Prostate Expert Christopher Lukas shares Prostate management news and commentary at ProstateCommons.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2936/fears-middle-night Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:56:56 -0500 Christopher Lukas It is June 2nd, and I am standing in the middle of a dusty street in the one-horse town of Pecos, New Mexico. Across the road is the Pecos Trading Company, where hand-tooled leather saddles sit side by side with Stetson hats and old phonograph records, struggling to catch the tourist's eye. Wild flowers dot the verge, cattle wander in the distance, and the faraway mesas attest to ancient peoples and an ancient geology. My wife Susan and I have... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2936/fears-middle-night http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2708/good Wed, 20 Dec 2006 07:16:51 -0500 Christopher Lukas This essay is not about prostate cancer. It’s about my music teacher. I started taking piano lessons at the age of 62. Realizing that retirement would be coming down the line in a number of years, I didn’t want to be caught empty-handed; I wanted something to do with my “final years.” Of course, it was stupid, on the face of it: I was far from the end of my active life. Since then, besides continuing to write and to make documentary... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2708/good http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2842/cancer-cost-staying Mon, 11 Dec 2006 19:01:52 -0500 Christopher Lukas When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was 65 years old and just becoming eligible for Medicare. Due to an unfortunate error on my part, I didn’t sign up for Part B, which pays for doctors’ services and other outpatient care, in January of that year, though I rectified that mistake within a month. (I had thought that treatment at a hospital would be inpatient; it isn’t. It’s outpatient.) Due to an unfortunate error on... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2842/cancer-cost-staying http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2812/agerelated-treatment Wed, 06 Dec 2006 05:40:50 -0500 Christopher Lukas Ever since I started learning about prostate cancer, which was when I was diagnosed five years ago, I have believed that men over 80 shouldn’t get treated for the disease. More accurately, I thought that surgery for prostate cancer for men that age was both worrisome and unnecessary. This was because I believed the research that suggested that men that old with most prostate cancers would not live long enough to die of prostate cancer, but... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2812/agerelated-treatment http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2784/imrt-drive-cancer Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:32:57 -0500 Christopher Lukas Today's New York Times includes an article, on the business of prostate cancer treatment, that is certain to infuriate some, frighten others, and leave still others baffled. The front-page story details recent criticism of and skepticism about the growing popularity of external multiple beam radiation treatment (called I.M.R.T.), even though several other well-accepted treatment options exist. I.M.R.T. is what I received at Memorial... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2784/imrt-drive-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2760/update-zacks-seed Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:06:49 -0500 Christopher Lukas Last time I wrote about Zack, he had been about to go for his seed implantation. That was about a month ago. So I thought I should check up on him. Here was his email response: “Urgency. Frequency: Those were terms I thought I understood – until now!” I phoned to get a better view of things. While Zack was in no pain, the warnings about “side-effects” from the seed implantation came to fruition. He had frequent and urgent need to... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2760/update-zacks-seed http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2711/method-cancer Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:49:05 -0500 Christopher Lukas As everyone reading my blog—and this website—knows, the PSA test has not been the best diagnostic test ever invented. It can mislead both men with cancer and men who don’t have cancer. Since the PSA can rise and fall, and since different labs may give different readings, the PSA has had both false negatives and false positives.This can lead, especially in the false positives, to repeated biopsies—an unnecessary intrusion, physically... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2711/method-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2686/its-medication Wed, 15 Nov 2006 04:45:51 -0500 Christopher Lukas According to the results of the National Cancer Awareness Survey, 60 percent of Americans are concerned they might be at risk for cancer. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed were afraid of getting prostate cancer. When you take into account that only half of those surveyed were men, that’s like saying that 56% of men are afraid of getting prostate cancer.What’s upsetting is that over two-thirds of those surveyed believe that “healthy... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2686/its-medication http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2638/time-talk Wed, 08 Nov 2006 12:08:38 -0500 Christopher Lukas At the very beginning of these essays, I wrote about finding a psychotherapist if any of the following fears affected you (as a man with prostate cancer): I’m going to die. I’m going to be impotent. My wife (partner) is going to leave me. I’m going to be incontinent. I’m going to be in pain. But this really ignored the other side of the equation—what if your wife or partner is the one with the fears? This came to mind this week... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2638/time-talk http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2588/seed-revisited Fri, 27 Oct 2006 05:43:21 -0400 Christopher Lukas I had lunch with Zack yesterday. In ten days, he’ll get his seed implantation (brachytherapy); he’s been having some anxiety about it, but nothing he can’t handle. The hormone shot he had in July gave him a diminution in sex drive, and I thought that would make a good reason to revisit the whole question of seed implantation. If you go on-line, there are lots of sites that can offer you differing views of that mode of treatment. Some... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/65/2588/seed-revisited