MILWAUKEE - You've heard the message lots of times: Get screened for Prostate Cancer. Early detection is the key to beating cancer. Look out--there is a shift in that message. You may not get tested, and if you do get tested and you're positive for cancer, you might not get treatment.

Dick Huxtable is nothing short of amazing. He'll turn 81 later this month, but rarely misses a day at the Wisconsin Athletic Club. .

"I try to do it more than anything else to try to make me feel younger," Dick explains.

Dick wants to be here a long time, so he gets everything checked out by his doctor. Back in 1993 he began having an annual PSA Test--a simple blood test for Prostate Cancer. In 2005, Dick's doctor also gave him a Digital Rectal Exam, and then he wanted Dick to get a biopsy.

"Well I went to this biopsy, and he snipped and I almost went through the roof!" Dick exclaims.

The doctor was just getting started. Dick adds, "It really, really hurt and I'm not easily hurt. And he said that's alright we're halfway through now. And I said, no we're not we're all the way through. I'm off this table and I'm out of here."

Nearly five years later, Dick is feeling fine. He was well ahead of the curve. Getting checked for Prostate Cancer is a highly individual decision, and there is a growing school of thought that in many cases there may be no value to finding out about Prostate Cancer. Dr. Durado Brooks is the Director of Prostate and Colorectal Cancer Control for the American Cancer Society. He admits, most men who are diagnosed with Prostate Cancer are going to die of something else.

"Prostate Cancer screening is not a black, white proposition. It's not a yes, no. When you have a PSA Test done, that test gives some information, but that information is in no way definitive in the vast majority of cases," Dr. Brooks explains.

Dick Huxtable may have done the right thing when he ended his biopsy. While a biopsy would have shown if he had cancer, there's no way to tell how fast the cancer will grow. He could have it for years and feel just fine. So in some cases--the side effects of the cure are worse than living with cancer.

Dr. Brooks explains some of those side effects: "Difficulty managing your urine, or possibly losing the ability to have sex, or at least diminishing your chances for having sex."

TODAY'S TMJ4'S George Mallet's father is the same age as Dick Huxtable. Unlike Dick, he got an aggressive Prostate Cancer that spread to the bones. That's why George recently found himself in the office of his Columbia Saint Mary's physician, Dr. Agnes Lun, talking about Prostate Cancer.

"We always want to be very careful and do what we need to and not any more than we need to," Dr. Lun explains.

Frankly, the prospect of having a Digital Rectal Exam made George nervous. Dr. Lun didn't suggest the exam, which was a relief.

"The Digital Rectal doesn't always pick anything up, anything additional more than the blood test does. So you at age 49, I would say a blood test today," Dr. Lun says to George.

George's PSA establishes a baseline that his doctor can now keep an eye on. If it goes up, they'll discuss the next move. If that happens when George is an old man, they might just watch.

"It is important to recognize that if you choose what's called Watchful Waiting or Active Surveillance (that means you choose not to have active treatment), that you do need to follow up with your doctor on a regular basis and have some testing and monitoring done," Dr. Brooks warns.

Dick no longer gets checked for Prostate Cancer. His doctor says at Dick's age, it just isn't necessary. Meantime, George's father continues to be treated, but there has been no significant progression of his disease.

The American Cancer Society is well aware that their changing message could be turned into a 'Screening Does Not Work' headline. That's not what they want. The hope is that as research continues on how to advance beyond screening, distinguishing innocuous Prostate Cancers from dangerous ones, people will be more realistic about what screening can do.