2006.12.31: December 31, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: Medicine: Cancer: Syracuse Post Standard: Ethiopia RPCV Charles Anderson is facing his biggest struggle - a bout with prostate cancer
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2006.12.31: December 31, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ethiopia: Medicine: Cancer: Syracuse Post Standard: Ethiopia RPCV Charles Anderson is facing his biggest struggle - a bout with prostate cancer
Ethiopia RPCV Charles Anderson is facing his biggest struggle - a bout with prostate cancer
It was a blow. . . . My wife's been very sick. I didn't want to burden her with my problems. I knew I had to break it to my daughter, my son and my evangelist at church. I'm not a person to go in a deep depression, to say, "Woe is me." I remembered the song by James Cleveland: "I ain't no ways tired. Come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me the road would be easy. He hasn't brought me this far to leave me." That was a great consolation. I've been through a lot of trials and tribulations. I'd say (God) has brought me through all of these things. Through the big battle when I was on the Common Council . . . like being in Ethiopia for three years and never getting sick. I want to get the word out to the community so they can pray for me. I think there is power in prayer. I have great faith in that. When you are faced with what some would call a terminal illness, it brings you down to reality. You look at what is really important in life. It's not where you live, the car you have, clothes, positions or any of that. It is trying to do the best for your family, living a life that is worthy.
Ethiopia RPCV Charles Anderson is facing his biggest struggle - a bout with prostate cancer
One man's struggle
Sunday, December 31, 2006
By Pedro Ramirez III
Staff writer
Caption: Radiation Therapy for Prostate cancer. The photo is NOT of Charles Anderson.
Sixty-eight-year-old Charles Anderson had made it through life without much in the way of health problems.
He spent three years in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps. Not once did he fall ill while in Africa.
Now Anderson is facing his biggest struggle - a bout with prostate cancer.
It's a struggle Anderson is approaching with what he describes as a powerful faith.
Anderson talks about his struggle in hopes that other men - especially blacks, who are more prone to prostate cancer - will learn more about the disease that kills 27,350 American men each year.
Here, in his own words, is Anderson's story: My first indication that I had a problem with my prostate was probably three to five years ago. We did the routine blood test. . . . (The doctor) told me it was nothing to be concerned about then, but make sure to watch it.
I didn't think too much about it. It must have been last year. I was having some urinary problems. . . . I had to get up so many times at night to go to the bathroom.
My (doctor) had gone to help in the Katrina (aftermath) in Louisiana. So, I had to shop around and get another physician. . . . This February, I went (to see Dr. Aart Geurtsen). He did (an) . . . exam. He saw that the prostate was enlarged.
He said that with a blood test we'd do the PSA (prostate-specific antigen test). In March, I went back and he says, "Houston, I think we have a problem."
It was shocking to me because it was the first time I was really worried about it. I'd been healthy all my life. I'd never been in the hospital for anything. But I knew at my age this was something that was constantly said that you should (check). I didn't pay too much attention to that.
I think they recommend people start getting tested around 40 - especially for African-Americans.
(Previously) I hadn't heard a lot, read a lot about prostate cancer. So, it wasn't an overriding thing in my mind.
When the doctor told me we should do further diagnosis, I was taken aback because there wasn't a great deal (physically) out of the ordinary. I'm a very busy person, doing a million different things. I was glad it came at a time when I have retired. I wouldn't have to miss work. I thought, "This will work out."
Around May, I went to see Dr. Herbert James. . . . He says, "I know something's wrong. We have to go in and do a biopsy," in which they take 12 pieces of the prostate.
On May 23 is when I had the biopsy. It's not something you want to go through too frequently. But it was less painful than I thought it'd be. After it was all over, it was a day or two that I saw blood in my stool. It didn't bother me. I was just glad to get through it.
The anxious moments came because I wasn't sure what (the biopsy) was going to show.
He found that I had prostate cancer and that I needed further treatment.
It was a blow. . . . My wife's been very sick. I didn't want to burden her with my problems. I knew I had to break it to my daughter, my son and my evangelist at church.
I'm not a person to go in a deep depression, to say, "Woe is me." I remembered the song by James Cleveland: "I ain't no ways tired. Come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me the road would be easy. He hasn't brought me this far to leave me."
That was a great consolation. I've been through a lot of trials and tribulations. I'd say (God) has brought me through all of these things. Through the big battle when I was on the Common Council . . . like being in Ethiopia for three years and never getting sick
I'm not going to get to this point and have no faith that he can take me through this.
I had to go through the MRI and CAT scan. The most difficult part was the MRI, where they put you in this tube that looks like a tomb and you can't move for 20 minutes.
Once you have (cancer), they got to find out whether . . . it has spread. That was a frightening thought - to think that maybe I'd waited too long because I had delayed when it was first hinted at that I had an enlarged prostate.
I got through all of that.
The next thing was: What are you going to do about it? I remembered a scripture in Matthew - if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, move from here to there.
Nothing is impossible.
The next phase was letting everybody know I had it and not being ashamed of that. I felt this was an opportunity for me to show people you can have it, you live with it, you can overcome it.
For men, it's very difficult. The word itself (cancer) strikes fear in everybody. For men it is particularly frightening . . . They have an aversion to going to the doctor. The procedures (in this case) are particularly invasive. They would find it embarrassing.
Erectile dysfunction is a great concern. You could be incontinent, too.
You might need some help. That is why they have Viagra and Cialis.
Dr. James recommended that I do hormonal therapy. I had a hormone shot in August to see how my body would react. I had another one (in September). The purpose of that is to shrink the prostate. . . . One of the (side effects) is that you have hot flashes.
In January or February, I'll begin radiation for seven to eight weeks. In the meantime, I would like to say I have continued whatever I was doing before. It has not impeded my daily lifestyle. I like to do my tai chi. I like to walk. I like to go to the movies and to the theater and football games.
I want to get the word out to the community so they can pray for me. I think there is power in prayer. I have great faith in that.
When you are faced with what some would call a terminal illness, it brings you down to reality. You look at what is really important in life. It's not where you live, the car you have, clothes, positions or any of that. It is trying to do the best for your family, living a life that is worthy.
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Headlines: December, 2006; Peace Corps Ethiopia; Directory of Ethiopia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ethiopia RPCVs; Medicine; Cancer
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Story Source: Syracuse Post Standard
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