By: Terry Herbert

Terry Herbert — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:53:01 +0000

I thought it was a good piece and, as you say, demonstrates so clearly how different a reaction might be when the word “cancer” is applied to you personally instead of to an abstract “men.” Many of my male friends have applauded my Active Surveillance decision, saying they’d do the same thing, but I know they’re unlikely to, based on one or two examples and the broader spectrum of views I’ve read over the years.

It has always irritated me that the rabid supporters of screening at any cost play down this kind of knee jerk reaction and the equally worrying PSA anxiety that afflicts some men — men who will have multiple biopsy procedures because their PSA is above some artificially set trip wire and finally, having discovered a minute spot of atypical cells labelled adenocarcinoma, rush into surgery to “save their lives.”

As you say, it seems pretty clear that surgery was on from the time he got his diagnosis -– especially as the only book he recommends is a surgery-focused one.

Comments on: How prostate cancer diagnosis affects one’s mind

By: Terry Herbert