Prostate cancer, ProstateMd app and a Wife’s intuition

Is Penelope pretty or what? I could kiss herrrrrrrrrrr!  Eight inches of saliva and a stick…it don’t get no better than this.

Once again my wife is the star and orator of wisdom…

The local paper did this article on my book and the ProstateMd app this past Sunday. So what is it that everybody comments on? The last line of the story.

“John, I think that you’re having prostate cancer will make you a better doctor,” she said.

“I am a good one now,” I said.

Well…she was right. For many reasons patients feel I have “streed cred” now and that facilitates the whole process from informing someone of the diagnosis of prostate cancer, answering the wife’s questions, and then the journey to the treatment decision. Hell, if your doctor leaked for three months and worked with a condom catheter on the whole time, well that does mean something.

An unexpected consequence of the article is that many patients called my office stating that they did not know I had had prostate cancer and “Is Dr. McHugh Okay? Is he still seeing patients?” Too funny, the surgery was four and half years ago so that means that hundreds of my patients have seen me over that time and never knew what I had been though.

What if I start losing patients because they thing I am sick and they better get themselves a new doctor while the gettin is good?

Publicity is indeed a” two edged sword.”

Another example of my wife and her “humor” from The Decision.

On the back of a paper bag at the kitchen table, I drew a picture of my biopsy report  to indicate that only a small amount of cancer had been found and that I should do well with a good chance of cure. I remember being a little emotional talking about it and trying to be up-beat so as not to alarm her. I worried that if she saw my distress, it would cause her to be distressed too. After all, I am the breadwinner, father of our children, and her companion for almost 30 years. As I worried about upsetting her with all this information, she picked up the pencil and began to peer at the diagram I had made. She put another positive area on the picture I had just drawn, then a line through the three areas, and said, “Tic– Tac- Toe, John.” We stared at her handiwork almost mesmerized, and then she looked up at me and smiled. I thought at the time that I had done a good job of allaying her fears, but in retrospect, maybe she sensed something in me that prompted her to allay mine. Wives are smart that way. (From “The Decision”)