Medicine, Faith, Love, and Sex: The Prescription for Fighting Prostate Cancer

Rabbi Dr. Ed Weinsberg was diagnosed with Stage 2 prostate cancer in January 2007. His diagnosis came just four months after he retired as a congregational rabbi. Little did he know that he'd have a second career as a book author, blogger, and advocate for prostate cancer awareness. His book, Conquer Prostate Cancer: How Medicine, Faith, Love and Sex Can Renew Your Life, has won several awards including the 2009 Silver Nautilus Book Award for innovative books on health. While the book reviews all treatment options, it is the first and only book to emphasize robotic surgery from the perspective of an informed prostate cancer survivor and healthcare educator.

Rabbi Ed is using his platform to educate patients and caregivers, and not only chronicles his own personal cancer journey, but includes 20 profiles of others who have battled this disease.

Today he shares information about his cancer journey and his advice for men and caregivers who are facing life after cancer.

Denene Brox: Your book Conquer Prostate Cancer is all about conquering prostate cancer. What inspired you to write your book?

Rabbi Ed Weinberg: I began writing my book exactly a week after my April 12, 2007 da Vinci robotic prostate cancer operation, while my underside was still raw. In part I was inspired to write the book because I was so impressed by my pain-free surgery and relatively rapid recovery. I also wanted to help others resolve some of the initial confusion many men and their wives/ or partners experience when first diagnosed with this disease and when confronted by all too many treatment options.

DB: Your book is about conquering cancer through medicine, faith, love, and sex. How are these inter-connected in the cancer journey?

REW: As I wrote in my book's introduction, in my opinion two of the leading tools for coping with prostate cancer are medicine and faith. You can begin to control your physical state-of-being, and in turn, your state-of-mind emotionally and spiritually, by choosing robotic-assisted surgery or some other curative or healing treatment option.

Beyond the actual surgery or some other medical treatment, what you need is a positive outlook that elicits faith in yourself and in your capacity to bounce back from this illness and its treatment side effects. Beyond that you need to have faith in your doctor, if warranted, and in God or whatever Higher Power you revere. The combination of medicine and faith are significant, but that's not sufficient if you're isolated from others.

To cope with this disease and its treatment you must also be buttressed by support from family and friends or a formal support group. Equally important, most people require physical intimacy to validate their very being. Since the majority of men treated with robotic surgery or some other treatment modality become impotent and have erectile dysfunction (ED), men and women need to grapple with this and possible incontinence in ways that help them maintain or restore healthy relationships.

DB: What do you want other men and caretakers of prostate cancer patients to get from reading your book?

REW: I wrote Conquer Prostate Cancer to empower boomer and senior men to face prostate cancer diagnosis with dignity while exploring their options realistically. I hope that the book will encourage patients and formal or informal caregivers to tackle patients' recovery with optimism. (I refer here to caregivers such as doctors, nurses, physical therapists, or wives, partners and adult children). This applies to everyone who experiences or treats someone with prostate cancer, regardless of the treatment they choose. However, these objectives are particularly relevant for the majority (80%) of prostate cancer patients who are diagnosed at an early stage of this disease. Most of nearly 100,000 prostate cancer surgery patients every year opt for robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate), rather than standard open surgery.

DB: How did you learn you had prostate cancer? Describe your experience.

REW: I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January 2007. Although prostate cancer is asymptomatic for most men, before I was diagnosed I suffered from urological and sexual dysfunctions. This included constant bladder pressure and frequent trips to the men's room, and the inability to sustain sexual relations. I found this set of circumstances unnerving and visited a urologist to get help. He first assessed my prostate by having me do a prostate screening, which included a PSA blood test and DRE (digital rectal exam). This was followed by an ultrasound and then a twelve-point prostate biopsy. My cancer was found at an early stage (Stage 2 of 4) as it was still localized, that is, contained within the prostate. I was not particularly alarmed when first diagnosed, since I had learned years earlier as a doctoral student in gerontology that if a man lives long enough, he's likely to get prostate cancer. My wife, on the other hand, broke down crying, and I had to reassure her that I would be fine. She was particularly upset that after all my years of counseling congregants who confronted cancer, and even co-founding a hospice early in my rabbinical career, I myself ended up encountering prostate cancer - the single most widespread, non-skin male cancer.

DB: As someone who has gone through prostate cancer diagnosis and surgery, what advice do you give to other men who are facing surgery?

REW: Men facing prostate cancer should visit their doctors with their wives or partners or a close friend. This is crucial because you need a second set of ears in order to absorb everything your doctor discusses with you. It's also critical that patients don't remain passive, but become active members of their healthcare team. They can do so by asking their doctors ten vital questions (listed at my blog, www.ConquerProstateCancer.com), to avoid confusion and fully understand their illness and the benefits and risks of each type of treatment. New patients should always seek a second or third opinion before making a final decision on the type of treatment that is best for them. Make every effort to get a doctor who is both technically skillful and humane, with the kind of "bedside manners" to lift your spirits before and after you are treated. In their quest for the right doctor and treatment, men should not hurry, as prostate cancer is a slow-growing disease.

DB: How has cancer changed you?

REW: First, cancer has changed me physically. On one hand I no longer have a urological dysfunction, since I no longer have bladder problems and did not become incontinent. On the other hand I now have long-term ED, although I'm responsive to certain medications and aids that help. This state-of-affairs (pardon the pun!) led me to reevaluate the nature of intimacy between husbands and wives. As an author this led me to supplement my book by writing "Ten Tips for Enhancing Sexual Intimacy after Prostate Cancer," to be published on my blog and in print. Professionally my illness led to my publishing many other articles and also led to radio and TV appearances on different aspects of this disease, following the publication of my book in October 2008. My experience with prostate cancer has led me to communicate my needs much more openly and effectively in public presentations and privately when conversing with my wife. Between cancer and aging (we're now in our mid-sixties), we've become increasingly open when discussing matters of life and death.

DB: What can readers expect when they read your book?

REW: The book is not only about me, but profiles twenty other prostate cancer survivors, who chose various treatment options and describe their personal experiences. It also presents the latest research and advances in treatment. While it's a serious book, I wrote it with a low-key sense of humor and added many true, upbeat stories, making this book a readable, powerful tool for surviving prostate cancer.

In Spring 2009, the book was granted four national book awards, acknowledging its contribution to men's health and issues. But far from being a book intended only for boomer and senior men, it's also intended for women who are their partners, wives and mothers, as well as for their daughters and granddaughters.

Additional Resources:

The book’s companion blog is www.ConquerProstateCancer.com , which offers free information updating the book while providing support for prostate cancer patients, survivors and their wives or partners. Rabbi Ed is also the author of two free reports, available for subscribers to his blog: "Ten Vital Questions to Ask Your Doctor" and "How Sex Therapy and Enhanced Intimacy Can Help You and Your Spouse Cope with Erectile Dysfunction."

Rabbi Ed addressed the issue of coping with prostate cancer when he appeared on Good Morning America with Dr. Tim Johnson, ABC-TV’s Chief Medical Editor  (see the video below).