by I was having dinner last night with my attorney and a medical doctor friend of ours. The conversation eventually turned to the issue of mortality and average aging and what kills men.
Our MD friend said most men, if they live long enough, will eventually
die of prostate cancer because the prostate is always decaying and can
cause a multiplicity of problems throughout the body.
The unfortunate fact, our MD said, is how few men regularly get a prostate examination to keep an eye out for any possible trouble.
We previously discussed here the 21 Ways to try to help prevent the advancement of prostate cancer — and while there might be great pleasure in keeping your body fit and healthy down there — the news that our prostates are always there, forever ticking against us despite our best healthy efforts, was fairly depressive news. If you’re a man, do you get a regular prostate examination?
If so, do you request the exam or does your MD insist upon it?
If you are female — are you vigilant in your demand that the men in your life get prostate health inspections? If so, is your demand happily accepted or quietly ignored?
One day we may have a prostate cancer vaccine and we may well wonder why it took so long and why a larger, more historically dangerous threat to female human living — breast cancer — is yet to be cured.
The most sobering news for all of us is the number one killer for both males and females: Lung cancer.
Here’s the historical evidence from the American Cancer Society:
The charts provide a blunt truth cancer is still a major killer in the United States and we need to be vigilant in our effort to find a cure.
I know what Jaren will be doing tonight. This is a severe issue. Women must have regular exams and men too.
Hey Anne!
I don’t think I want to know what you mean by “what Jaren will be doing tonight.” 😉
Seriously, this is a really important matter. Prostate cancer is getting a lot of attention lately and a lot of money is being dumped into finding a cure — I find it unfortunate there hasn’t been the same sort of fervor for curing breast cancer all these years. I wonder if that’s because men control more of the research money and its spending and direction?
Is breast cancer seen as more common and less scary than prostate?
I think we’ve been more exposed to the dangers of breast cancer over a longer trend of time, Anne, so yes it is probably seen as less scary than the newer discovery of prostate cancer danger. It is interesting to me that so much research money has been dropped — diverted perhaps — from other cancer studies and then put directly into curing the prostate.
May pants are down around my ankles… let me count the 21 ways…
I think it’s about feeling gay. Men don’t like other men or anyone else sticking a finger up their butts and feeling around.
Things get so busy in the world we forget to take care of ourselves too often.
Karvain!
Ha! Bend over and cough when you say that!
I think you’re right that a lot of straight men do not like anything getting poked up there. The problem is the salvation of the life is in the preservation of the cure.
JMS —
You’re right. Until we’re actively ill, few of us seek out regular preventative maintenance on our bodies.
guess i should not feel so bad for so mch the late relif nights i knew that pressure was bad. now is good to start practicing for old age health
arin —
Good on ya! 😀
If only we knew then what you know now!
Here’s an excellent medical resource at NYU concerning prostate cancer:
http://www.med.nyu.edu/nyuci/cancer/prostate/
This is a test of the new Mac OS Leopard Safari 3.0 Web Browser!
I am typing this in the box to insert my comment but with this particular WordPress.com theme for my UrbanSemiotic.com blog, the input window is extremely small and if you have a lot to say you can quickly lose sight of what you said and what you meant to say because you end up spending so much of your time scrolling up and down to read what you wrote and what you want to write!
Look, Ma, no more horizontal scroll bars! 🙂
While the World Ticks Away
Because of our nature as selfish, yet cogent, beings — we fail to realize how hard the world spins while sleeping. We miss so much with our eyes closed and minds dreaming. Too many of think the world ends when