Prostate Cancer: Sheep or Wolf?: Navigating Systemic Misinformation - Softcover

Wadsworth, Murray Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1732938105 ISBN 13: 9781732938106

Publisher: Murray Keith Wadsworth, 2019

Synopsis

Before you choose a treatment strategy, you need to know whether you’re facing sheep or wolves -- and where they all are.

Murray Wadsworth was a fit and enthusiastic weekend triathlete who included regular checkups and annual screenings for prostate cancer in his overall health and wellness plan. At age forty-seven, though, he was caught off guard by a prostate cancer scare after a routine blood test. The biopsy came back clear, and Wadsworth carried on with his active life. But ten years later, another routine screening raised a concern. This time, the biopsy tested positive for cancer.

Prostate Cancer: Sheep or Wolf? is the riveting story of one man’s parallel journeys: Balancing a diagnosis of and treatment for prostate cancer while embarking on multiple RV road trips between treatment regimens throughout the US and Europe. This book offers a revealing and insightful look into how America’s healthcare system leads men into blind alleys, fear traps, and under- and overtreatment.

There is considerable confusion and misinformation about prostate cancer screening, including whether men should even screen at all and what to make of the results. But even when men think they’re informed about symptoms and screening, the presence of prostate cancer can be missed.

Despite regular PSA and DRE screening, Murray Wadsworth’s cancer went undetected for years. When he was diagnosed at fifty-seven while working in England, he took no solace in the myth that prostate cancer is an old man’s disease. But even a grim outlook and undefined stages couldn’t keep Murray from pursuing the adventures of a lifetime. He understood the statistics, but dismissed immediate treatment. Instead, he took a different path.

In this poignant, rigorously referenced narrative, Murray Wadsworth details his exhaustive personal quest—one that took him to Europe several times and saw him living in an RV and venturing through the Rocky Mountains. In Europe, he discovered an entirely different approach than he’d found in the US; European treatments were not propelled by marketing and profit, but rather by cutting-edge medical technologies that may have removed all his disease.

READ THIS BOOK and learn in about two hours what it took Murray Wadsworth three years and countless medical consultations on two continents to learn: How to use groundbreaking technologies to thoroughly diagnosis the threat and make treatment decisions that are right for you.

Confidence remains high that Wadsworth got all the sheep. With the right information, you can better understand the threat, and possibly beat prostate cancer too.

About this title

Review

"A fascinating journey through the complexities of US healthcare, insurance, and prostate cancer. Where screening is discouraged and treatment options all come with unacceptable side effects. Well researched, but easy to read. As a survivor and physician, I could appreciate both sides of Murray's dilemma." --James Thomson, M.D.

"The diagnosis of prostate cancer is a frightening one. Even as a health care provider, it is difficult to keep up with the ever-changing research and recommendations for diagnosis and management of this all too common disease. Prostate Cancer: Sheep or Wolf? does a fabulous job of discussing both the mainstream and the cutting-edge options, and will be immensely helpful to many men as they investigate the alternatives." --Michael J. Hilts, M.D.

"Today, buffeted by hard marketing, hype and misleading guidance, a diagnosis of prostate cancer is one of toughest life events many men will face. Neither promoting or demonising any particular approach, this thoroughly-researched and referenced book will be a valuable resource for men, whether they are at the point of considering screening or have already received a diagnosis of prostate cancer. However, Wadsworth's engaging narrative style and use of charming illustrations makes it a delight to read." --Dr Carole Wyatt, MBBCh (UK)

"This is not only a very informative book, but is also exceptionally easy to read - I completed it in one sitting. The author refers to low-risk cancers as 'sheep' and high-risk cancers as 'wolves'. These analogies not only reflect the tameness, or otherwise, of those animals, butt he degree to which one (the sheep) remains in the enclosure (the prostate gland) whilst the other (the wolf) is able to roam beyond this confine. 
 
The book highlights the importance of multidisciplinary meetings, which are obligatory in cancer management in the NHS. This allows a second review not only of the histopathology, but also a second interpretation of the multiparametric MRI (mpMRI). If the histopathology suggests a lower grade tumour than does the MRI, repeat targeted biopsies are required. 
 
