Living the dream

Hi Barry,

There was a report in the Daily Telegraph 25th January, 'Anxious and depressed people far more likely to die from cancer', citing research by University College London and University of Edinburgh.

If I have copied the link properly it is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/01/25/anxious-depressed-people-far-likely-die-cancer-study-shows/

Now I am not saying that you can wish your cancer away, but there is lots of evidence that our mood effects our physical health.  Exercise, sunshine and doing things you enjoy changes the levels of various hormones in the body and perhaps that has an effect on our cancers?

It is of course easy to feel sorry for ourselves, why me?  what did I do to deserve this? etc.

However another way of looking at it, is that we should be celebrating living long enough to develop prostate cancers.  I had contemporaries, good friends, who didn't live long enough, one of my best friends at school died aged 12 of leukemia, another in his 20's crashed his car, another in his 30's fell off his motorbike.

So for me, living long enough to teach my granddaughter to make porridge is something to celebrate, and I find focusing on such nice things as that far more enjoyable than wallowing in self-pity.  And if you are struggling to stay positive, it might do good to get some happy pills from your GP?

:)

Dave

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the kind words,

Dave you are right '...PCa is not so rapid in its prognosis...', we are at an age when irrespective of PCa we all have to confront our mortality.

I really enjoyed myself on Thursday, a day with the grandchildren is precious, and simple things like making porridge are just wonderful.

But not every day fills me with such glorious thoughts, I have just spent the last two days doing battle with my father-in-laws garden, over the last few years bamboo has encroached from a neighbour's garden, through his flower bed, under the path, into his lawn.  Fighting through thickets of bamboo is something I could have taken in my stride in my youth, but now after two days of it my muscles ache, my joints are stiff, my tendons are sore, and I have to confront the awful truth that I am getting old!

So while I should be feeling happy, contented and proud, because I have done a good deed for my father-in-law, this is spoiled by sadness that I am getting older and weaker, definitely past my prime.

Whatever I can do this year, like DIY, gardening, anything physical, is just going to be more difficult next year, and even more difficult the year after that.

Like most of the guys on this website I don't just have PCa, but also arthritis, high blood pressure, and according to my GP I am borderline diabetic.  Rather like an old car with a dodgy clutch, worn bearings, grinding gearbox and tarnished paintwork, all my bits are starting to decline.

So remaining upbeat is something that isn't always easy. 

So thank God for Eleanor, I am sure the thought of you simpering modestly, sent mine and many more hearts racing.  At our age you can't beat a bit of good old fashioned modest simpering.

Surely that is what life is all about, forgetting all this horrible cancer business, and focusing on the fun things in life?

:)

Dave