Q: My husband, aged 59, found last week that he was unable to urinate for about 3 hours, causing great discomfort. Thereafter, he found that he was dribbling urine making it impossible to leave home. Then the family doctor recommended Norflox 400 and within a couple of capsules he was a lot better. Since he responded to Norflox the doctor thought it could have been only an infection. Reading about a special offer by some hospital to examine the prostate gland I urged him to go for examination. This was five days after the initial problem. While palpating the gland he felt the doctor was rough and the next morning the urine problem began again. With acupressure and home remedies he got better. Today he went back to the hospital to collect his PSA report and the doctor said that my husband had a nodule and gave him the option of immediately getting a biopsy done or wait and watch for a few months and see if the situation changes. My husband is into holistic healing and is confident that with alternate medicine he can get rid of the problem. Please advise if we can wait and try out other options or should resort to immediate surgery?

A:You should understand one thing very clearly and I suggest that the message be spread that PSA should be done once a year after every man reaches 50 years. As for your husband, if his PSA is high (you have not given the report), it is significant and especially if the doctor feels little hardness in the prostate, a biopsy is desirable. You need to understand one thing that - prostate cancer is curable if removed within time and Radical prostatectomy, which can be done laparoscopically - is the best option. It is good to believe in nature and be holistic. Science is not unnatural and not to be rejected. Once the disease is diagnosed, it means it is already there - holistic is good in prevention and not so good in cure for diseases like cancer. Cancer treatment doesn't stop at surgery - holistic treatment will be required in any case for prevention of recurrence and spread. Get biopsy done by a urologist.