ALL PROCEEDS TO THE PROSTATE CANCER UK CHARITY "I'm unknowing, almost naively uninformed. But not for much longer. Soon the consultant will hurry me across the rubicon into a whole new world. A world with closer horizons and a new way of looking at things. The old me will disappear, and there will be no point in trying to find him again. No point in looking back." Do you have a relative who has been diagnosed? Are you worried about Prostate Cancer? Do you want to know what the treatment involves? What it's actually like to go through it? Would you benefit from another person's first-hand experience? There are many men, and I was one, who believe that ignorance is bliss. That Prostate Cancer can't happen to them and by ignoring the signs it will go away. There are others who stubbornly refuse to get tested and dismiss the risk with a resigned shrug. A fatalistic attitude that demands that they should simply accept their fate. This book aims to show people what's involved. That if I can confront it -you can too. When I was diagnosed, I was swamped with factual information, but precious little on what it would feel like to go through it. I wanted a book written by an ordinary person who was enjoying life, someone who'd got through to the other side without having to be a super-hero. There's no resorting to private treatment here. No long lingering appointments with the surgeon. No time to get on first-name terms with the consultant while you discuss your pathology report. This book relates the glacially slow NHS journey that most of us will face, plus a few complications thrown in for dramatic effect. This book is aimed at those who have just been diagnosed, their relatives, those who are curious, but principally those who are reluctant to seek help. This is the story of my personal battle with prostate cancer. It's not a medical book as such, but there's enough medical information to satisfy the curiosity of most people. Beware though! It's intimate and candid and the reader is spared nothing. You'll probably find out more about the author than it would be wise to know about anybody! I hope you find it a humorous, heart-warming and sympathetic account. Follow me into the hospital and strap yourself in for the ultimate white-knuckle ride!