Man to Man: Surviving Prostate Cancer
Michael Korda
Synopsis
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A riveting, candid, first-person account of one man's encounter with prostate cancer. Every
year some 200,000 men in this country are diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 1994, Korda,
editor in chief of Simon and Schuster and a master storyteller (The Immortals, 1992, etc.),
became one of them. He relates, doctor by doctor, test by test, fear by fear, how it changed
his life. Initially referred to Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Prostate Cancer Detection Center in
New York City, he began a learning process there that he shares honestly and clearly with
readers. After interviewing both a surgeon and a radiologist and listening to the advice of
prostate cancer survivors, he opted for surgery at Johns Hopkins. His surgeon was Dr. Patrick
Walsh, inventor of a nerve-sparing technique for radical prostatectomy that offered Korda the
hope of retaining sexual potency. Following surgery, however, it was not impotence but
incontinence, with its stigma and potential for humiliating accidents, that became his major
concern. Although Korda is amazingly frank in his discussion of his problems, male readers are
likely to find his experiences more reassuring than alarming. Happily, by book's end, some
nine months after surgery, he seems to be well on the way to living a normal life. While the
book is as difficult to put down as a good thriller, Korda's account is notable for the amount
of solid information about prostate cancer that he weaves into this very personal story. In
Korda's view, knowledge is power, and he urges all men to learn as much as possible about
prostate cancer before it happens to them. Not the final word on prostate cancer detection or
treatment, but a great awareness-raiser and highly recommended for any man who has, or has
ever had, a prostate. |