The patient's wishes are also represented by the Clinical Nurse Specialist so that a management plan can be formulated with the surgeon and oncologist that will be acceptable to the patient.

Blind biopsies are no longer performed (without prior mpMRI) in men under the age of 70, unless the PSA level is so high as to indicate metastatic disease, often confirmed by a radionuclide bone scan, the initial imaging modality in such unfortunate cases. Even men over the age of 70 with lower PSAs are increasingly being offered an initial MRI prior to biopsy.
 
Another point that is worth noting is that active surveillance(AS) does not simply refer to serial PSAs. AS also involves repeat mpMRIs +/-repeat biopsies at 12-18 month intervals.
The author has illustrated the minefield that is the management of intermediate risk prostate cancer. The degree of risk that an individual's cancer poses is a crucial assessment for determining the level of morbidity (incontinence/impotence) that that individual should be prepared to accept. In a young patient this becomes more acutely focussed and is a major dilemma for the patient but also a major headache for the healthcare professionals charged with recommending the most appropriate management.
 
In conclusion, this book is a must-read for those worried about their PSA result and for those who have recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer." --Dr Eryl A Thomas, MRCP, FRCR Consultant radiologist (retired) James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, England

"Mr. Wadsworth has written a very personal account of his ongoing battle with Prostate cancer. Although not a treatise on treatment of Prostate cancer it does contain and demonstrate several actions that I, as a Physician treating various cancers, feel are important to all patients.
 
First - Patients must be involved in their care decisions. Although there are Cancer treatment guidelines (such as NCCN.org), cancer treatment is not "one size fits all"! Mr. Wadsworth demonstrates this very well. 
 
Second - Physical fitness and physical activity are important aspects of treatment. Fitness will allow better tolerance of treatment. Maintaining focus on overall health and not on the cancer will improve one's mental outlook. Again, this is well demonstrated by Mr. Wadsworth. 
 
Third - Occupy your mind with something besides the cancer. This is demonstrated by selecting RV options, planning travels, and restoring an old boat.
 
Again, all cancers and all cancer patients are unique but this book does provide examples of how to accept and deal with a cancer diagnosis sadly common to many men." --Jack Walzel, M.D.

From the Author

When a medical consultation in London found the small prostate cancer tumor that had been missed during years of screening back home in Austin, Texas, I began to understand how all the misinformation surrounding this deadly yet treatable disease had not only misled me, it put me in grave risk for an early and otherwise avoidable death. Immediately I started journaling my thoughts, my patient research findings and what I heard in my many medical consultations. At the time I did not realize I had started writing this book.     
 
Chapter One The Screening Conundrum is scientifically referenced yet easily explains from a patient perspective how screening, or the lack of, fails so many men. Chapter Two How Screening Failed Me journals my sixteen years of screening, including an apparently benign prostate biopsy ten years before my diagnosis. The graphing of my PSA blood test results clearly shows how my cancer was missed for too many years.
 
Chapters Three, Four and Five journals nine months of medical consultations in US and London, including two prostate MRI's and other diagnostic tests, before I made my treatment decision.  Knowing I faced a risk that my cancer had already begun to spread, Chapter Six explains why I came to choose surgery, a prostatectomy, the very method I strived to avoid.  
 
Chapter Seven Mira Vista is a reflection on my decisions and the recognition that the prostatectomy did not get all the cancer. Chapter Eight Radiotherapy and Outlook covers the difficult period of selecting my next treatment, which in turn also failed to get all the remaining cancer.  
 
Chapter Nine Between a Rock and Hard Place is where I found myself, with remaining cancer after two aggressive treatments and no clear next step. As near panic drove my continuing approach of being a patient detective, patient scientist and self-advocate, I found my way to the Netherlands for a world leading MRI which led to pelvic lymph node surgery in Belgium in March 2018. Today, my PSA continues undetectable for prostate cancer. Although I do not consider myself cured, I am grateful beyond words.
 
Read Prostate Cancer Sheep or Wolf? Navigating Systemic Misinformation and understand in a couple of hours what took me three years to discover about this deadly yet very treatable (and curable) disease. 
 
Murray Keith Wadsworth

Edition details

• Publisher: Murray Keith Wadsworth
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1732938105
• ISBN 13: 9781732938106
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 162