How Old is Too Old?

I know my father, a prostate cancer survivor nearly 80, has stopped PSA testing.  He was treated nearly 20 years ago and his PSA has been undetectable.  What's the point of testing?  If his PSA starts creeping up at this point, he's in no danger. 

Screening Prostates at Any Age

By GINA KOLATA

Published: April 11, 2011

Older men are getting screened for prostate cancer at a higher rate, though many experts discourage screening for men whose life expectancy is 10 years or less.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/12prostate.html

Gina Kolata is one of the best medical writers out there, IMHO. 

 

Kindle - a portable prostate cancer library?

I just got a Kindle--quite an amazing piece of technology.  Far lighter than an actual book, it can hold thousands of titles.  I started looking at what prostate cancer books are available in Kindle format, and there are quite a few.  Not all, but a lot of the ones I like and refer to often.  I will probably load up with a few, so I always have a reference library at hand.

If you haven't held a Kindle, you should give it a try.  The display is not a computer screen.  It's not LCD. There is no light shining from it.  It uses real ink particles on a surface that looks like real paper.  Battery life is impressive, since after arranging the text on the page, the device isn't using any energy to display it.  Books on Amazon are cheaper than the paperback versions (Walsh's book, for example, is $11.55 in paperback, but $9.99 in Kindle format) and they download very quickly.  I bought and downloaded a novel last night--Game of Thrones, about 600 pages--in a minute.  You can literally think of a book and be reading it in a few moments.  Want to read a major newspaper?  You can buy today's copy--just today's, if you want--for the newsstand price and take it on the plane with you without messing with newsprint and all the rest.

I got the one that is $139.  It doesn't connect via 3G, only Wi-Fi, which is fine with me, since I have wireless at home, work, and it seems to be in most coffee shops now as well.  I also bought the leather cover. 



Here are some prostate cancer books available in Kindle format.

Lifetime goal achieved

Yesterday I finished 6 weeks on the maintenance phase of Weight Watchers, and am now a Lifetime Member.  I won't have to pay any meeting dues again as long as I stay within 2 lbs. of my goal weight.  I have lost 37 lbs. since October.

My blood pressure is the same as last month (considerably down from October) but my resting heart rate has gone down to a healthier level.

I'm up to doing 3 sets of 9 reps in my pull-up workout, and expect to complete the 100 push-up challenge any day now.

My next PSA check is still a long ways off (end of July).

My bike is ready from the local bike shop after its tune-up, the weather looks great (in the 70's and 80's for highs next week) and the road is calling!

Another independent validation of the Stephenson nomogram

The nomogram developed by Dr. Andrew Stephenson was independently validated again, last year, by doctors at Loyola University.  The "Stephenson nomogram" predicts the outcome of salvage radiation and is the basis for the interactive tool on the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) website.

The researchers followed men for a median of 71 months and found no significant difference between the outcomes for their patients and what the nomogram predicted.  At a median time of 71 months, 46% were progression-free (that is, their PSA had not risen after salvage radiation.)

Biking Through Cancer, and Life

About a year ago, with the help of my wife, I got a nice bike for my 48th birthday.  It was my first decent bicycle, a Gary Fisher Tiburon.   It’s a hybrid, meaning that it’s not quite a mountain bike, nor is it a road bike.  It’s ridden in a comfortable upright position, with plenty of springs and shocks to cushion the middle-aged rider.  It’s the bicycle version of a Toyota RAV4.  A little bit SUV, a little bit sedan.  It’s beautiful, and I love it unashamedly.

I chose this particular model because I envisioned myself using it to commute the two easy miles to work.  I do--sometimes.  But the real joy, like so many of life’s pleasures, has been unexpected.  It turns out that I do ride to work sometimes, and I do take my son on little outings; but the real mileage comes in the form of longer rides--one or two hours--along the many miles of irrigation canals that run through this metro area.



The canals, some of them started in the 19th century, follow ancient Hohokam Indian canals.  Paved bike paths run along each side, diving beneath intersections in tunnels.   Wide open spaces within an urban environment await the biker, calming the psyche and invigorating the spirit.  It’s easy to forget that you are in the middle of a three million-plus metropolis.  

I come across parents taking their kids for first-time bike rides, horseback riders roaming through vast, grassy  flood-control fields, disc golf players, runners, people fishing for white amur and catfish from lawn chairs, and inevitably, the homeless.  In one particular tunnel, early in the morning, I often see Reading Guy, who sits with a book in his little camp before departing for the day.   The tableau of characters and landscape recalls the childhood classics  by Lucy Boston,  the Green Knowe books.

Prostate cancer, as a challenge and worry, has faded over the years, with consecutive undetectable PSA tests and clean exams (if you’re reading this blog for the first time, I was diagnosed at age 43, treated first by surgery and then with salvage radiation when my PSA rose).  There are other issues now within my family in regards to health and well-being, and those, along with work pressures, and everyday anxieties are the reasons I get on my bike and ride miles from home.  



As the miles pass, the worries diminish behind me.  I stop to eat lunch beneath massive eucalyptus trees planted a hundred years ago by long-departed farmers.  In the Green Knowe book, the trees were sometimes more than trees, and I think about this briefly as I sit back against their cool trunks.  Then I relax and just exist in the moment.

GOALLLL!

I'm at my goal weight for Weight Watchers.  I actually hit it a couple of weeks ago, and I'm now on maintenance.  It's nice to have a bunch more points to spend each day.  So far, so good.  6 weeks on maintenance, staying within 2 lbs. of goal,  and I'm a Lifetime Member (no more $ for meetings).

I'm now up to 3 sets of 6 reps each for pull-ups (more if I don't hang 100% down in between, but I guess that's cheating).

Can Exercise Keep You Young?

From the New York Times:
Well: Can Exercise Keep You Young?

We know that prostate cancer is directly related to aging.  So this should be of interest to all men.