Men's things XXXII: For the Boys in the Room: Why Your PSA Matters

Life After Radiotherapy

Much as I have not been giving frequent updates about life after prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment, I can say that life continues with gratitude.

The usual side effects persist; the urinary symptoms are not as concerning and remain quite manageable, there is no discernible bowel issue, and weekday nocturnal insomnia gets some respite with weekend lie-ins.

My voice still vacillates between a weak, hoarse whisper and the normal timbre I am known to have. It does need checking out. When my mother first heard the weaker end of my vocal spectrum, she started casting and binding in the name of Jesus on the phone, with no exchange of pleasantries; it literally freaked me out.

Monitoring My Progress

I have a biannual consultation at the Christie Hospital with an Oncology and Urology nurse, as part of the aftercare monitoring, which may continue for another couple of years. This means that within two weeks of that appointment, I must obtain a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, usually from my GP.

My most recent PSA level has now fallen to the lowest reading recorded since that first test in February 2024, which began the journey to an aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis.

I have written quite a bit about what this has involved, but may I suggest that you also listen to the AI Podcast for November 2025, where each of the terms related to a prostate cancer diagnosis is explained in detail.

An AI discussion podcast
on blogs published in November 2025
Reflections on Health, Heritage, and Humanity

Sharing the Good News

Meanwhile, I am doing fine, happy with the progress and thankful for the support and encouragement I get from my partner, Brian, my friends, and my colleagues. Upon receiving the result, I posted a comment in a wider Microsoft Teams chat, where I addressed them thus, with a link for them to assess their prostate cancer risk:

For the boys in the room.

I got some good news earlier today. Having undergone prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment about 18 months ago, my PSA is now the lowest it has ever been. Obviously, there is a hospital visit to review the situation.

Please, take some time to check your risk.

Thanks

Check your risk in 30 seconds | Prostate Cancer UK

Take That First Test

I take every opportunity to advocate for checking your prostate cancer health and going for at least that very first PSA test.

Beyond that, I try to address the concerns and fears that attend having your delicate bits inspected by medical personnel, as I have been through the whole gamut of touches and feel-ups. My verdict: nothing to fear and everything to gain, catching issues early and dealing with them promptly.

I hope you all find this helpful. Until the next update on men's things.

Blog - Men's things XXXI: Can Intimacy Be Reclaimed After Prostate Cancer?

Blog - Photons on the Prostate - Three Things I Wish I'd Known

Blog – Photons on the Prostate - A year from starting radiotherapy

Blog - A prostate cancer diagnosis, one year on

Blog - Men's things - Prostate Cancer blogs

A Google NotebookLM AI Podcast on this blog

Essential Snobbery 101: Leaving the village people in the village

A fear of the imagined

Village People, and this is not the American disco group from the 1970s; rather, it defines a state of mind, the foreboding that any adversity or misfortune is an extension of the negative influence of people from your homestead on your circumstances.

The idea of village people is retrogressive, a concept of people limited by a frame of reference governed by malevolence and envy: detractors who cannot bear to see others succeeding, whose sense of joy is derived from the downfall of others.

Whether the concept of village people is imagined or real, we find ourselves caught in the paranoia of being watched and afraid to stumble. Everything becomes a premonition towards ill. The danger is that we become ensnared by mental constraints we have imposed on ourselves, borne of the irrational yet significantly impactful on our mien.

Leave them in the village

Yet, I aver that village people should be left in the village and not be given any semblance of influence beyond the village limits. They cannot walk where we have walked, nor can they see through our eyes.

Why, then, do we believe that village people have the ability to impact our lives so profoundly that they have such a hold on us? How can they divert not just the course of events far removed from them but also define our destiny? The truth is probably a battle we are engaged with, in our heads rather than something external to us.

To paraphrase Hanlon's razor: "Never ascribe to malice (of village people) that which is adequately explained by incompetence (of ourselves)." If we took more responsibility for some things that have happened to us, the village people might just become the music that gets us on the dancefloor.

End of work year 2021

Listen attentively first

It has been a wonderful work year with much to celebrate even if the challenges and the frustrations that seemed to greet one at many turns. The job of being a subject matter expert in a big team of long-staying members who are steeped in the traditions and culture of an organisation whilst being hardened by their experiences along with the histories that have defined their presence or absence of amenity to change can be interesting.

