Have you bumped into any middle-age or much older men wearing kanzus/ wrappers and walking gingerly like they are in pain?
Well, that used to be a preserve of younger men who have just undergone circumcision, but lately the kanzu-wearing men have likely just undergone surgery for prostate gland-related complications.
Prostate gland enlargement and its farther complications such as prostate cancer, never used to be this common, but now you just have to sit long enough with men of a certain age group, and the topic will soon come up.
Some have blamed the rise in numbers on the rise in life expectancy, since it affects men of a certain age. And just like fibroids in women, black men are reportedly more likely to suffer from prostate gland enlargement and/ or prostate cancer than men from other racial groups.
These are things God reserved for His own discretion. Before you moan about the unfairness of it all, there are other noncommunicable diseases that target other races more – particularly Caucasians – and not Blacks. Take Alzheimer’s.
I wonder which is worse, especially when it comes to how both affect one’s marriage, sex life and family! I have seen men, who put off starting a family for too long, suddenly come to the realization that they may never have children – at least not through sexual intercourse – because the gland that participates in the production of semen must be removed.
So, there is no mode of transportation for the spermatozoa during intercourse, to facilitate fertilization, unless the couple can afford in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
This is one of the reasons why many men resist radical prostatectomy, because of the many related problems with fertility, incontinence (especially during orgasm), possible sexual dysfunction and the whole toll it can take on one’s sex life.
See, the prostate gland participates in the production of semen. When removed, a lucky patient may still be able to get his orgasm, but it will be a dry orgasm with no visible ejaculate.
Some men who have had radical prostatectomy but are still lucky to erect, enjoy sex and ejaculate, have reported during prostate cancer studies that sex feels just as enjoyable even with the dry orgasm, but others have claimed that they miss the intensity of an orgasm that actually spews something.
Who knows; you could be one of those who feel just the same… so, fear not. But for the one who associates sex with visible semen, the change can psychologically impair a couple’s sex life; in more advanced societies, a prostatectomy is followed by marriage counselling and sex therapy, because anything can happen, and a lot of readjustment mentally and physically may be needed.
But it is what it is; many times, even when a man tries to postpone the surgery to manage the prostate gland enlargement in other ways, the frequent and painful urination, the stench that may accompany his urine that has overstayed in the bladder, the problems getting an erection and/or sustaining one, can all cripple a couple’s marriage to a point where the surgery seems like the most reasonable solution.
And where the condition is cancerous, even radiation, according to resources by Johns Hopkins Medicine, almost always leaves a man infertile by reducing his sperm count or weakening semen quality.
Bottom line, check early. Don’t wait for symptoms. The earlier you catch an abnormality in your prostate gland, the easier to treat it successfully. I hear some of the tests can be rudimentary and ‘barbarian’, but that is a small price to pay if you can avert the other complications.
caronakazibwe@gmail.com
