TV travel guide Rick Steves on 'road to recovery' after cancer diagnosis

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Rick Steves, travel writer and host of the PBS series "Rick Steves’ Europe," is sharing his latest and unexpected journey.

During a routine doctor's appointment with his new primary care doctor at the University of Washington Medical Center, Steves' doctor recommended a wellness checkup and a blood test.

After his appointment, the 69-year-old went back to work, planning a TV shoot in Burgundy, France.

“A few days later, my doctor calls me and asks if there is a quiet place to sit down,” Steves recalled in a recent interview with UW Medicine. “He then told me my PSAs were off the charts.”

According to UW Medicine, blood tests can measure prostate-specific antigens, or PSAs, circulating in the blood. A high count can be a sign of prostate cancer.

A normal PSA level for someone Steves' age is less than four nanograms per milliliter, explained Dr. Daniel Lin, chief of UW Medicine’s urologic oncology program. However, Steves' PSA level was 55.

“It was like I’d been thrown into a new land fraught with mystery and uncertainty,” Steves wrote in an Oct. 8 Facebook post. “Suddenly swept away from my general practitioner and into the world of oncology, I needed to make important decisions about things I knew nothing of, and I barely spoke the language.”

Steves had several treatment options, including radiation or surgery to remove the prostate. He chose surgery, undergoing a robotic radical prostatectomy in October.

“Oh baby, it was scary. It was thrilling. It was like, here we go,” Steves said. “It's like pushing yourself off of a very high slide in a waterpark, and there's water gushing all around you, and you reassure yourself that ‘people do this, and I'm going to come out at the other end,’ but buckle up.”

Steves said the surgery was successful, marking the start of his "road to recovery."

“I was overcome with thankfulness: that I live in a corner of the world where hospitals aren’t being bombed or flooded... and that I have access to a brilliant UW Medicine surgeon and the best tech anywhere at Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center," Steves reflected.

He also encourages others to be proactive about their health and "know your family history," after learning that his uncle and grandfather also had prostate cancer at his age.

“If you’re waiting for symptoms, you’ve got a bad game plan,” Steves said.

Dr. Lin recommends men between 50 and 70-years-old to consider prostate cancer screenings at least every two to four years, noting some people are at a higher risk for developing the disease due to genetic factors or family history.

Now in recovery, Steves said, "I’m looking forward to many more years of happy travels — and, of course, I’ll be sure to bring you along!"