Someone like me is supposed to visit first with a good pair of listening ears and a fresh pair of eyes long before I have a compelling speech to review the long-held perspectives, persuading colleagues, partners and hierarchies of alternative methods and best practice. It is more a battle of wits than anything else, the encounters can be bruising, yet necessary.

Make your footing sure

My view is, I am engaged to challenge the orthodoxy, expose the dogmatic and align towards the pragmatic, shepherding change, not as a hard choice but a progressive march which is rarely at speed but at snail’s pace with the purpose of incremental and beneficial improvements that the managers can highlight as big successes.

Sometimes, I cannot get in edgeways, all arguments deployed, most debates exhausted, glaring evidence presented that it is literally incontrovertible, but the political climate will not budge a nanometre.

It is usually political

You begin to learn to choose your battles carefully, find where you can build agreement, move that towards a consensus, manage the compromises well, so the main thrust of your ideas are not lost, then bring forth the benefits and the gains whilst assertively debunking woolly thinking, needless experimentation and pointless solutions crafted from the poor use or knowledge of the tools available to fulfil the requirements.

This, I aver is the bane of being in a technical role at a high level, it is usually more political than technical, and it is where you have to master the art of communication. How to point out bad practice that it becomes a learning opportunity rather than it being taken negatively as criticism. Accord praise liberally and acknowledge fully ideas proposed and activities beautifully performed by others even if you wish you had that idea first.

Be dependable more than indispensable

Win confidence and trust, not so much to make yourself indispensable but valuable and dependable, this is what 33 years in the field of computer information technology has taught me, 26 of those years, I have mainly been a freelance consultant. I don’t get moved along like I am part of a glacier, I have to earn my place and prove my worth constantly through continuous learning and practice, education, excitement, enthusiasm, curiosity, and grit.

My work year 2021 is now over for me to go and deal with the essential matters of the heart. A stand-in has been invited to provide support to my standard of expertise and know-how, whilst I am away. I did not achieve everything I hoped I will in the organisation in the year past, but I think there is enough understanding that I can be helpful in matters of architecture, policy, implementation, and administration.

To the coalface of the work front, I wish you all a wonderful yuletide season and a more rewardingly, prosperous and fulfilling New Year, maybe, just maybe, we would also see the back of this global pandemic and launch into a new life of cherished experiences and exciting adventure. 

It's walking and it's working - VI

What they see I don’t

Brian will say when we are on our WhatsApp video conferences that I have noticeably lost weight and so will my other friends. I, however, have not been convinced that the weight loss is that appreciable. Yet, I cannot deny that stepping on the scales in the past two mornings has given me two readings below 80 kilogrammes and my lowest weight in probably a decade.

What it signifies is I am shifting the pounds, albeit, quite slowly as it is taking a lot more exercise and effort to show results. I can still pinch a good chunk of flab in the front even if the love handles have shrunk away. Maybe, I will have to do some abdominal and leg workouts to trim the belly fat to a better frame.

The optical illusion that forms in the shadow from the light cast from behind almost suggests one is getting a figure-8 midriff, but that will be wishful thinking and the stuff of dreams. I have a lot more work to do.

A warped rhythm of the walk

Whilst it is not the goal, I am usually pleased if I get 7 kilometres done within 60 minutes, though getting it at 63 minutes which is an average of 9 minutes to the kilometre is not entirely bad. Getting 10 kilometres done in under 90 minutes is a worthwhile achievement with over 13,000 steps in it.

My pace much as it seems regular and constant in terms of body rhythm sometimes leaves me wondering how I could have slowed down when I have not stopped at all. 10 minutes to the kilometre when in the same session when I might have done it in just over 8 minutes is something difficult to fathom. I can even get 170 steps to the minute and I am not jogging.

I satisfy myself with the notion that I am making progress, the results will not be instant but show over time and I feel quite fit and happy. I enjoy the exercise regardless of the conditions, I need to plan for how I would keep it up in Cape Town. There is a count down in motion. Yeah!

