Friday, January 13, 2017

Prostate Cancer

We just found out this morning that my father-in-law has prostate cancer.

This is the very beginning of the process so we do not know to what extent or if it has metastasized yet; they are doing a ct and bone scan later this month.  Too long for me, but I guess 1.5 weeks is not long for the medical world.

This has shocked the family because his brother just died of prostate cancer - like 2 weeks ago and another brother died a few years ago of it. 

Good grief. 

Now, my husband is freaking out.  His dad may be on the way to dying, and the likelihood of my husband getting it just increased 5 fold.   He is a worrier about these things and wakes up at night in cold sweats about death.  It is really very sad and nothing I say seems to help.

There is no real prevention other than eat your veggies and exercise.  Still, even if you do that, you can still get it.  The best way, truly, is to get checked often and catch it early.  The survival rate is very high if it is caught early.

Luckily, none were early onset - this is definitely later in life.  Over age 75.  So, late life cancers are very common in general.  I have always pushed the veggies as well as spices and herbs like turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, sweet basil, garlic.  The good stuff that helps with the blood.

We need to work on the exercise portion and we are getting there.  I am making some changes so I can lead the family down a healthier path.

Big news other than that - TODAY, I announced that I no longer will be sewing patches after March 31, 2017. 

Whew!  What a load off my mind.  I am cutting back on the business, which will give me more free time to make meals, motivate the family to exercise, etc.  I know I should not be the only one, but it is kind of the role I have always played in our family - the motivator.  Yes, it gets tiring, so things fall off from time to time, but I always get back in there.

This time, I am trying to approach this from a place of rest instead of a check list.  This is a part of our life, with no goal in mind.  Just aligning it with our values.

We will see how it goes.  Me getting to this point will take a while. 

Most assuredly AFTER several cups of coffee!  ;)


3 comments:

  1. Not that getting prostate cancer is a good thing, but if you have to get one type, this is the one you want to get. It is a rather slow growing one(from what people I know who got it tell me)and there are many treatment options out there for it. Best of luck with your father in-law and his treatment and recovery.

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  2. I'm sorry, Jennifer. Hopefully they caught it early and your FIL has many years of good living ahead.

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  3. I'm so sorry about your FIL's diagnosis. I hope everything turns out okay. A dear friend of mine was diagnosed 3 years ago and his treatment went very well, but did wear on him. Now he is cancer free and doing just fine. I hope your FIL's treatment goes even better.

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Namaste