Our Board Chair and long time moderator, Peter Kafka, tells us how he fortuitoulsy got his Covid vaccination last week. For the first time, Peter adds the High Risk/Recurrent//Advanced Prostate Cancer Group to his Moderation repertoire this week.
POKEY MAN
i just returned this morning from getting my initial Covid-19 Moderna vaccination. Happy to report that it was an uneventful event. My anxiety level was increasing in recent days as our positive cases began to tick up considerably out here on little Maui in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Information here is slow to filter down and when I inquired about the shot I was tole that it would be some time in April or May since I was not yet 75 years old. Then, I got a surpise call from the Pacific Cancer Foundation which I volunteer for in a support and advocacy capacity and they told me that they could get me into their priority group today.
I am certainly not bragging about the above, but I mention it because there was absolutely no hesitation or concern in me about going forward with the vaccination. In the past 7-years I have been poked and scoped and proded more times then I can count. This kind of comes along with signing up for medical treatment for advanced prostate cancer. I understand that there may be as many as 40% of Americans who may decline getting a Covid-19 vaccination according to polls and predictions. And this is a personal choice in our society. But I doubt that those of us who find ourselves in this subset of Prostate Cancer guys would be so reluctant.
Over the years I have met men who chose not to enter into any kind of treatment for their more advanced prostate cancer diagnosis. Some of these men are still around and others not. I always wrestle with what my role is in this decision. I can encourage, I can strongly suggest that someone at least consult with a doctor who might be more pursuasive than me, and most of all I can point to myself as an example of a man who has not suffered from a host of medical treatments thus far. But in the end everyone must live or not with the decision they make.
The other day we had an AnCan Webinar with Dr. Jonathan Epstein, the go-to pathologist at Johns Hopkins for second opinions. He mentioned that he does actually consult with some of the men who reach out to him. This brought a smile to my face when I recalled a good friend who was leaning toward his own alternative treatments for his GL-4+3 diagnosis. I encouraged him to get a second opinion from Dr. Epstein. On his own he called the office and Dr. Epstein listened politely for 10 minutes while my friend described his alternative treatment protocol. Dr. Epstein responded, “That is all fine and good and you can continue with that protocol but you need to know that without medical intervention this disease can kill you!” That was all it took, a few weeks later he was getting radiation and he is doing fine and we are best of friends.