| "If you're a woman, chances are there is a man in your life who steadfastly refuses to go to the doctor." " "The only way my fiancé will go is if he is dying," says Renee Thomas, 32, of Garland. "He has had the same back problem since junior high and refuses to get it checked out."" "Oh, sure, guys have their reasons for avoiding the doctor. They're too busy. They feel fine and, besides, their grandfather lived to be 107 and finally died after eating bad potato salad, so why should they go to a doctor?" "Ned Searles of McKinney kept in shape by running and riding his bike. Yet his wife, Carolyn, was insistent about his need for a checkup. Cancer runs in her family, so she's diligent about her own checkups. But Ned needed a bit of nagging." ""The last time he went had been six years earlier, and I had booked the appointment," says Carolyn, a stay-at-home mom for their son and daughter. "Once you have kids, you get them taken care of. Plus, we've moved quite frequently. When you do, you have a tendency not to go; it means you have to find a doctor."" "Friends recommended a doctor they had liked. In November 2005, Ned went for a checkup, largely to appease Carolyn." ""I think, and many men look at it this way, you see yourself in your 20s and 30s and 40s as very static. You're basically fine. There's no reason to ask any questions about your health," says Ned, 43." "At his appointment, after the basic procedures, the doctor asked whether Ned wanted a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test. The test, which measures a protein produced by prostate-gland cells, is usually recommended for men older than 50. But Ned, 41 at the time, said sure." "Why? "He didn't want to come back to the doctor for a while," Carolyn says." "Ned says he figured the doctor would tell him he was fine, and maybe to be more careful about what he eats. But then the office called with Ned's test results: His cholesterol was high, and he had gallstones. Those results were overshadowed by this: His PSA levels were high. Although there are a variety of reasons for a high PSA, in general the higher the PSA, the greater the risk that prostate cancer may be present." "A
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