The best advice for your prostate
A personal story
Get your PSA checked, every man over sixty!
What inspired me to write this article? It was a compelling story I read in one of those hospital brochures. It was about Harm-Jan, and his experiences showed in a painful, almost shocking way how incredibly dangerous it can be to put off preventive screening time and time again. It’s really something to think about, because we all know that feeling of “I’ll do it later.” This fifty-five-year-old man cycled enormous distances every weekend, ate healthily, and felt in great shape. When his doctor recommended a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test, he dismissed it. “I’m healthy,” he insisted. That blind conviction cost him dearly.
Half the battle
The same thing happened to a friend who contacted me after my own prostate cancer treatment. During our conversation, I asked him if he had ever had his PSA level checked. He looked at me in surprise—he had never heard of it! “Man,” I said, “you’re over sixty. Just get your blood tested. That’s half the battle.” He did. A few days later, he called me with the bad news: metastatic prostate cancer. Without a single complaint, without pain, without warning. The cancer cells were not only in his prostate, but had already spread to his joints.
The hard numbers don’t lie
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men. Every year, fifteen to eighteen thousand Dutch men are diagnosed with this disease. It is mainly a disease that strikes after the age of sixty, with most diagnoses occurring around the age of seventy. And those who wait too long to take action? They increase their risk of death by as much as forty-five percent. An alarming figure.
My own experience
After turning sixty, I faithfully went to my doctor every year for a blood test. In the first few years, my PSA levels were perfectly normal. Nothing to worry about, I thought. But slowly I saw those levels rise, until I was finally referred to a urologist. I still felt nothing at all—no pain, no unusual urinary problems, really nothing. Yet the blood test showed conclusively: prostate cancer.
Fortunately, I caught it early: no metastases. The urologist was immediately clear: “Mr. Van Putten, we are going for a complete cure. You will need twenty radiation treatments and hormone therapy for six months, but that is still better than dying at a relatively young age.” After a year of treatment, I am now completely cured.
Why is it so insidious?
The viciousness of prostate cancer lies in the fact that it starts completely silently. You don’t feel anything, you don’t notice anything. Meanwhile, a tumor can grow in your prostate that can suddenly become aggressive. And the only thing that gives it away is your blood count. If you avoid regular checkups, you give the cancer every opportunity to grow and spread unnoticed. Then successful treatment becomes a lot more difficult.
The urologist once gave me a striking comparison: ignoring a PSA test is like driving on with a red light on your dashboard. One day, the engine will simply stall.
Early detection is essential
Early detection makes treatment more effective, less intensive, and greatly increases the chance of a full recovery. It’s actually crazy: women get standard check-ups for cervical and breast cancer, and everyone over a certain age gets a call for a colonoscopy. But for men and their prostate? You often have to chase that yourself.
If you are 50 or older, make an appointment with your doctor. You may encounter some resistance—not every doctor is enthusiastic about routine PSA testing. But hey, you are ultimately responsible for your own body. The PSA test is super simple: a single blood test. Early detection prevents metastasis and preserves all chances of a full recovery.
In short: are you over sixty? Have your blood values checked. It could literally save your life.
@ Wim van Putten