I was diagnosed in 2010, treated (proton beam therapy) in 2011, and I’ve now finally come to realize and accept that prostate cancer is only a small part of my life. I know it could change, and I know it’s a serious part of the lives of many, but if caught and treated early prostate cancer is usually manageable. I am a member of that fortunate group living with little daily impact from prostate cancer. Day by day, I don’t …

Who is your health insurance company? Or a better question might be, do you have an actual health insurance company? I bet not. At least theoretically, all types of insurance policies—auto, homeowner, renter, life, disability, business, and even health—should have something in common. After all, companies offering such policies are members of the same category of business: insurance—and the qualifying characteristic of such membership is (drum roll, please) insuring. Writers write, dancers dance, chefs cook, pilots fly, and I suppose …

I am scheduled to have septoplasty and/or turbinate reduction in about a month. My ENT would like to surgically straighten my deviated septum and trim my turbinates back to their proper size so I can breathe normally through both nostrils. That would be a pleasure indeed, but I’m vacillating between letting him do both, one, or neither procedure. The surgery will involve general anesthesia with (I presume) intubation, followed by what will likely be a pretty miserable week-long initial recovery …

Our carefree life hits a brick wall when we are diagnosed with prostate (or any) cancer. At that point we worry, we research, and we make a decision to treat or monitor our cancer. Then we worry about whether we made the right decision. Next we worry about what the future holds. Sound familiar? A cancer diagnosis injects adrenaline into our worry glands. Our inclination to worry becomes hyperactive, and things that were not even on the radar before cancer …