September is National Prostate Awareness Month. Frankly, I would never have known if I did not write and report on health topics. Prostate cancer does not get the “noise” that breast cancer, or even ovarian cancer, receives. Yet, it is the most common cancer in men after skin cancer.
According to statistics from the American Cancer Society, one in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer as compared to one in 8 women diagnosed with breast cancer. There are about 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer and 26,540 deaths from the disease. While prostate cancer is a serious disease, many men diagnosed do not die from it. More than 2.9 million men in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
Unfortunately, my father, Mel Young, is not one of them. He died from metastasized prostate cancer in November 2009. He lived a long time with the disease and underwent many forms of treatment including radiation, but the cancer spread to his kidneys and eventually we realized until too late, his brain. During that time I learned about things like PSA counts and a prostatectomy (Dad chose not to have one). But I never really knew what the purpose of the prostate was and wasn’t 100% sure where it was located in the men’s plumbing department.
Now that my husband is in his 50s, I am urging him to have his first digital rectal exam, and he is avoiding the conversation. While most prostate cancers occur in older men- the average age is 66- men should discuss when to start screening, especially if there is a family history. This is especially important because there are no early symptoms associated with early prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer affects men of all background and ethnicities. According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, prostate cancer is 1.6 times more common and 2.4 times more deadly among African-American men than Caucasian men.
Prostate health is important to men, and it is important for women to understand why and to start the conversation if your man is not taking care of his medical appointments.
Dr. Dudley Seth Danoff, MD, FACS is a renowned urologist who is president and founder of the Cedars-Sinai Tower Urology Medical Group in Los Angeles. He’s written a frank book, “The Ultimate Guide To Male Sexual Health.” which really digs in deep without too much medical jargon on everything you need to know about the penis, the prostate and male sexual health.
He joins me on the September 21 edition of Fearless Fabulous You! discuss what every woman needs to know about prostate health and how to open the conversation with your man. W4WN, 4:28 pmEST). This will be the first of a two part series. On a later date, Dr. Danoff will be back to probe the penis and explain all how your man can stay vital at any age. As always you can listen to all of my shows on iHeart.com and the iHeart App. Direct link: https://www.iheart.com/show/209-Fearless-Fabulous-You/
Resources:
Books by Melanie Young. All are available nationwide:
