Wednesday January 20th 2021

Celebrating my fifth year of remission, yes it was a little more than five years ago was when I heard those most dreaded words “You have Cancer.” Let me just say that those three words are all you really hear that first day, its kind of like your brain just shuts down, I recall there was lots of discussion and some explanations and of treatment course options. But you just can’t process them at the time. That is why you need to have family for support, to help you sort your way through the next few life changing weeks.

So I just want to take a little time today to tell all the men out there that this is a issue that just kind of sneaks up on you from behind, if you are not taking some precautions.

Prostate cancer is cancer that occurs in the prostate. The prostate is a small walnut-shaped gland in males that produces the seminal fluid that nourishes and transports sperm.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. Many prostate cancers grow slowly and are confined to the prostate gland, where they may not cause serious harm. However, while some types of prostate cancer grow slowly and may need minimal or even no treatment, other types are aggressive and can spread quickly.

Prostate cancer that’s detected early — when it’s still confined to the prostate gland — has the best chance for successful treatment.

In my case I had been reasonably good at getting yearly physical exams and those of you over a the age of 50 will know that it usually includes a gloved finger to check the prostate for any tenderness or swelling referred to as Digital Rectal Exam (DRE). And if you elect to spend a few bucks more during your bloodwork you can get a PSA test. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a protein produced by cells in the prostate. It is normal for PSA to be found in the blood in small concentrations. The amount of PSA can rise as you age or if you have a problem with your prostate.

While the DRE may well detect the formation of cancer in the prostate it has no accurate reference point which is why I would recommend a PSA test because it will give you a Gleason score number.

Most men have cancers with Gleason scores of 6 or 7, and less commonly 8, 9 or 10. Pathologists rarely, if ever, assign Gleason scores of 2, 3 or 4.

I can remember that my original test at or around 50 was in the 2.? something range and being told not to worry that I was well in the “normal range.”

Then sometimes life gets in the way I found it had been a few years since a physical check up or any blood work, and the changing of a Doctor because of a retirement and when I finally went to met the new doctor he had a whole list of things that we wanted to check – I of course thought it was like a process to build a vacation fund, thinking he was being a little over zealous.

But I finally went and got prodded and poked, did all the blood tests and I remember it being early in June of 2015, usually you get those test done and you never hear from any body for weeks or maybe not until your next visit. Now I have always had a little issue with my cholesterol being a little high but usually if I behave myself for a few weeks before the test I can usually get by without much more than a light lecture. But when you get a call from the doctors office within a couple of days I was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to be good news. The problem was it wasn’t a problem with my cholesterol that brought on the call.

So within a week of having my physical and bloodwork done, I was back in the office to hear that my PSA reading was 7.2, not a number that was good so another PSA test confirmed that the first reading wasn’t an error. Now of course I am thinking this is going to be bad, because I remember my old doctor explaining to me that we all have cancer but only for a few people does it become a problem. So from there I set up appointments with a whole group of physicians that poked and prodded me until we had a confirmed biopsy that proved yes I indeed had prostate cancer and then they make calculation that take into account my age, my health, the severity of the cancer then the team lay out a number of options.

These options vary depending on all the factors, but the quick view was that I was young enough and healthy enough. That most likely the cancer would be the cause of my death if not treated, which meant they they would have to explain the treatment options to us, and here are the basic choices.

OPTION 1: Basically do nothing right now, just fall into a routine of a PSA test every three months and track the changes. The thought was that it may not get worse too quickly and we could check the other options in some time and determine how to treat later. The problem with that was the testing every three months, all the appointments and if it took six or nine months to decide it was aggressive that it could spread to other areas. We knew from the biopsy that it was reasonably aggressive because of the twelve sample that they took seven were cancerous, had that been four or less it may have been a good option, but in my case it was not.

OPTION 2: Radiation which consists of directing concentrated radiation to the prostate, done in a series of visits over an number of weeks, The hope is to use high energy to kill the cancer cells to stop it from spreading and was one of the options that we looked seriously at. It was also explained that if it did not work that surgery would be very difficult after radiation because of the scaring of the tissue. Again because of the biopsy results it was not the recommended option from the doctors.

OPTION 3: Radical prostatectomy or the removal of prostate gland, surrounding tissues, and lymph nodes by making small incisions in the lower abdomen, not really what we were hopping for but if the surgeon was able to get all the infection that I could be cancer free almost immediately. The down side to this and all the other options are pretty much the same and include balder control, ED, and the like, none of which were desirable but seemed like better than the death option, the degree of the side effect vary from patient to patient but with the right surgeon and a little luck life could be pretty much back to normal.

So late July 2015 it was decided that I would chose to have a radical prostatectomy, next was to schedule the procedure as soon as possible, and knowing that my need was serious we were told that my surgery could be bumped if a more serious case came along. A date in early October was picked the surgeon scheduled and the preparation started. But with around a week to go I received a call and my surgery was bumped to late October and we just marched on a little further.

Early on October 28th 2015, I checked into the hospital for the surgery, from there till late that fall afternoon the process was just a blur to me. Apparently the surgery went as planed, but I had a number of issues in recovery, unlike my father who was cursed with high blood pressure in his later years I have been blessed with low blood pressure and apparently that was an issue a number of times, causing undo stress to the nurses in the recovery ward, me, I really never knew anything until Miss Laurie told me later that evening.

Well that is pretty much the story of my go about with cancer, I feel very blessed to still be free of prostate cancer, but at my age it was also a real wake up call, it was one of the reasons that we chose the life to travel, explore and enjoy life a little more than most people. And as I sit here this evening finishing off this blog I realize that I have now out lived my father, he passed just a few month after his 69th birthday of a massive heart attack, most likely something to do with that high blood pressure.

