Sunday
Now: Your, Ummmm, Thing?
I thought about removing this chapter from book one from this new online journal of this book because it's about a touchy subject that was even a bit hard to share with all my friends who read my first book. But, in the end, I recalled the mission of my campaign that emerged from that book: to inform men who know only that they have a prostate that the little thing actually has a pretty important job to do.
In the first book, I wrote:
“Uhhh, sorry to interrupt Kim, but what does your prostate do?” The questioner was a late 40’s, very successful software executive. I had been telling him the story of my surgery about four months after the event. At first I was a bit surprised by his ignorance, then I mentally slapped myself for realizing I had been just as stupid about this sex gland before my diagnosis.
And, not surprisingly, in all the conversations I’ve had with guys, friends and acquaintances, since my diagnosis, not once has anyone asked me to describe the gland, its size, placement and duties. At best, I’ve gotten the question: “What causes prostate cancer?” More often, when I’ve mentioned frequent urination as the most obvious danger signal, the question is about what constitutes frequent.
But then there is the topic of the appendage, man’s obsession. A few guys actually screwed up their courage and asked about my thing, knowing I was sans testosterone and a sex organ. Of course, they didn’t look me in the eye, and there was a lot of throat clearing and shifting from one butt cheek to the other.
Naturally, no one asked about daily functionality either, even though you can’t help but bump into the word incontinence when you read anything about the disease. Let me just use the word fine to decribe my condition, and be done with it. ¶ 1:47 PM
In the first book, I wrote:
“Uhhh, sorry to interrupt Kim, but what does your prostate do?” The questioner was a late 40’s, very successful software executive. I had been telling him the story of my surgery about four months after the event. At first I was a bit surprised by his ignorance, then I mentally slapped myself for realizing I had been just as stupid about this sex gland before my diagnosis.
And, not surprisingly, in all the conversations I’ve had with guys, friends and acquaintances, since my diagnosis, not once has anyone asked me to describe the gland, its size, placement and duties. At best, I’ve gotten the question: “What causes prostate cancer?” More often, when I’ve mentioned frequent urination as the most obvious danger signal, the question is about what constitutes frequent.
But then there is the topic of the appendage, man’s obsession. A few guys actually screwed up their courage and asked about my thing, knowing I was sans testosterone and a sex organ. Of course, they didn’t look me in the eye, and there was a lot of throat clearing and shifting from one butt cheek to the other.
Naturally, no one asked about daily functionality either, even though you can’t help but bump into the word incontinence when you read anything about the disease. Let me just use the word fine to decribe my condition, and be done with it. ¶ 1:47 PM
