Surviving Prostate Cancer

Surviving Prostate Cancer: A survivor’s mostly funny diary, 21.6 PSA to 1.4 and dropping is a humorous yet in-depth, no-nonsense account of the near-year the author spent experiencing successful treatment for prostate cancer. A tack-head summary of its contents would be “Discovery, The Shots, The TURP, Radiation, Incontinence, No Flow, Another Cut, and Victory.” To better understand Gordon’s account, this is his book’s Table of Contents: (1) Discovery—but what’s a prostate?, (2) Damn! So what do I do now? (The Shots and the TURP) (3) Radiation: Do I really glow in the dark? (4) Every day is a fry day, (5) Is the radiation short-circuiting my brain? (6) This cancer is a real confidence eater, (7) A one-day reprieve, (8) The weekly doctor tell-all, (9) Incontinence? I can’t run fast enough… (10) Hasta luego, radiator! (11) No flow! (12) Even Governor Brown is trying it out, (13) Another cut, (14) Happy 2013—I can pee again! (15) Whew!, and (16) Victory (I think). Burgett’s off-beat view of being a patient—worse yet, one who peed invisibly almost any place anytime, until nature, his urologist, and some magic pills mercifully intervened—is directed at any male targeted to harshly host man’s second most prevalent disease. It’s also written for their spouses, kids, parents, and arm-distance friends. In other words, almost everybody. Gordon had most of the usual treatments, told the usual lies, slept next to the washroom (and sometimes woke up in it), yet he also kept his publishing business alive, wrote articles and books, bemused “please-don’t-touch” buddies, and spoke to unaware groups (in public). In other words, take a read so that if you too live (and don’t die) by the PSA you’ll know what’s up, what sounds awful but isn’t much, what nobody mentions but actually is kind of awful, and a nifty, little-known regimen to use when you must urinate through a hole smaller than a pin prick for weeks. No tongue-twisting technical terms either. Burgett is 75 and if he can walk across hot, malignant coals and still have cold feet, you can too. Here’s the inside stuff…

Explains how to come to terms with the diagnosis of prostate cancer, evaluate the severity of the disease, and assess the variety of treatment options and their complications. This book covers discussion of the causes of prostate cancer and an evaluation of other books on the subject. It also includes a summary of the useful websites. The most informative book available on prostate cancer by a doctor who has himself survived the disease When Dr. E. Fuller Torrey was diagnosed with prostate cancer, none of the books he could find was current enough or comprehensive enough to satisfy his need for information. This book is for the hundreds of thousands of other men who each year receive the same frightening diagnosis. It is the book Dr. Torrey wished he had when he was facing the countless questions that a man with prostate cancer, and his family and friends, all confront. Complete, up-to-date, and readable, the book explains how to come to terms with the diagnosis of prostate cancer, evaluate the severity of the disease, and assess the variety of treatment options and their complications. Many chapters provide information other books barely consider, such as a full discussion of the causes of prostate cancer and an evaluation of other books on the subject. Also included is a summary of the most useful Web sites. The author mixes his personal experience with factual material, and he maintains a reassuring sense of humor. His advice is practical, with dozens of tips and lists including “Ten Steps to Sanity for Men Recently Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.” With Dr. Torrey’s book in hand, readers can now tackle all the important decisions about prostate cancer, confident in having the most accurate and complete information available.