We are all aware of breast cancer (who can escape the pink ribbons, pink grocery bags, etc?) but it is pretty easy to ignore prostate cancer. Perhaps this is a sign of better marketing by the breast cancer advocates. Perhaps we are more comfortable thinking about breasts than urinary tracts. Or perhaps we men are just too stoic to want to spend much time thinking about a disease which will strike one in every six of us.
The good news on prostate cancer, from AOPA Pilot’s article, Fly Well:
Improved awareness, earlier detection, and more effective therapies in the past 20 years have improved survival from 67 to 92 percent. Eight of 10 cancers are found when still confined within the glandular capsule, making treatment easier. As with so many diseases, awareness and early diagnosis are your friends.
For the cavemen among us who don’t read, here it is in little words 🙂
- Prostate cancer is bad, but
- Getting checked is easy, and
- Getting checked is good, and
- Yes, there is still good life to be enjoyed even if you are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Even better, just because you have an enlarged prostate or symptoms of prostate cancer (like “low manifold pressure” when urinating) does not mean that you have prostate cancer. You might just have benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) which is annoying but treatable and decidedly not life threatening. So, men, get the finger, er, digital exam. Stay healthy. Enjoy life.
