U.S. Mint to issue $5 breast cancer awareness coin

81GyGuy said...

Obviously my ulterior motive for bringing this subject up is to wonder whether, if the BC people are doing this (and, honestly, more power to them if it helps the cause), then maybe a PCa commemorative coin should be on the horizon? (Maybe they could color it blue!)

Apparently all it would take to do this is to enlist the help of a congressman, and follow the lead of the BC camp. Maybe a useful approach would be to bring this to the attention of one or more of the PCa organizations and invite them to support the idea to their constituencies, who may then contact their congresspeople.

Are you kidding?

Just look at the under-enthusiastic response to "Movember" that's here at HW/PC amongst the people who should be the most enthusiastic supporters...



PC overtreatment has given prostate cancer a "bad name," and it difficult to get people excited to speak-up about this disease. I think that we have the potential to reverse the overtreatment stigma, and a few things have moved in the right direction, but...

81GyGuy said...
Are we really that indifferent? Is that what it is, indifference?

Indifference? I don’t think it’s indifference. Indifference means a lack of interest, concern or sympathy. I think that’s different than what I see here. Keep in mind that prostate cancer is really a spectrum of diseases...a whole lot of the favorable-risk kind, and a little of the unfavorable-risk kind. What I'm going to describe here affects the large numbers of men on the favorable-risk side; half or more of all diagnoses.

I’ll tell you what I think it is…cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a mental stress caused by having two contradictory beliefs or ideas at the same time…in this case, it is the inability to accept that the terrible sacrifice made by seeking immediate aggressive treatment did not result in much significance. We have a very large population of “PC survivors” who know that they anguished over their initial cancer diagnosis, but have grown to realize after-the-fact that they over-reacted or they are slowly—and at various stages of realization—coming to grips with that fact. Some have even written books about the late realization that they have been overtreated for PC {“I want my prostate back!", for example}. Please allow me to embellish, and then I’ll ask you tell me what you think about this perspective…ok?

First of all, let’s acknowledge some facts. The 5-year mortality of prostate cancer is about 1%. The vast majority of men diagnosed with PC will not die from PC. Some will, and in fact 26,000 will in the US this year, but many, many times more will have been diagnosed and “branded” with the cancer label than will die from it. Prostate cancer is one of the most common and least lethal of all cancers. For the last decade we’ve known that treatment of low-risk disease does absolutely nothing to increase longevity of life…nothing.

Second, as an outcome of our society’s fears of “the big C,” which often causes rushed, emotion-driven beliefs (rather than data-driven decisions) to treat aggressively and quickly, coupled with the high rate of diagnosis of PC discussed above, we have an “epidemic” of PC overtreatment. Cancer can be a scary word, evoking images of swift, painful death that we have learned and seen from the other types of cancer that are 10-, 25- or 100-times worse than PC in terms of mortality. Nobody can say exactly how many men, but we know from the groups of men who have been followed in studies that never needed treatment that it is at least half of all men diagnosed. That means that today we have somewhere between one and two million men alive in the US who have been overtreated for PC. That’s a lot.

So what we’ve got is men who we know were overtreated from a medical perspective but are gung-ho about their personal aggressiveness and commitment to kick cancer’s butt…even when it didn’t need kicking. They are naturally gung-ho because they sacrificed so much financially, emotionally and physically that to be less than gung-ho would second guess their decision. Nobody wants to second guess an irreversible, side-effect prone treatment decision. So, the whole topic of PC overtreatment is difficult to talk about with the very men who were, themselves, overtreated. The cognitive dissonance is a challenge to deal with: proud to have stood up to cancer, but troubled to stand-up and admit that maybe they were overtreated. One of the best quotes from the thread “Do you have a favorite saying?” is: “A decision made in haste sometimes takes a long time to own up to.”

I’m not talking about anyone in particular here at HW/PC…but I’m talking about hundreds of thousands, and yes probably well over a million, men alive today in the US…so basically I'm talking about lots of guys who have visited HW/PC; including myself.

PC overtreatment has given prostate cancer a bad name, and until they come to terms with the conflict in their minds and hearts about their low-risk cases, people don't want to be associated with it. No, I don’t think it’s caused indifference, as you have suggested. As I said, I think it's something else…

Thoughts?

Post Edited (JackH) : 10/21/2016 1:33:47 PM (GMT-6)

Alephnull – Yeah, that's the spirit! Of course the Mint will never go for it, but it sure would express a lot of peoples' true sentiments!

JackH said: "… I think it's something else. Thoughts?"

Just as this illness is unique to each individual, each individual's reaction to it is probably unique just as well. There still will be some patterns to the reactions, but individuality is significant here.

Maybe it really is more than just indifference.

Looking back on my own Dx about 5 years ago, and thinking about it, I think I would have to say that my own deepest, and most honest, reaction, after the initial shock and fear after being told had subsided of course, was one that I'm not even sure I was aware of at the time. Because it was dwelling in my subconscious mind, and it was only through the passage of time over the past few years that I eventually came to understand it for what it was, and that it had been there inside me all along.

