You check your oil, have you checked your PSA lately?

Well today was the grand unveiling of my scalp to the world. My hair had decided to take leave of my scalp and I was shedding like a crazy ol' shaggy dog. Even our Roomba couldn't keep up with it.

So we decided the only way to deal with it was to shave my head. We organized a neighborhood gathering (keeping in mind our social distancing) for the party. About 20 neighbors showed up and brought their lawn chairs and whatever they wanted to drink.

We were going to do it at high noon but we changed to 4:00 p.m. because noon was too chilly and also too early to be doing shots. So here's what I looked like before the process began...
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and after all was said and done and a few shots of Patrol were consumed, this is what the end result looks like....
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The neighbors were great. The brought several new hats for me including one from the Oh Boy, Oberto hydroplane that one of the neighbors works on the pit crew for, a Trump hat which Tina promptly said she could use for toilet paper if we ran out, and several others.

They also brought a collection of hand made signs....
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and a few others.

What a great collection of friends/neighbors we have.

I like the new look!
It’s the badass look.
Time to channel your inner Walter White!
You look almost as young as your wife now.
 
I had my second chemo treatment today. It went about the same as the first one except it took longer. I got the feeling that the staff at the oncology center was tired and seemed to lack that certain attitude that I saw 3 weeks ago. They're working 4-10's and my nurse said she liked the shifts but it was obvious that things are not as snappy.

Stay safe all.
 
Just a quick update. I had chemo #3 last Tuesday, a week ago. Typical of the prior two I felt fine until about Friday afternoon then was down until Sunday afternoon. So the "down" period lasted a day longer but wasn't as severe as the prior two weeks.

The staff at the center seemed to be a lot happier this time. Lots of laughter and joking around. It was nice to see them in better moods. If most of you are like I was before this started I only had a vague idea of what chemo actually was. So here's a pic of the bag of chemo.
Chemo picture .jpg
They mix the solution right at the cancer center. When they bring it in the nurse has to be fully gowned up. Before they can administer it they have a second nurse come in so they can veryify my name/DOB and that the bar code on the bag matches the bar code on my wrist band.

Then they start a saline drip to get the whole thing moving. This is followed by a bag (similar size) of benadryl to calm me down a bit, then the chemo. This is all followed up by another bag of a steroid then another saline solution to flush everything through my system. It all takes about 2.5 hours, give or take a bit.

Now that all is the downside. The upside is they provide Oreos and a bottle of water. Woooo Hooooo!

3 down, 3 to go.

I AM THE STORM.
 
I've mentioned several times on here what a great bunch of neighbors we have. Over the past couple of days I've been talking with a friend in the Portland, OR area who is going to buy the life raft I have. Since we'll be selling the boat we won't need the raft. Makes sense, right?

So this afternoon I'm sitting at a neighbor's house watching a lightening storm roll in. We were just shooting the breeze and I mentioned I was going to sell the raft and asked him if he would give me a hand loading it up on top of our GMC Terrain when we're ready to take it to Portland.

So Jim comes up with a better idea. Why don't we load it into the back of their pickup, they'll drive it down there, drop off the raft, visit their kids who live in Portland and I pick up the tab for gas. Doesn't get any better than that, right?

What a great bunch of friends/neighbors we live with.
 
So, have you scrapped the plan to cruise the Puget Sound?
 
Yeah, my MIL is 104 years old and still doing pretty well. We can't do the trip while she's still around so we're going to put the boat up for sale.

There's a guy here in town who is a business owner who expressed an interest in it. I haven't cleaned it up but will contact him once the boat is clean.
 
Well, good luck with the sale.
 
