I have a Family History of Cancer Risk If you follow this blog, you know that I am just a few weeks short of being a 10-year prostate cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in December 2002, shortly after I learned that my older sister was going into surgery for pancreatic cancer. Looking at my family history revealed that both my father and mother, lifelong smokers, died of lung cancer and lung cancer-related disease. Reduce your Risk with ProstateTracker I was lucky that my prostate cancer was detected early when is was very treatable. I’m just about to hit my 10-year survival anniversary and I owe those years to an accidental discovery of my prostate cancer. But 30,000 men every year aren’t that lucky and die of prostate cancer. We all give back to society in some fashion and my giveback is the creation of ProstateTracker; a simple tool that provides men with prostate cancer a way of detecting it as its earliest stages when it is treatable. ProstateTracker is free and anonymous. Men (or their significant others) create an account, enter the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test data and ProstateTracker plots the values and shows if these is a rise, […] read more 
Robert’s 6-month PSA Report – PSA Good, Cholesterol Bad
I have a Family History of Cancer Risk If you follow this blog, you know that I am just a few weeks short of being a 10-year prostate cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in December 2002, shortly after I learned that my older sister was going into surgery for pancreatic cancer. Looking at my family history revealed that both my father and mother, lifelong smokers, died of lung cancer and lung cancer-related disease. Reduce your Risk with ProstateTracker I was lucky that my prostate cancer was detected early when is was very treatable. I’m just about to hit my 10-year survival anniversary and I owe those years to an accidental discovery of my prostate cancer. But 30,000 men every year aren’t that lucky and die of prostate cancer. We all give back to society in some fashion and my giveback is the creation of ProstateTracker; a simple tool that provides men with prostate cancer a way of detecting it as its earliest stages when it is treatable. ProstateTracker is free and anonymous. Men (or their significant others) create an account, enter the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test data and ProstateTracker plots the values and shows if these is a rise, […] read more Will Your Prostate Cancer Recur after Surgery?
Will Your Prostate Cancer Recur after Surgery? by Robert Warren Hess If you have prostate cancer and you have your prostate removed (radical prostatectomy), can your cancer return? If it does return, are there treatment options available? These are questions men ask when they are faced with making a decision about prostate cancer treatment. Unfortunately, the answer to the first question is “yes” while an affirmative to the second question is (fortunately) a positive sign. If you are faced with making a treatment decision about prostate cancer that involves prostatectomy, it’s a good idea to learn all you can about the procedure and other cancer treatments so you can be prepared to tackle a possible return of your prostate cancer. Chances Prostate Cancer Will Recur Overall, a man who has undergone prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer has a 10 to 30 percent chance of experiencing prostate cancer recurrence during his lifetime. Among these cases of recurrence, about half happen during the first three years after prostatectomy, another 30 percent occur from years 3 to 5 post-prostatectomy, and about 19 percent happen after year 5. Some experts say the figure of recurrence is even higher. Why Prostate Cancer May Return Prostatectomy as […] read more The One Big Mac I Can Live With
I recently received an email from a colleague asking me about the Mac Air I purchased last year. I zipped an email off to him and I thought I would share my comments with anyone that might be interested. I had never used anything but a PC until about six years ago when my business partner convinced me to trade my Sony laptop for a MacBook Pro. I did and I must say that I’ve been very happy since then, although Macs do get that spinning wheel of death just like PCs. But, the question on the table is about my MacAir – which I love. But first, here’s my entire package . . I live in California but spend a fair amount of time working in Virginia where my family and grandchildren live. Since I’m a consultant, I can work from anywhere, so I would throw my 5 pound Macbook Pro into my briefcase and hit the road. But, no more! A month ago, my old Macbook Pro hit retirement age (5.8 years) and I replaced it with with a 21.5″ iMac for work in the office. I love it! I use with another 21″ external monitor, so I […] read more What It’s Really Like to Care for a Cancer Patient
This blog is about prostate cancer, but having any kind of cancer, whether you are the survivor or the care giver, is a major challenge. Below is our first guest writer post talking about his experience in caring for his wife during her cancer experience. I hope his story will help some of you in your own journeys. What It’s Really Like to Care for a Cancer Patient I never really talked about what life was like after my wife was diagnosed with mesothelioma. She sometimes tells me she can’t even imagine how I managed to cope with the situation of being a caregiver. That is why I hope I can express what I experienced during that time. Right before she was diagnosed with cancer, approximately three months prior, she gave birth to our first and only child, Lily. We barely had enough time to celebrate Lily’s birth before the doctor told us about her diagnoses. The only thing I remember about that day was looking at my wife while she was crying and thinking, “What am I going to do?” I’ve never been in a situation like this before, and I never really considered that it could happen to […] read more
Here’s a Picture of our King and Queen of the Mountain Jersey
We have a really fun program where ‘Guys and Dolls’ can win one of these coveted jerseys. It’s fun. Subscribe to this blog for more information. read more How to Make Green Tea a Bit Yummier
I’m a 9.6 year prostate cancer survivor – Class of 2003 – so I’m approaching that 10 year recurrence window. As a result, I’m redoubling my efforts to make certain my diet is as close to a cancer prevention eating program as it can be. Yes. I do believe there is a cancer prevention program we can follow. But today’s post is about green tea. You may or may not be a single malt scotch drinker, but there was a period in my life where I became quite a single malt connoisseur. That was when I was working for a French aerospace company and traveling frequently to Europe. That was a great period in my life, but let’s get back to green tea, shall we? There are many different types of green tea and we’ll take a look at those in later posts. I’ve come to really enjoy green tea’s flavor, even though it’s good for me at the same time. Pomegranate also is reported to be a healthy and a useful anti-prostate cancer food, so I simply heat up the water, add a splash of Pom Wonderful, drop in the tea bag, and 4 minutes later I have a […] read more What’s a Plant Based Diet? And why does it Matter?