Blog - It's walking and it's working

Blog - It's walking and it's working - II

Blog - It's walking and it's working - III

Blog - It's walking and it's working - IV

Blog - It’s walking and it’s walking - V

Nigeria: The advent of our Dark Ages is upon us

The life of a discussion

A discussion on Twitter has a tendency to grow legs and we wander off to places that could obfuscate or bring more clarity to issues sometimes forgetting how we ended up where we are.

One such discussion started off when I wrote about the particular, the case of Senator Sani Yerima’s daughter being married off at the age of 16 with a particular focus on advocacy and activism for the education of the girlchild. [AkinBlog]

Much as I thought my points were so clearly made, I ended up in a discussion where some took a contrarian view more towards extrapolation, generalisation and indifference.

Idealism absent of realism

However, what struck me was the view that Nigeria needs a radical reorientation, and there is no doubt that the citizenry need greater awareness of their place in Nigeria, the direction we want the country to move in and that should hopefully extend to how we choose our leaders, the way policy is formulated and maybe some progress towards realising the potential Nigeria always had but never exploited.

We then ended in the argument and counterargument of who was being idealist and who was being a realist. Whilst I could be either, depending on the perspective of an issue, I do always hope that I have the ability to see more than the obvious and think beyond the things that could inform my bias and prejudices, I hope I am more of a pragmatist.

Though the issue of the reorientation of Nigerians is critical, I am of the view that it is not something that can be realised in the short term, a view I do not think my assailants shared, which could leave them sitting on the bench of the idealist far removed from the reality that in a population of over 160 million with the issues to do to leadership, religion, tribalism, education, health, politics and corruption, this concept called Nigeria is one massive ocean liner than cannot be manoeuvred like a racing car.

Nothing in the horizon for change

Much as the views of a Tim Newman who made insightful observations of Nigeria and Nigerians after a stint as an oil industry professional might put us on the defensive, there is no doubt that along with those in leadership today, there does not seem crop of Nigerians that could be randomly picked from any walk of life with the wherewithal to act any differently from the brigandage in power and that is looking down generations to come already. [Sahara Reporters]

Teju Cole, an author and insightful commentator on issues Nigerian and African in a recent interview said he was more interested in African realism than African Optimism. [Africa Book Club]

I have many a time commented on the fact that we seem to exhibit such vacuous optimism in expectation of sudden miracles fuelled by heightened hopes for the impossible that the reasonable will find improbable and the rational might just ridicule as foolish that we are left with two traits that Lord Lugard observed of us as far back as 1922 in his book, the Dual Mandate, when he said – “Perhaps the two traits which have impressed me as those most characteristic of the African native are his lack of apprehension and his lack of ability to visualize the future.” [AkinBlog]

Our Dark Ages have begun

It was in a discussion last night that all these thoughts came together when @cchukudebelu said to me on Twitter – ‘You know how the "Dark Ages" destroyed European society - something similar is happening in Nigeria.’ [Twitter]

The penny dropped, because this seemed to define the gradual decline of Nigeria in all facets of societal, economic, social, religious, political and infrastructural needs of our dear country. This has been going on for over a generation and it will not be turned around anytime soon, though we can start the journey to a new future from today if the will and the wherewithal exists for such to happen

A long hard look at ourselves would indicate, we are complacently and recklessly descending into Armageddon with the brakes having failed, and the country in the hands of an unconscionable kakistocracy bent on retaining power at any cost with the man in charge not giving a damn about the consequences.

Our claims have been disclaimed

The honest truth is that 2015 provides no year of the Messiah and whilst we pine and wait in vain for deliverance coming for somewhere besides ourselves we will simply be chroniclers of the advent of our version of the Dark Ages, it will be left to history to judge if we have been benevolent, treacherous or indifferent with the legacy of a nation bequeathed to us by our founding fathers.

On the 1^st of October, 1960, this is what Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa said, “So that we find ourselves today being tested to the utmost, we are called upon immediately to show that our claims to responsible government are well-founded, and having been accepted as an independent state we must at once play an active part in maintaining the peace of the world and in preserving civilisation. I promise you, we shall not fail for want of determination.” [AkinBlog]

It goes without saying that our claims to responsible government have been found wanting and we have failed with every determination and opportunity presented to bring Nigeria round to the vision, optimism and hope that greeted our independence and our people when we stood as a nation ready to take its place in the commonwealth of our global humanity.

