The
Internet Is A Valuable Tool For Today’s Patient.
Education
– Other Resources
There are a variety of resources available to you both online and offline as
you strive to learn as much as you can about your disease.
The PCRI Helpline
If you’d like to speak to someone on the phone about your recent diagnosis
or current treatment, consider the PCRI
Helpline.
Staffed by facilitators trained by PCRI co-founders and Myers’s colleagues
Drs. Stephen Strum and Mark Scholz, many men find it comforting to be able to
talk to someone directly about their disease and its treatment.
Medline Plus Medline Plus, one of the best online health information resources, compiles authoritative
information from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.
Medline also features far-reaching information about drugs, an illustrated medical
encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and up-to-date health news. You
can’t go wrong with making Medline your first stop with any online health
search.
Support Groups
Support groups are truly an invaluable source of information about prostate cancer
and its treatment. Joining a group of men who are undergoing or who have undergone
treatment in your own community will not only help you deal with the logistical
side of prostate cancer treatment, but will also help you cope with the changes
your disease has brought about in your family, your group of friends, and in
your business life. Dr. Myers himself heavily relied on his own local support
group when he was undergoing treatment: he found his fellow patients had better
advise about how to deal with treatments’ side effects than his own colleagues.
Both UsToo and ACS’S Man-to-Man offer
support groups in communities across
the United States and abroad. If they don’t have a branch in your area,
contact your local hospital or community health center.
There are also several online support groups available. To see a full list of
both on- and offline groups, visit the PSA
Rising site.
Listservs
The most popular listserv is Prostate
Problems Mailing List (PPML), run by the
Association of Cancer Online Resources (ACOR). You can sign up here. Listervs
can be a great resource for those who don’t have a local support group
or for those who are seeking feedback about doctors or specialists.
