July 15, 2016

July 15, 2016

My blog-site has been neglected for too long.  There are two reasons/excuses.  First, nothing very dramatic has happened to my health and second I have changed from Windows 7 to 10 on the computer and things aren’t so easy to find.  I will try to be more regular (that sounds like a bathroom expression).

There has been one sort of good news.  Dr. Patil discharged me from the Cancer Clinic at the hospital.  This simply means that my prostate cancer is stable, not that it is cured.  My PSA score is between 2.5 and 3.5 and is staying there, at least for the present.  He said that if I need him, just call.  On the other hand, I still have two other cancer doctors that I see every six months, but they are not part of the main cancer clinic.

Yesterday I saw my Parkinson’s doctor and he seemed satisfied with my progress - in not going down-hill faster, I suppose.  When I visit him we do a series of little physical tests which illustrate how fast I am degenerating – or not – and I seem to have kept up my speed and dexterity for the moment.  At least he didn’t order any change in my several pills. 

For the past several weeks I have been working on rebuilding and extending our deck at the back of the house – with the view down the harbour.  It was strange and pleasant to find that by adding only about three and a half feet to he depth, the place seems twice as large.  I put in the cement bases, the vertical support posts, the support beam and the joists.  Bruce (and Heather) came from Sarnia for three days and between us we removed the old decking and installed the new and also constructed the three foot high railing.  He is a very handy helper, making all the necessary fittings where decking had to be cut to fit around posts.  I have been finishing up the final little bits and rebuilding the rock wall that kept a garden in place.  It was disturbed by the building going on around it.

Mainly, when I am feeling good, it is almost like I had nothing wrong with me.  Other times, not too frequent, I still have my feet seeming stuck to the ground and am shuffling around the house hanging on to furniture, door frames and walls.  The only major change has been that after a big day of construction, I am literally exhausted.  I can hardly lift my feet to get anywhere.  Usually, if I lie down for a half-hour to an hour, I get over it and can feel pretty good, but the excessive tiredness is hard to deal with.

Today, Friday, I did a limited work-out at the Findlay Centre and had a coffee at Tim Hortons with Heather after – our usual operation.

Now I have a small project to do making a door or some sort of a closing at the open end of the new section under the deck.  I really enjoy having these projects and am not very happy when I have to lie down and rest to compensate.

I will try and be more regular in my reporting.