Knowing the context of our Dark Ages

Lest we be at a loss as to what the Dark Ages means, the following dictionary definitions should help us understand the task we have ahead of us, that it would be step changes, little alterations, tinkering and activism on a whole range of little issues that could create great impact that will be the parts from which a sum and product of total reorientation will emerge – there is no telling which generation in the near or distant future will really see the Nigeria we have yearned for all our lives, for those before us and those that come after us.

Dark Ages [The Free Dictionary]

An era of ignorance, superstition, or social chaos or repression.

The early or crude stage in the history or development of something.

The entire Middle Ages, especially when viewed as a troubled period marked by the loss of classical learning.

There is plenty of ignorance to go round as there is atrocious superstition, with social chaos and repression in Nigeria today and whether we are learning anything new to bring about change is as debatable as it can be until the world comes to an end.

Encapsulating Tweets

These series of Tweets I posted will help close this discussion.

@DoubleEph It suddenly dawns on you that Nigeria has a generational societal burden that we believe will dissipate with good 2015 elections.

It took the description "Dark Ages" by @cchukudebelu for me to confirm Nigeria is in a generational rut with no turnaround in sight.

There is no new leadership in the waiting that suggests Nigeria is on the cusp for radical and generational change.

I fear that we might just be chroniclers of Nigeria's descent into total anarchy with the kind of leadership we have.

We are so apart from the ideal we seek and the cohesion necessary to give Nigeria a heading towards it.

Whilst Nigeria is not a lost cause there is little reason for great optimism in the quagmire of our stark realities.

We have become the passengers of the times, whether history will judge us as benevolent or treacherous is another thing.

@kayodebakre8 We constantly make the mistake that a Messiah exists that we overlook other potentially able leadership.@KwamiAdadevoh

I fear that what appears in the current Nigerian intellectual is the adulation of people, the revising of event and very little in ideas.

Welcome to the advent of Nigeria’s Dark Ages.

Thought Picnic: In Support of Activism

Causes without course

Recently, I have found myself attending meetings where the ideas discussed are far from mainstream.

From a pragmatic perspective, there is no reason for those ideas not be part of the package of the good life of humanity but for all sorts of reasons due to history, culture, traditions, creeds, tenets, laws, religion, beliefs or politics people suffer unmitigated and unnecessarily bad consequences.

The voices are many

In such cases, the cause might well be lost for the individual but it does not have to be lost for society.

What keeps that cause alive is the voices, the many voices of those in favour, those against and those somewhat indifferent but available to be persuaded of the arguments of all sides.

Now, I know that certain voices are extreme, strident, aggressive and uncomfortable but that is the nature of activism and the drive for change.

The method is insignificant

There are times I have not agreed with the methods used but I very well appreciate the broader intentions, which are to achieve a goal that would do humanity a lot of good.

We have seen this in the rights movements to enfranchise the masses, women and then minorities, the activism to extend rights to the underprivileged and much more.

The battles are diverse and unceasing, but the victory for humanity even after great setbacks is only in a matter of time.

Channelling the inconceivable

This brings me to an interesting case of historical literature published in 1868, in the novel Phineas Finn, there is a recorded conversation as to how public policy is formulated and it is interesting that in the political arena, this seems to fetch true all the time.

Attributed to Anthony Trollope, this how the conversation went and I highlight the words that show the progression from inconceivable to essential.

"Many who before regarded legislation on the subject as chimerical, will now fancy that it is only dangerous, or perhaps not more than difficult. And so in time it will come to be looked on as among the things possible, then among the things probable; – and so at last it will be ranged in the list of those few measures which the country requires as being absolutely needed. That is the way in which public opinion is made.”

“It is no loss of time,” said Phineas, “to have taken the first great step in making it.”

“The first great step was taken long ago,” said Mr. Monk, – ”taken by men who were looked upon as revolutionary demagogues, almost as traitors, because they took it. But it is a great thing to take any step that leads us onwards.”

