Prostate Cancer
As a cancer patient that was diagnosed just four months ago, I would like to share my thoughts with those Kenyans that may yet to encounter this medical condition in one way or another. The first thing that comes to my mind is that, when cancer strikes one family member, the entire family and close friends are deeply affected. A sense of fear and uncertainty engulfs them instantly. Suddenly, the atmosphere of death hangs over them. It is like they are staring death taking their loved one and feel helpless to do anything about it. It is this sense of helplessness that can be devastating unless immediate counseling is offered to the patient and family members to enable them deal with the problem.
When in May 2011 I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, I left the doctor’s clinic in a daze. All I wanted was to go home and lie down in bed in my house. However, when I reached home, it was impossible to lie down. Suddenly, it was dawning on me that my life was under threat from a disease I knew nothing about and had never bothered to read about. It was at that moment when I first called my doctor friend to come to my house as soon as he could. Sensing that I could be in danger; Prof Bert Obura, himself a physician, got to my house in a record ten minutes. When I broke the news, he asked me for the X-Ray results. When he looked at them, he confirmed that my case was serious and needed immediate attention.
The first phone call I made was to my wife for whom the news was a blow. She started crying on phone and saw in a flash her life without me in the near future. In the middle of grief she told me that I could not die now because she could not visualize her life and children without me. At that time my thoughts were on my last two daughters who I had hoped to see through college and become independent adults in my life time. Now these dreams of mine were in jeopardy because of my condition. My older daughters and sisters’ reactions were no different. They all acted the same way except my eldest daughter who immediately thought of flying me to India for specialized treatment.
Meanwhile in Nairobi, my nephews had gathered in my house and within one hour, we had identified a urologist who accepted to see me at short notice. Two hour later, the urologist confirmed a two year prostate cancer infection and immediately ordered for a PSA blood test. PSA is Prostate Specific Antigen, a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland. PSA is present in small quantities in the serum of men with healthy prostates but is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer and in other prostate disorders. A blood test to measure PSA is considered the most effective current test available for early detection of prostate cancer.
The following morning, the results revealed that I had a stage four infection. This meant that it had spread to other parts of the body. A few hours later, I was admitted at M P Shah Hospital under the care of Dr. Maurice Wambani and his team of doctors. The reason my condition had been there for a long time was mainly for three factors:
• Like many people in this part of the world, I had ignored going for regular medical check -up- more so PSA test that requires that any adult male of age 40 and above should be checked annually for early detection.
• The Prostate Cancer symptoms that had been with me for a long time were not peculiar. I therefore mistook them for the usual backache, abdominal pain, muscle pain, loss of appetite and general stomach disorders.
This inability to relate symptoms to cancer meant that for a long time, I took laxatives, pain killers, antibiotics and other stomach disorder remedies that had nothing to do with cancer
• When I finally went for a specialized medical check, the doctor who saw me failed to detect cancer even though it had blown up. He too pumped me with more wrong drugs for two good months as the cancer cells took their toll on my body. It is therefore important that during this month of Kenya’s cancer awareness, doctors and diagnosed victims should join hands and educate the rest of Kenyans on basic prostate cancer symptoms so that anybody experiencing such disorders should go for a check-up as soon as possible in order to seek immediate medical attention.
The most frequent prostate cancer symptoms are:
• Frequent urination especially at night
• Lower back pain that doesn’t go away
• Lower abdominal pain
• Regular constipation
• Loss of appetite
• Tiredness and fatigue
• Loss of unexplained weight and sweating at night
Anybody experiencing any of all of these symptoms should seek medical help as soon as possible Advanced cancer treatment requires a combination of many things. Medical treatment is just one of them.
In most cases, a good doctor will deal with it in three or even for stages as follows:
The first stage is to carry out four major tests to ascertain the extent of the spread once the PSA level is confirmed. The first test is to carry out an Ultra-Sound in the Prostate Gland area. The ultra-sound will locate the cancer cells. The second test will be the MRI scan. This is a Magnetic Resonance Imaging that uses radio and magnetic waves without exposure to X-Rays or any other forms of damaging radiation.
MRI scan is a diagnostic tool that aids in diagnosis of diseases and other conditions. An MRI scan is a radiology technique that uses magnetism, radio waves, and a computer to produce images of body structures. The image and resolution produced by MRI is quite detailed and can detect tiny changes of structures within the body. For some procedures, contrast agents, such as gadolinium, are used to increase the accuracy of the images. Other tests will include bone scanning and biopsy.
A biopsy is a medical test involving the removal of cells or tissues for examination. It is the medical removal of tissue from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of a disease. The tissue is generally examined under a microscope by a pathologist, and can also be analyzed chemically. Once these tests are carried out, the doctor will determine if the patient should be on hormonal therapy, radio therapy or chemotherapy.
It is therefore important that the doctor discusses in detail with the patient the results before any of these methods are applied because each one of them has serious side effects that can affect the patient for life. For a cancer patient to recover even partially and undergo a long period of healing, the patient needs a peace of mind, a fighting spirit, family and friends support and a drastic change in diet and lifestyle. Without these pillars, it may be impossible to fight prostate cancer and succeed.
