taste buds happy and our waistlines in top form. As many of you know – and some don’t – I’m a 10-year prostate cancer survivor who’s goal is to be the longest living prostate cancer survivor when the Grim Reaper finally drags me over the finish line – kicking and screaming. Ha! I have just two tools within my personal control to help me reach that goal: what I eat and the exercise program I follow. [Well, there’s a third, but we’ll talk about that in a later post.] Can Nutrition Books Really Help? We’re going to find out over the next 12 months. I just read the first chapters of Knives over Forks and I love the Egyptian proverb introducing Chapter 1: “A quarter of what you eat keeps you alive. The […] read more 
How to Eat Like Your Life Depends on It – Because it Does!
The Motorcycle Gourmet – Post #1 Welcome to the first post by the Motorcycle Gourmet. Motorcycle and Gourmet don’t seem to go together, but we’ll just see how things turn out. My food life has run the gamut from an entire year eating Army c-rations, to the Tour d’Argent in Paris, and just about everything in between. My mark of a good restaurant generally is a white table cloth but I’ve had great food from street vendors in Katmandu and Abidjan to traditional diners during my cross-US motorcycle ride for prostate cancer in 2010. But, was it good for me? So I really like good food but what we generally think of as great food literally can kill you. in some of my previous posts at ThePCAP blog, I’ve shown my cholesterol scores that reflect the rise and fall based on how much meat and dairy products I’ve had in my diet. What does this matter? Well, I’m a prostate cancer survivor and research has shown a direct connection between the consumption of meat and daily products and prostate cancer. I’m now a 10-year prostate cancer survivor and 10 years is the window where my prostate cancer will recur if […] read more Donate to PCAP
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