Rediscovering life and manhood after prostate cancer
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the end of 2019 and feared losing my manhood and my life. I was lucky to have my prostate surgically removed before the cancer spread more widely. The most minimal roadmap for recovery was provided. I want to expand the roadmap and the conversation about recovering life and manhood after prostate cancer.
Step by step, this is to share my story as it unfolded over the last 15 months. My aim is to mark some points on the rather uncharted landscape, so you can build your own roadmap. It is a direct and personal account of my body, head, heart and soul journey as well as the inner and outer resources that helped me along the way. I am also grateful to my wife and other cancer survivors for sharing their stories on these pages.
The goal: rebuild health, expand identity as a man.
Before and after surgery: two short videos
Get the lowdown in 3 minutes: click above for 2 short, revealing videos
Invitation to subscribe
Use the link below to receive future updates. Your email address will only be used to share information about recovering from Prostate Cancer, and won’t be shared with any third parties.
Journeys of recovery from prostate cancer
Below are the thumbnails of the most recent posts – click on each for the full story. For chronological order, please visit diagnosis, treatment and recovery pages. More here every week. I invite you to subscribe (see above and sidebar on the right/below) so you don’t miss a thing.
Day 29: Healthy action to support cancer healing
27 March 2020: I want to take healthy action to support my cancer healing. A month ago my surgeon cut out all or most of the cancerous tissue. Now it is up to me to live healthy, in the widest sense [...]
Day 27: Lockdown and turning inwards, turning to earth
25 March 2020: My cancer and the global pandemic are calling me inwards. It feels like world events are asking all of us to make radical reassessments. Maybe the cancer gave me a head start. It is demanding that I turn [...]
Day 19: Deep desire to reclaim fitness and get back to work
17 March 2020: OK, I admit I have a deep desire to reclaim physical fitness and get back to work after radical prostatectomy. The idea of "normal life" has a great pull on me. In this moment I'm celebrating small wins [...]
Day 13: Healing practices to get through the night
12 March 2020: Spiritual and energetic healing practices help me get through difficult nights. I am grateful to my wonderful somatic coach, Vanissar Tarakali. She gave me a wonderful ritual to direct energy and compassion towards the parts of my body [...]
Day 11: Improving my anti-cancer diet
9 March 2020: I am convinced that a healthy anti-cancer diet improves my chances of keeping cancer at bay. My cousin Conner Middelmann is an expert on anti-cancer diet - how lucky is that?! As I begin to pick up the [...]
Day 9: Basic functions coming back
7 March 2020: It's only nine days since radical prostatectomy and my basic physical and mental functions are coming back. I am down to one strong painkiller per night. Yesterday my wife and I walked our normal 3 kilometre morning walk [...]
Day 7: Cancer close to spreading beyond prostate
5 March 2020: Yesterday my surgeon told me just how close my cancer had come to spreading beyond my prostate gland. It's a huge relief to know that my doctor's hunch last November and a quick response to her initial warning [...]
Day 6: Robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery is magnificent treatment
4 March 2020: I am hugely blessed to have gone through such major surgery so easily and to be quite obviously on the mend. Robotic assisted laparoscopic surgery is absolutely magnificent treatment. It is indeed minimally invasive - given that they [...]
Day Zero: radical prostatectomy surgery
Imagine being on that table: Operating Theatre with Robotic Surgery Machine 27 February 2020: Up at 4 am, Uber to hospital in the dark for my radical prostatectomy. I'm so scared and yet something is reassuring about all [...]
Prostate cancer screening saved my life
5 March 2020: I have learned a lot about prostate cancer screening tests. I was lucky enough to be diagnosed in time, before it had spread. Which is why I found myself knocking on Dr Lorraine Becker's door with a big [...]
Research part 2: Prostate surgery details
24 January 2020: Part of what I like about my surgeon is that he can explain so clearly what my options are and how it all works. Once I made my choice of Radical Robotic-Assisted laparoscopic Prostatectomy (RARP), he also backed [...]
Disclosing my cancer diagnosis at work
13 February 2020: Do I disclose my cancer diagnosis at work? My first instinct was to be completely open and tell everybody and anybody who’s interested. After all, cancer affects lots of people and it’s good to show and share vulnerability, [...]
Invitation to contribute
Your input is invited
- Please comment on individual blog entries and ask questions. You do need to give your valid email address (to avoid spam) and your contact info won’t be published or abused in any way. You are welcome to use a nickname or even “anonymous.”
- Use the Contact page to open up broader topics
- Consider sharing your story. Example 1 and example 2. Maybe your voice and story also belong here? Let me know