The initiators were not popular

The previous two paragraphs indicate that the discourse about a cause must never die and apparently the first step leading to the adoption of such policies would normally have been planted as a seed by those at the time of conception society might have castigated, excoriated, persecuted, prosecuted and even martyred but that is for history to discover and eventually document.

It is why I am never discouraged when a greater cause hits the buffers because of the political discourse of the day, it will never be the end and much will change over time to bring the good to bear of what is currently unacceptable but tolerated.

The Overton Window

Joseph P. Overton then came up with an aspect of political theory that illustrated the narrow window within which an idea might gain acceptance and consequently evolve into policy. This became known as the Overton Window.

The degrees of acceptance in increasing order of acceptance was listed as follows:

• 1.    Unthinkable
• 2.    Radical
• 3.    Acceptable
• 4.    Sensible
• 5.    Popular
• 6.    Policy

Someone will always have to think the unthinkable which with time after convincing others might be seen radical but over the course of time the argument is persuasive enough to be acceptable and might well become sensible enough to be offered as a popular choice by which time there is enough support to make it policy.

Change is inevitable

There are positive and negative trajectories to this but I believe the momentum for change will be for the better if amongst the articulate and prominent voices we have, those who are able to convey with great conviction the reasonableness of an idea that the unreasonableness of the status quo will have to be abandoned.

That is why I am in support of all forms of activism, some could well be counter-productive but in that quagmire the ideas will eventually find refinement and any reasonable person engaging logic with critical thinking and objective discernment will become an ally in the cause for the advancement of humanity, in communities, in societies or in nations at large.

The two-state solution for Palestine and Israel is not inconceivable, having women ordained as bishops in the Church of England is not impossible and the notion that homosexuality is unafrican has a course to travel from unreasonableness to a fact of reality – it has always been part of humanity.

Get pills for sunny vitamins

Off to hospital

A date set in the future with expectations and anxieties finally arrived and news is anticipated from the life and the living things found in the bloods.

My 3^rd quarterly check-up was scheduled for today and I had arranged to first see the catholic pastor before seeing my specialist. As usual, my journey was once again eventful, so surveyors impeded tram traffic just before my drop-off point that when they freed up the tracks the tram just continued to the next tram stop.

I did not have to walk 10 minutes to the hospital because a tram that goes by the front arrived just in time and that was fine to make my first meeting.

We chatted for about 45 minutes on my job, my work ethic, my spiritual life and basically how I felt about things in general – he was preparing for a funeral service – one of the hospital flock he had known for long had just passed away.

Good signs and progress

Then I booked in at the Department of Internal Medicine where first my weight and blood pressure were measured before I saw the consultant.

Within minutes I was called in and introduced to an intern, the consultant was impressed with my improvement – my feet in regular shoes, my looking hale and hearty, my sense of well-being and much more.

My feet were inspected and for the intern who saw the original pictures she must have been so impressed with the wonders of modern-day medicine – the scarring was still there but the whole foot was healed, the irritation and itching was put down to the weak immune system rather than anything else.

The tale in the bloods was very satisfactory, liver function good, cholesterol fine and immunity factors up by almost 350% but still not where they should be, however, it was a considerable improvement on February where the rate of improvement was hampered by the courses of chemotherapy.

A substitute for the sun

With the obvious indicators dealt with some other things gained some attention, certain anti-bodies had appeared which need further scrutiny in probably 4 months, strikingly, there were other factors that pertained to my race – they had noticed a deficiency in Vitamin D – well we have not had that much sun latterly, neither have I been on a holiday to some of my regular haunts in a while – that needed boosting, the pills could only be chewed, they were that big.

My drug regime would change but I have to choose the time, some of the medicines are being offered as amalgams of other discreet types cutting down the ingestion of 7 pills a day to just 3. One of the side-effects is supposed to be the feeling of being stoned (Better get Dummies Guide to Getting Stoned), so best taken before bedtime – as for the other side-effects I just hope that I am in the very rare few that experience none of them.

The next appointment is set for 4 months time – the doctor in closing said he felt I had improved so much more considerably than he had expected, not to mention that I had gained 10 kilograms in just 3 months.

Much information to take in, the consequences quite dramatic and  there is a life to live, hopefully for the good and full of gratitude to many who I cannot thank enough for their encouragement and support.