I just came across your story. Sorry to hear about your condition. One does not know want tomorrow or even the next second will be like. There are lots of boat to rent in Puget Sound. When you are ready to go let us know and I will send you copies of some of our logs. We spend September there most years. We keep our boat in Anacortes, go to Olympia then back to Anacortes. Twice we have included the Hood Canal and twice we have gone into the lake at Seattle. There is also a small cruise ship that does the same trip.
This is the boat as it was passing Blake Island opposite Seattle on its way to Tacoma in September of 2019. The ship is called American Constalation. Good luck hope you recover soon.
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Mike, I'm very sorry to hear this... Best wishes with your next chapter.
Sincerely, Mark
 
C'mon guys, I'm not looking for any tears or sympathy. I started this whole thread to encourage guys to get their PSA levels checked. Thus far I think 9 guys have said they would schedule a blood draw to get it checked.

The rest of this thread has just been about what it's like goingo through chemo, what a "head shaving party" looks like, and the results thereof. etc.
 
Been checking mine yearly for 4 years, I'm 60. First one was 6.2, Has been staying around 4.3. Had 2 biopsies, a year apart, Each one showed the same thing. A partial low grade cancer in one sample. Doc is not to concerned, as long as the PSA numbers don't change a lot We will stay on the yearly check. What got me tested was losing a good friend to prostrate cancer. He made me promise to get tested and I am glad now I did. Thank you for bringing this up. Catching it early is the key.
 
Thanks GFC for reminding us all we all need to see a good "People Mechanic" yearly. We all probably spend more attention to our boat's health compare to our own health.
PSA is simple test. Been getting it done since I was 55 I am 72 now. So they got good history of things. Same is true for all things pertaining to all our health. Test yearly on all things that can go wrong.
Do not forget to get yearly eye exam things can change quickly.
 
I just have one question,

If I buy the boat do you ship it for free?

Tests resume for me in two weeks.
 
Since we'll be selling the boat we won't need the raft. Makes sense, right?

What?!? This is the first I've heard of this... did I miss a thread somewhere? what's up?
 
What?!? This is the first I've heard of this... did I miss a thread somewhere? what's up?
Jim, we bought Beachcomber to make a summer long trip up into Puget Sound and then into Canadian waters. My MIL is 104 years old (94 when we bought the boat) and still going strong though we can see her heading downhill.

We wouldn't make the trip because we can't be away from her for long periods. Plus, my current bout with prostate cancer and having to undergo chemo treatments makes any kind of trip difficult.

So we've decided to forego the trip, sell the boat and buy a motorhome to do some land cruising with.

Some times the stars align for things to happen as planned and sometimes they don't. It is what it is and we just learn to roll with the punches.
 
Jim, we bought Beachcomber to make a summer long trip up into Puget Sound and then into Canadian waters. My MIL is 104 years old (94 when we bought the boat) and still going strong though we can see her heading downhill.

We wouldn't make the trip because we can't be away from her for long periods. Plus, my current bout with prostate cancer and having to undergo chemo treatments makes any kind of trip difficult.

So we've decided to forego the trip, sell the boat and buy a motorhome to do some land cruising with.

Some times the stars align for things to happen as planned and sometimes they don't. It is what it is and we just learn to roll with the punches.
All the best Mike... throttles forward or pedal to the metal, whatever it may be!
 
Jim, we bought Beachcomber to make a summer long trip up into Puget Sound and then into Canadian waters. My MIL is 104 years old (94 when we bought the boat) and still going strong though we can see her heading downhill.

We wouldn't make the trip because we can't be away from her for long periods. Plus, my current bout with prostate cancer and having to undergo chemo treatments makes any kind of trip difficult.

So we've decided to forego the trip, sell the boat and buy a motorhome to do some land cruising with.

Some times the stars align for things to happen as planned and sometimes they don't. It is what it is and we just learn to roll with the punches.

Mike, pm me if you want to talk motorhomes... I'm on my 3rd one now with 20 years owning them.
 
Mike, pm me if you want to talk motorhomes... I'm on my 3rd one now with 20 years owning them.
Will do. For about 10 years I was Business Manager for the largest RV dealer in Eastern WA. Over that period I got to use many different sizes/brands whenever I wanted to take a trip. All I had to do was tell the shop which one and when I needed it. They'd have it fueled up and ready to go. Nice perk!
 

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