And that actual, deep-seated, reaction was, that I was really, really, really ticked off that I had to be dealing with this thing, that I had other plans, and other things that I wanted to be doing, and that this &*^%% disease was scr*wing up my plans. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS THING! I just wanted it to GO AWAY.

Sure, I initially had feelings of anger, resentment and impatience on the surface. But it was only later that I came to realize just how deep-seated and strong these feelings really were.

So what would I now call this "something else," at least in my case? It would be a word that means "really, really angry impatience." I'm still looking in word thesauri for a single word that expresses that notion (any suggestions from you guys?), but that's what I know now that I was feeling. I just wanted this PCa thing to get the h*ll out of my life.

So what has this got to do with not being more proactive, like the BC people, in facing and dealing with this beast? It's that, like dealing with the beast itself, it was having to deal with just one more tedious aspect of this whole thing, a thing I just wanted gone. I just didn't have the patience for doing coping-type things.

And I'm willing to bet that, again possibly at a subconscious level, there are lots of guys and their caregivers who also have this attitude, whether they realize it or not, and it affects the actions they take, and their inclinations, or lack of them, to take actions like some of the other cancer groups do..

yeah, I don't think that feeling of just wanting it to go away is inconsistent with the cognitive dissonance. Dealing with two contradictory beliefs is difficult and wears on the mind. It'd be nice if it all just went away.

You commented that the disease is unique to each individual. That's true, but it gets easily & appropriately categorized and grouped together by similarity. I think we all, almost uniformly, went through shock, fear, etc. at the first diagnosis. For those with favorable-risk (and again, this is the majority), the enlightenment of how this disease was unique takes some time and comes at different times for different people...so there is variation. As I said previously, “A decision made in haste sometimes takes a long [and variable amount of] time to own up to.”

Hey, don't sell yourself short, CaliJR, lots of us have more artistic talent than we realize. And I suppose there are design and artistry apps out there that would make it possible for even "art-challenged" individuals (I'm one of them, too) to create a half-decent design.

According to the third link in my opening post above (the one from the Mint) the competition for design of the BC coin is now closed, with the winner to be judged and awarded during the coming months. (Winner gets $10,000 prize).

But if they ever do have a similar competition for a PCa coin, I assume the rules (and the prize) would be similar.

Who knows, if we can't do it ourselves, maybe some of us know someone, or have a family member, who might just have the talent and interest to make a run at this, if the opportunity does present itself.

81, I can see a future where there is a Pc coin and more awareness in general. It seems that is the direction it is headed. I really don't know a lot about Pc history but it seems to me a lot has been learned in the last 10 to 20 years about the disease itself so a consensus on educating the public is a bit easier now.

I really can't agree with Jack's take on the over treatment issue being a main reason why men may be reluctant to come forward. I just think it's more that men typically suffer silently and deal with issues alone much more than women. Women share more without a doubt. Just talking about our health issues in general is harder for most men and I think a lot of us think it shows weakness to discuss the fears and physical and emotional toll that most health issues have. Many of us are taught to suck it up and move on; whether it's injuries from sports or sickness.

I think that's a reason why there is so much ignorance with Pc in general and why many of us men had no clue before hand. After my diagnosis most people that said they knew someone who was treated for Pc said it's no big deal and you'll be fine. When I brought up the potential side effects and the very real ones most of them were surprised and didn't realize any of it. I was afraid to share my fears ot the disease itself because they already summed up the whole process for me that it'll be fine. Because the person they knew did not share with them their actual Pc journey, they just glossed over it like men typically do, 'No, I'm doing fine. Everything's going well.' How are people to know when we're afraid to share?

Now when I meet other men who went through the journey it's easier to get them to open up some. Unlike Jack, I don't think of the over treatment end unless I read his comments. None of the men I've met in my life discuss over treatment as an issue for them. Even here, I don't get that many feel they were over treated. To me that doesn't mean that those considering treatment should take their decision lightly. I think Jacks msg of carefully considering whether you need treatment or deciding whether AS is right for you is a very important msg. I just don't agree with what at times seems like second guessing someones treatment decision, esp. when they are not asking for that. Again, that is only my perception of some comments so maybe my take is incorrect.

Just a few ideas for the coin:

Heads and tails is very appropriate. Heads(penis) Tails(a*s) It can be used to flip a coin on the treatment decision, heads for surgery as it might effect your penis more, tails for radiation as it might effect your ass more.
Love the middle finger to cancer idea.

I like the idea of a blue coin, I can't really come up with something classy for the coin itself unless there are some pioneers in Pc that can be on various coins and maybe some of the quality research hospitals like NIH, etc, on the back of the coin. They could be pioneers in the various treatments; AS, radiation,surgery or just those who have pushed our understanding of the disease. The coins can come with a little explanation of each.....Jim

An, I think that was so well said....Jim