Cancer Survivor Talks Poor Peeing

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PHOTO: Dr. Winston Isaac (2016 Spokesman Snap)

By: Precious Mills

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts- “It’s not only cancer that affects the man’s urinary system.”

So said medical doctor and prostate cancer survivor Dr. Winston Isaac, president of the Walnut Foundation (a men’s health organisation in Toronto, Canada) during an interview with this media house at a fourth annual prostate screening project held  on Saturday 15th July) at the Masonic Lodge located at Taylor’s Range in Basseterre.

The yearly health exercise was organised by the Rotary Club of St.Kitts in collaboration with Dr. Dwayne Thaites, Island Medical Specialists and A Time 4 Us Foundation.

More than 300 men took part. For the screening, blood was drawn from the arm to test the level of the Prostate- Specific Antigen (PSA) followed by a Rectal Digital Examination (DRE).

PHOTO: Section of men gathered for the 2017 prostate screening project held over the past weekend (Spokesman Snap)

Dr. Isaac, who is a St.Kitts-Nevis national, explained: “With prostate, there could be many things that can go wrong with the prostate but warning signs are not necessarily early signs of prostate cancer. So if somebody has difficulty peeing for instance, they could have a lump. Now the lump may not necessarily be active cancer. So the reasons why the checks are being done in the rectal digital examination is to see if there are any lumps on the prostate. If a man is taking a long time to pee, there is something wrong with the urinary stream so it could be, I would say, an enlargement of the prostate and it’s closing down on the pee channel or it could it be that there is a lump of the prostate cells that is affecting the channel for pee to come out.”

He continued: “That is why one of the tests that is normally done when the doctor is evaluating a man’s urinary system is something which is called a flow test. It puts the guy to pee in a funnel that is passed through a computer. So there is a graph that is generated to see where the strong flow is, where the weak flow is and how long it takes to empty the bladder.

Dr. Isaac said such a flow test is one of the checks usually carried out by urologists.

“It’s not only cancer that affects the man’s urinary system. They can have an infection or an enlarged prostate and the enlarged prostate happens as the man gets older…,” he added.

Newly-elected President of the Rotary Club of St.Kitts Charles Morton applauded his gender peers for coming out in their numbers for another time around saying: “This year has been a tremendous success relative to the prostate screening. We are extremely pleased at the attendance…”