On the Road to Recurrence? I’m now mid-way through my ninth year as a prostate cancer survivor, which means that I’m approaching the 10 year point where prostate cancer tends to recur, it it’s going to. Two weeks ago I was in Washington, DC for the final day of our 171-day Prostate Cancer Pony Express and two prostate cancer conferences, the Celebration of Science hosted by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Zero prostate cancer summit. I was struck by the dedication and hard work of the research community but there doesn’t appear to me to be any dramatic treatments on the near-term horizon. Given that 30,000 men die each year from prostate cancer, all prostate cancer survivors support continued research funding. But, with my PSA having moved from undetectable 5 years ago to the .04 – .08 range, I’m concerned about what I personally can do prevent or delay its recurrence. How About a Plant Based Diet? I’ve written before about the China Study, a book by T. Colin Campbell, that very succinctly points out – along with detailed references to the relevant science, that a plant-based diet – no meat or dairy – can – read almost always […] read more
Guys don’t Let Guys Get Prostate Cancer
Today is the first Tuesday in September, which is Prostate Cancer Awareness Project’s monthly Prostate Cancer Awareness Day. But, September is also national Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Guys, this month you need to do three things: 1 – Create your free, anonymous PSA tracking account at www.ProstateTracker.org 2 – Get at least one of your buds to do the same 3 – Meet us at the White House fence by Lafayette Park @ 12:15 pm on Sunday, September 9th, to celebrate the end of the 171-day, 25,000 mile, Prostate Cancer Pony Express ride. read more Without PSA Screening, Advanced Prostate Cancer Cases Would Increase Dramatically
A recent study published in WebMD looks at the results of PSA screening and finds that the PSA test has significant reduced the number of men who are diagnosed each year with advanced prostate cancer, the kind that generally kills men within two years of diagnosis. Read the full article below July 30, 2012 — If it weren’t for routine PSA prostate cancer screening, an extra 17,000 Americans each year would learn that they had the worst form of the disease, a new study suggests. That kind of prostate cancer — metastatic prostate cancer, in which the cancer spreads to the bone or other parts of the body — is rapidly fatal, usually within two years or less. More. . . Should Men Test I’m not a physician and I don’t give medical advice, but my person experience with prostate cancer convinced me that PSA screening is critical to beating prostate cancer. Finding out if you are the one in six men (one in four for African Americans) as early as possible is the only way to have the full range of treatment options available. If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, it’s important to talk with your doctor and […] read more
How to Manage a Prostate Cancer “Watchful Waiting” Strategy
Observation as Good as Surgery for Some Men with Prostate Cancer? The controversy over treatment versus “watchful waiting” for prostate cancer patients seems never ending. The National Cancer Institute just released an article in it’s July 24, 2012 NCI Cancer Bulletin showing that a 10 year old study of 731 with localized and early-stage prostate cancer showed roughly the same survival rate over a 10-year period. These men had a median age of 67. While I’m not a doctor, I am a 10-year prostate cancer survivor whose research shows that almost every prostate cancer survivor lives at least 5 years, regardless of the stage of diagnosis. However, the 10-year survival rate for men diagnosed when their prostate cancer already had metastasized is just 34%. In my mind, the prostate cancer conversation needs to move from treatment options to early detection and from early detection to prevention. The PCAP Prostate Cancer Manifesto We believe that every man has the right to know that he has prostate cancer while his prostate cancer is still fully treatable. The PCAP Contribution to Early Detection Effective prostate cancer treatment means early detection and the best test at present is the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. […] read more
Donate to PCAP
Simply click the Donate Now button below to visit our site at the Network for Good. . .
Follow PCAP
Follow Pony Express
RSS Newsletter
If you would like to stay updated with all of our latest news please enter your e-mail address here.