Here are the common signs and symptoms of prostate cancer:

• Difficulty urinating
• Urgent need to urinate
• Frequent urination, especially at night
• Burning or pain when urinating
• Inability to urinate or difficulty starting or stopping urine flow
• Painful ejaculation
• Blood in the urine or semen

All you fellows get a PSA test done to give yourself a benchmark. And do it sooner rather than later, such a simple test and it saves a lot of lives!

As always stay strong, keep well, and be well!

Thursday January 14th 2021

We are two months into our five month sentence. Our crime you might ask. Simply wanting to live a life of discovery. It all was working so great until a little virus call COVID-19 came along. Little did we know how it was going to change our lives, as well as the lives of so many people that we know. And actually the five month sentence that I speak of, will just be our time away from our coach (home). The past ten months have seemed like we were all under house arrest, not being able to go places, visit people, friends, and family, enjoy the attraction that this great and beautiful country offers us, or just our regular lifestyle that includes five months of vacation time in the warm southern climate. So we are paying the price for a crime that we really did not do … just saying.

And as devastating as it has been to have our lives as a whole uprooted in this way, it has been the same for most people. Well that is not totally true, it has only been that way for 52% of Ontario’s population. You see the other 48% of Ontario’s population decided that the guidelines did not apply to them, so they decided over the holidays to have get togethers and gatherings. And I can not even start to tell you how much that annoys us, as we have not seen some of our family for over a year and the most recent would have be before the start of the second wave in September of last year. So as of 12:01 this morning we have a stay at home order for the province, so lets just look at the reason for this.

Our Premier Doug Ford was forced because of rising infections of the virus to start locking down the hot spot areas of the province, Toronto and Peel being the first two areas to have restrictions applied to their businesses’, with restrictions which were eventually followed by closures. So what would any one in a restricted area do? You guessed it they load the family in the car and drive to an unrestricted area for a family outing and a day of shopping, I mean what could go wrong? You see the restriction on business in the hot spots just moved the problem somewhere else, why you might ask? First you must understand that most business owners followed the guidelines, added what ever they were asked to to make their location safe, but still Premier Ford felt that restricting their operation would help. But in fact it made it much worse, because the problem was not the business it was the patron of the business’s, so what happened the virus moved to other areas such as York, Hamilton, Halton, and Niagara. Then those areas had restriction so people just drove further away from their areas spreading the virus even further.

So so far we know that business’s were not the spreaders, it was the people that were spreading the virus, because they were not abiding by the guidelines behind closed doors. So too late in December Premier Ford put the whole province into restrictions, so right up till boxing day every one just carried on spreading the virus, now in hind site would it have helped to implement the restrictions sooner? We can debate that till the cows come home. But what it proved to me was until we restrict the movement of the spreaders of the virus we are gaining nothing.

So now Ontario has declared a state of emergency, but other that issuing the stay at home order that we pretty much know 48% of the people won’t think applies to them anyway. So we just watch as the case count rises, because a bunch of people don’t think they need to conform!

So here is my opinion (I am fully aware that any damn fool can have an opinion, but because its my blog I get to tell you mine) as to what should be happening.

Immediately the big box stores (Walmart, Costco, and the like) need to be restricted! Groceries and medical only! Everything else is coordained or blocked off, nothing for sale, bare essentials only. Entrance restricted to one person per family, this is a pandemic not a family outing! Hours reduced to allow the store staff to restock shelves when the isles are free of customers as opposed to being mobbed by shoppers.

Next the restriction of travel, shut down the airports, the land borders are already closed, if your travelling be prepared to be stopped and have your purpose of travel to be questioned. No one wants a police state but I personally don’t want to catch COVID-19 either, so for someone who has been following the guidelines, I have no issue with them finally being enforced. In fact I take exception to them not being enforced, I also take exception to people that don’t wear their mask properly, like seriously it needs to cover your nose as well.

And I do sympathies with all the small business owners who feel they are getting the raw end of the stick because they are, the virus is not spreading in the little shops and restaurants, in fact they are probably cleaner than most of our homes and kitchens, but they are an easier target than the actual problem people themselves.

Remember when the original state of emergency was declared last March? The streets and roads were almost empty, now it looks like a normal day on the highway. Just look at the families lined up to get into Walmart, you didn’t see that last March. and we wonder why the case numbers grow, now were acting like its an injustice to be asked to comply, like get over yourselves. And if you don’t want people calling you out on not following the guidelines than quit posting and bragging about your gatherings. You are just not that special that you don’t need to follow the guidelines or now the orders.

So three month from now we will be moving back to our home (coach), I suspect spring 2021 will be much tougher than spring 2020 was, and everyone thought that was tough. But look at the cases, look at the deaths, look at all the small businesses that have failed, and remember its not because of the Premiers orders, no its because 48% of the people didn’t think they should follow the guidelines, they are the ones that forced the small businesses in to closing, because they were too good for the guidelines.

As for what we are up to, Miss Laurie is working fulltime to avoid the lockdown boredom and I’m staring to get a little bored, I have read a couple of dozen books, now I’m starting to mess around in the kitchen. And we watch everyday as Facebook and Amazon photos remind us of what happened on this day a number of years ago. The snow has been a good topic to complain or wine about, although the white Christmas was nice to see, just as a little reminder of what we are missing every winter, but I’m pretty sure a photo would work just about as well. I have had time to work on the blog, learn to work with the cameras more, fly the drone when weather permits.

So here is how you decide if your trip is essential, if it doesn’t need to happen then it is not essential, or if you need to ask if its essential, than most likely it is not. We have endured 10 months of house arrest, I’m pretty sure we can endure another six or what ever it takes to get the vaccine out there into the arms of the population.

At least that my view from the drivers seat!