My girlfriend had a 28-year-old African patient with early stage prostate cancer.
The proposed medical approach was either a radical prostatectomy (which means that the man’s entire prostate had to be removed), or radiotherapy and hormonal treatment. The man was extremely reluctant to make a choice, as either way, possible (and probable) side effects included libido problems and erectile dysfunction.
And for this particular man, that was a no-go. In fact, in his hometown a man with erectile dysfunction would be considered half a man, and that really bothered him.
He asked for some deliberation time, and promised to come back to her soon — which he didn’t. And when he eventually resurfaced with new symptoms (he could hardly ignore the bloody urine), the tumor had grown considerably, and he urgently needed a radical prostatectomy — this time to save his life.
Instead of agreeing to have the surgery, he said that his older brother was a Medicine man, and he was working on a herbal solution to heal the patient, once and for all. (In fact, the patient was a tad surprised that the cancer was still there, because he had been taken some of his brother’s herbal preparations since he was diagnosed.)
The next time he surfaced, his medical situation had become more than dramatic, and a surgery was scheduled in the week to come. But he didn’t show up once again. And unfortunately for the patient, my girlfriend did not hear of him again before he perished in pain —
Because that is what metastasis does.
