The effect of prostate cancer is usually indirect where a male partner, father, brother, son or friend is diagnosed with the disease. Depending on the closeness and nature of the link with the man, a woman may be caught up in the anxiety, fear, decision making confusion, treatment recovery and long-term side effects.
However some women can have a direct link to prostate cancer following gender re-assignment surgery. Men who transition to female undergo a complex surgical procedure to reconstruct their pelvic appearance and function. Generally the prostate gland is left in place as removing it adds further complexity and risk of complications. Hormone manipulation to increase feminization may reduce prostate gland size and activity but it still has the potential to develop a tumor.
If this occurs, the woman has the same challenges of deciding on what treatment (if any) and how to cope with any subsequent side-effects.
The Prostate Playbook is written for men, however if a women with a prostate gland can overlook the constant male pronoun and male references she will find valuable information to reduce her chances of developing a prostate cancer or of an existing low-risk cancer progressing to the point of needing treatment.
For those women who have outsourced prostate care to their male partner, The Prostate Playbook is a valuable tool to understand and support the life changes necessary to help prolong his life. Given that most health books are purchased by women, she may even be the catalyst for his action by presenting him with The Prostate Playbook at the one time in his life that he might actually accept some advice. Check out the blog post on how to introduce the book to a man in a way that he is most likely to read it.