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 …

Here we go again. This time it’s sixty-three-year-old John Horgan, who directs the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology. John doesn’t want to heed his doctor’s advice. He says he won’t get a PSA test. He explains why in his article published in Scientific American, but Horgan’s position is neither scientific nor American. Horgan has written many articles for Scientific American about evolution, policy and ethics, physics, cognition, public health, and other topics. I suppose he …

Last year was my first attempt at making the obligatory annual predictions of a blogger. How did I do? I’ll leave that assessment to you (let me know). Regardless of my 2016 score, I’ll give it another go this year with the same general approach: I’ll keep the list short and limited to the general topic areas of The After Proton Blog—protons, prostates, and people—but with one important difference. Although my 2016 predictions were a mashup of sarcasm and semi-seriousness, …

There is no shortage of opinions, articles, policies, and publications about why, when, and how often we men should check our PSA. This unrelenting tsunami of often unsolicited advice includes the voices of medical professionals, government gurus, insurance entities, and lay people. Unfortunately, they often fail to consider a critical piece of the PSA puzzle. But before delving into that, let’s first respectfully ask: Are the members of this consortium at least well-intentioned in promoting their position on PSA testing? …