"We'll be in touch with him when he's ready," she said. "He has indicated to each of us how he wants to proceed on the various things that the office is working on. I feel that things will go pretty smoothly."

"[Fineberg] has indicated that depending on how he's doing, he'll be in touch with us in a short time period, through telephone or computer," she said.

Wald said that since Fineberg's absence coincides with much of the winter holiday, the office will likely run smoothly.

"Things are a little bit slower [around the holidays]," Thompson said.

"Harvey is a well-organized person. At this time of year, we can cope. We couldn't go on for months with this arrangement," Thompson added.

According to the American Cancer Society, with the exception of skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. About 179,300 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year.

Fifty-eight percent of all prostate cancers are discovered before they spread beyond the prostate. If the cancer is caught at this stage, the five-year survival rate is nearly 100 percent.