One week from tomorrow is the date for my next PSA test. I know this because all my reminder systems—Alexa, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, etc.—simultaneously started beeping at me today. It’s time to prepare. And prepare I must. For some men a PSA test is a simple blood test. For me, it is a week-long process requiring careful planning. It is more than a brief encounter with a lab tech, a needle, and a vein. It is a physical and …

Q: How are you? A: Fine, thanks! And you? Remember when it was that simple? Not so these days, especially since my encounter with cancer. Since then, a different set of brain synapses trigger when I hear that question. It actually sounds different now, and the days of mindless automatic answers are gone. This came into focus for me when a friend recently asked me in an email, “How are you, Ron? Really.” The last word was a tipoff. She …

People say that we cancer survivors are fighting a courageous battle. The see us as brave warriors—even heroes—in the midst of a war. I have always had trouble relating to that characterization. I never wanted to fight in this war, and I don’t feel brave or heroic. But now, seven years post-treatment, I’m beginning to agree: maybe we are warriors. Of course, neither you nor I volunteered for this. We were forced onto a battlefield of cancer-related choices full of …

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 …