Greetings! The intention of this regular blog is to share with you what I have learned myself and from talking to so many men about prostate issues over the years. The end of March will mark the 27th year that I have been successfully dealing with prostate cancer. That's over a quarter of a century and one third of my life. Believe it or not it has been mostly a positive experience. I have had a good life since my diagnosis. Being diagnosed on my 50th birthday in 1995 and finding myself with no health insurance, I committed myself to taking a proactive position when it came to hopefully slowing the progression of my prostate cancer. We did not know much about how best to do that 25 years ago. So I guess you could say I am a bit of a pioneer. I will be 77 years old in late March. I have to tell you that the things that I do to keep my prostate cancer under control have paid dividends in all areas of my general health. All my vitals are great, with no cholesterol issues and no cardio vascular problems and with good numbers across the board.
At the time of my diagnosis at Stanford University I had recently returned from living and working overseas in Kuwait after the Gulf War. I had always been healthy and had let my health insurance lapse. So when I came back to the United States to find I had prostate cancer, what a scary and big wake up call! What could I do on my own without health insurance. I should say I am not a health professional although I learned a lot about conventional medicine working for an orthopedic division of Johnson and Johnson in the early days of successful hip and knee replacement surgery back in the Seventies. But as a social scientist, I looked around the world to determine what countries had high and low incidences of prostate cancer. (More on that in a future blog).
I changed my diet dramatically. First I eliminated all meat, poultry, dairy and fish and became a macrobiotic eater. This strategy did not really work for me. I was still working 60 hours a week in a stressful job,living by myself, and training for the New York City Marathon. I was not getting enough protein and my schedule had me exhausted. So I added back seafood into my diet for the protein, backed off marathon training and committed myself to a 40 hour work week. It worked. Here I am 27 years later living a satisfying active life and I'm still here to enjoy it.
Of course I did a lot of other things to slow down the progression of my prostate cancer. These include a regular exercise program, trying a number of supplements and stress management techniques. And of course I get prostate check ups regularly to make sure my strategy was working. In those days they called not rushing into conventional treatments Watchful Waiting. I never liked that terminology. To me it sounded like waiting for the axe to fall. So I adopted the term "Aggressive Watchful Waiting", because I am so proactive with my health. Still, much of my family, friends and associates told me I was being foolish, that I was not going to be around for long. Others commended me for my courage and bravery. This Aggressive Watchful Waiting strategy is now called Active Surveillance, and as you probably know, has caught on to the point that much unnecessary treatment is being conducted these days.
Not only have I learned so much over the past twenty seven years, but conventional medicine has as well. The diagnostic tools have improved so much and are cutting edge. Deaths from prostate cancer have been reduced and there are new promising strategies and procedures coming out all the time. But the recurrence rates are still intolerable and late stage prostate cancer is terribly tough to go thru for men and their families.
The intention of this and future blogs is to share what I have learned on my own about prostate cancer and from the "Band of Brother" we have met over the years through the Prostate Awareness Foundation.
I would love to hear from you and get your feedback plus hear about your successes and concerns. The best way to reach me is: kamalik@prostateawarenessfoundation.org
Have a great day and take care of your prostate.
