My recent cancer memoir Patting The Shark was written as part of a creative writing PhD at Griffith University. The book forms what’s called the creative component of my PhD and now it’s done, I’ve turned my attention to the academic component, the Exegesis.

Over time, I’ve realised this journey is a marathon not a sprint.

I’d be the first to admit, I came out of the blocks a bit hard, abruptly and radically overhauling my diet, exercising like a maniac, meditating like a monk, researching whacky folk remedies and overpriced herbs and supplements, desperate to do all I could to remain fit and healthy.

Living with cancer does predispose me to bouts of nostalgia, the “before times” when life felt free and easy, without this mortal threat lurking in the shadows.

Prostate cancer is often referred to as a couples’ disease because it impacts the partner of the person with the diagnosis so acutely (if they have a partner).

Never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, myself. It always feels like setting yourself up to fail, or scolding yourself for not doing enough, being virtuous enough, being enough.

PCFA is about to start a review of Australia's guidelines for prostate cancer testing, harnessing our chance to change the way we manage the disease. 

Last week we brought together some of the country's leading clinicians to talk about new and emerging treatment options that have vastly improved the way we diagnose and treat prostate cancer. 

The vodcast touches on robotic and open prostatectomies, advances in radiotherapy, and the frontlines of research into side-effect management and treatment of erectile dysfunction and incontinence.

If you have any questions, or need support, call 1800 22 00 99 to speak with a PCFA Telenurse.

You’ve probably heard these three words a fair bit in recent years. You might even be sick of hearing them, but you are probably going to have to get used to it.

In the context of cancer care, most would agree the standard of care you receive should not be determined by your bank balance, ethnicity, postcode, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation. This has been a hot topic at recent oncology conferences and for good reason.

We all need our happy place, somewhere we can get lost in a sense of something greater than the self... For me, it’s the ocean and I’ve never been more grateful to be a surfer than since my diagnosis, even as my performance levels decline with the impacts of the meds and ageing.

Nominations for Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia’s 2022 Max Gardner Awards are now officially open.

Your correspondent was recently invited to take part in the fabulous Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, for its 2022 return after two years of COVID cancellations. The festival’s theme was “Uniting Humanity” and, with writers from all over the world baring their souls, I’d say it achieved its aim.

For something a little different, herewith a photo essay of my journey, spreading the message of supportive care for men with Prostate Cancer to the world, through my book Patting The Shark.

Changing the health care system is slow, difficult and expensive.

So, I thought I’d save everyone a lot of time, cost and trouble by designing new guidelines for the delivery and management of a prostate cancer diagnosis, based on my admittedly complete absence of medical qualifications, apart from seven years as a prostate cancer patient.

The European Society of Medical Oncology 2022 Conference was hosted in Paris from 9-13 September. Updates from some of the key clinical trials presented at the conference will be discussed in this blog.  

During the COVID 19 pandemic, particularly the strict lockdowns in Victoria, there was a sharp and dramatic drop in cancer diagnoses. And the sharpest and most dramatic drop of all was for prostate cancer, with a 60% reduction in prostate cancer screening in Victoria.

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Thursday for our latest webinar, CANCER, SEX & SIDE-EFFECTS: Managing erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer

If you missed it, you can watch it back here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1jdTbgDdx0 

Have you ever felt like you have a story to tell just waiting to get out? Or thought journaling or keeping a diary might be a useful way of processing your experiences? Or just felt like getting something off your chest without burdening those around you with your angst?

By Tim Baker

There seems to be a great deal of discussion and academic attention being paid to cancer survivorship these days, which is a welcome development...

By Kalli Spencer

Treatment decision regret

Decision regret has been defined as a negative emotion involving distress or remorse following a decision and can result when the outcome of a decision is compared with the likely outcome of an unchosen alternative¹. This blog will refer to those originally diagnosed with localised prostate cancer who are often presented with several treatment options...

By Tim Baker

I went to have my annual skin cancer check the other day. No big deal.

Except as a man on hormone therapy, enduring its emasculating effects and unwanted bodily changes, stripping down to my undies even in the supposedly safe space of a doctor’s surgery can be a little anxiety producing...

Written by Bernie Riley, PCFA General Manager of Supportive Care Programs

If you have incontinence and need continence products, you might be eligible to a government subsidy known as the Continence Aids Payment Scheme (CAPS)...

By Tim Baker

When I was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer seven years ago, one of the most difficult, immediate concerns was how to talk to our kids about it...

By Tim Baker

An onco-psychologist and a surf writer walk into a library.

It sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but in reality, it’s just another day on the book promo trail. I was hugely honoured to be joined at the Brisbane Square Library on Saturday  by the one and only Prof Suzanne Chambers AO, this country’s pre-eminent authority on prostate cancer survivorship, who literally wrote the text book on the topic (“Facing The Tiger,” Australian academic Press, 2020)...

By Tim Baker

When people occasionally ask me who my favourite interviewee has been over 35+ years of surf journalism, I don’t even have to think about it.

Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz was in his late ‘80s when I was treated to an audience with surfing’s most revered medico in the plush foyer of the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel...

By Tim Baker

As some of you may have detected, it’s been a funny old week for your correspondent.

After labouring over a book, Patting The Shark, for the best part of two years, documenting my journey with metastatic prostate cancer, it was finally released. Like most authors, I felt deeply anxious and insecure about whether anyone would remotely care or take an interest. It turns out I needn’t have worried...

Urinary incontinence significantly compromises heath-related quality of life and when conservative measures fail can be improved by surgical treatment. This includes the male sling (bulbar urethral sling), and the artificial urinary sphincter (AUS). These procedures prevent involuntary urinary loss by increasing resistance to flow at the bladder exit (bladder neck)...

https://theconversation.com/physician-heal-thyself-after-4-years-of-treatment-for-stage-4-cancer-i-j...

Close readers of this blog and, indeed, the PCFA website, may have picked up on the carefully guarded secret that I have written a book about my experience living with prostate cancer and its treatment...

In the grand, time-honoured tradition of “those that don’t do, teach,” please allow me to impart what I know about maintaining sexual function during prostate cancer treatment, a mission I have failed at spectacularly myself...

Written by Exercise Physiologists Malek El-Hassan and Andrew Rivellese, in collaboration with Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA).

After a diagnosis of Prostate Cancer (PCa), you may be recommended to commence Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT). ADT is a standard first line therapy for PCa that assists to shrink or prevent the tumour from continuing to grow...

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who gave a little cheer when the news broke back recently that PSMA PET scans would now be subsidised by Medicare.

“PCFA advocated strongly for this listing and co-funded the game-changing ProPSMA study which informed the decision – we look forward to seeing this life-saving technology made available to all men who need it,” PCFA’s Chairman, Adjunct Associate Professor Stephen Callister, said....

In the unlikely event that this has escaped your notice, oncologists are extremely busy people. You probably know the drill. You sit in the waiting room thumbing through trashy magazines or watching the inanity of daytime TV as the revolving door of cancer patients trudge in and out of the oncologist’s office, until your name is called...