There are too many quite cold graves scattered throughout this country of people who died of diseases they didn’t have to die of but they died any way. Meanwhile, diseases remain taboo subjects in our land. Today, this column pays a visit to one of such diseases, prostate cancer – a silent killer that continues to steal our men in the prime of their lives.
Our husbands, our fathers, our lovers die off leaving us orphaned, widowed, loveless and lonely. Let’s therefore call the prostate monster by name and fight it; leave it cold in its tracks. Women, girls – let’s encourage the men in our lives who are 45 years old and older to go for a PSA test.
What you don’t know can hurt and/or kill you. A disease can hide inside your body as you go on with life in a business-as-usual mode as if all is well. Then, one day, when you least expect or suspect, it will hit you, hard. Once that happens, your world turns dark in a storm-of-life and you and your loved ones suffer.
Prostate cancer is the number-one killer of black men. The incidence of prostate cancer in Ghana is alarmingly higher than in other countries. Results of a recent study found that out of 1,000 men between ages 50-70 in Ghana, 73 of them have prostate cancer.
Located between the bladder and the rectum, the prostate is a gland in males that is part of the semen production system. It can become cancerous. Early diagnosis of prostate cancer is the surest way out of unnecessary pain, suffering and death. It is therefore important for men from age 45 onwards to have a Prostate Specific Antigen test (PSA). A PSA test is a blood test that measures prostate health. If your doctor does not recommend it, insist that you want it done. Make a PSA test part of your routine medical examination.
A high PSA level can suggest one of three things: an enlarged (but healthy) prostate, an infection, or cancer of the prostate. So after a PSA test, if the reading is high, a patient must undergo further testing to find out if he has prostate cancer.
A PSA test and follow-up screening for prostate cancer is even more critical for men with family history of prostate cancer. So you see, to improve the quality of your own health and life, it is necessary to know what your close relatives die of! Let’s name our disease monsters so we can grab them by the horns instead of the usual ‘hush-hush’ of secrecy and putting diseases in the realm of the spiritual, blaming witches.
Once diagnosed with prostate cancer, you set out for treatment. Our premier hospital, Korle Bu, currently has two treatment options: radical prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate) and external beam radiotherapy. According to Dr J E Mensah, a leading Urologist at Korle Bu, next month, a third state-of-the-art treatment option, brachytherapy (a targeted radiation seed treatment), will be introduced.
Today, my brother Frank Ocran, turns 60. Instead of attempting to sing cacophonous ‘happy birthday’ songs with my horrible voice, I’ve decided to honour him by sharing a bit of his personal story. He is a survivor. Of what? Of prostate cancer! Brother, I salute you! You are the best brother my parents gave birth to, at the heart!
At 55, Frank was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was caught early and treated. How did he find out? By a simple blood test during a routine medical examination. You should too! After age 45, make it a habit to go for annual medical check-ups. Whatever you find out can be taken care of through proactive measures.
Unfortunately, today, Mr Seth Odonkor Nyavor, the father of my sister-friend, Dr Harriet Amui, goes down-under at Odumase Krobo. He died of prostate cancer. He was diagnosed in 2005 at a time when the cancer had already spread. Mr Nyavor experienced tongue-biting, teeth-gnashing, gut-wrenching pain. His joy was stolen by prostate cancer. At the height of his pain, long before he breathed his last, he said continuously that he did not want anyone else to experience his pain. He gave permission for his story to be told. Men, learn this lesson to prolong your lives.
Cancer is a tribe unto itself with power to snuff out life. As cancer spreads and snakes through the body, the patient begins a dance with death. For Mr Nyavor, his limbs were the first to give in, growing numb and weak. Then later, the cancer seemed to have climbed up and settled in the rib cage and neck region, inflicting much pain in its stride. Long before he was diagnosed, the symptoms were visible. He urinated frequently. Apparently the tragedy of Mr Nyavor was a result of late diagnoses of his condition. The importance of early diagnoses cannot therefore be over-emphasized.
You have only one life to live, with one body. Take care of it. Engage your body; know it and when you suspect that something is wrong, seek medical help. From my personal experience, our bodies speak to us; they give us signs. As I write, my little body appears to be telling me something I don’t quite understand. I’ll have it checked. Do the same too; listen to your body and take care of it.
So ladies, ask all the men in your life who are above age 45 this life-changing question: “What is your PSA level?” Ask your father, ask your brother, ask your lover, ask your friend. Ask the question at dinner time, ask the question over the phone, ask face-to-face and ask in bed. Encourage them, pamper them, bribe them and if necessary, accompany them to see a doctor. Make it a love fest. Say to them, “Daddy”, “Sweetheart”, “Brother”, “Check this thing out, please!”
Of course we will all die, someday. Being born is guarantee that you will die. But it is important if you can prolong your life or if at the minimum, improve the quality of your life by eliminating some of the unnecessary pain and suffering before the grand exit from mother earth.
A female asked me the other day: can a woman get prostate cancer? The answer is: No! No! No! Prostate cancer is a men-only matter because women do not posses the biological organ known as prostate. The closest equivalence of the prostate in women is the ovaries. Cancer hides in there too so women should have it checked. And the breasts too!
Enduring Question: Could the incidence of public urination of men in the country be any way linked to unhealthy prostates? What is it that makes urination such an urgent event to the point that men from across the spectrum (Chiefs, labourers, professors, lawyers) all stop, face bushes, gutters and walls – with back towards roads – just so they can pee? I posed this enduring question to Dr Mensah and his answer was: “Indiscipline!” So now you have it. Indiscriminate, shameless, public urination by our men is the result of our national sticky matter of indiscipline – bad behaviour –and not unhealthy prostates. Since cement tends to settle after a while, the bad behaviour of public urination has stuck. The matter rests!
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