Approximately 200-thousand men are diagnosed with Prostate Cancer each year. Traditional treatment often requires surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.
68-year-old Charlie Cronheim was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2007. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital caught it early. They are using a non aggressive treatment called Active Surveillance.
"I elected in my stage in life to go for quality of life watching and take the risk. There is a good chance that I may not need treatment," said Cronheim.
Active Surveillance or Expectant Management means a doctor sees a patient every three to four months and conducts an annual Biopsy to see if the cancer has changed or progressed. If it has not, doctors continue to monitor the patient with no treatment.
"Expectant Management is not right for everybody. If you can't handle or if you don't like the thought that you have cancer in your body, then it will become a big psychological burden and then you are not a good candidate for expectant management," said Cronheim.
Cronheim and his wife Ruth have lived on a boat for eight years, traveling around the world. Currently, they spend more time on land and look forward to a healthy future.
"The one thing I have learned from this experience is that you really need to study up on what is happening. You should take control of what is happening, assuming you do you are in the hands of good professionals and you get the best possible outcome," said Cronheim.
Cronheim's doctors said Prostate Cancer is sometimes over treated and monitoring the patient on a regular basis is sufficient treatment.
