Tags
EBRT, electron beam radiation therapy, john gabriel otvos, lifestyle diseases, PC, prostate cancer, vegan eating, whole foods plant based diet
Gran’urchins Anthony on the left and Luke to the right, with their frog nets. As of 2018, there are 2 more urchins to add to the kettle. See the hassle a brief hitch with some protoplasm can fetch? hahaha – 2015.
my blow by blow personal account [not for the squeamish]
The featured image above the title bar is a ‘long gun’ emplacement at Point Pleasant Park on the Halifax waterfront, circa 1792. The Brits feared an impending French attack on “their” colony. To me, it’s emblematic of the focused, yet scattergun approach of any invasive treatment for prostate cancer in men. It’s all “by the numbers”. Some win; some lose.
Prostate cancer is usually a disease that afflicts older men. It is likely the slowest growing of the cancer bunch. It’s widely known, that males who have the gene in their family’s history, are more vulnerable to contract this affliction on a percentage basis, [10%] statistically, i.e. ladies and gentlemen, this is a numbers game! In 1949, papa told mama that he had experienced the first signs of blood in his stool. His exact words as related to me by mama were: “This is the beginning of the end.” He died of prostate cancer and other complications in hospital, 1971 at age 75. He was a bear of a man, who withstood much torment and pain in his life. I recall coming back to Oshawa for the 1969 Christmas break, during my first year at Waterloo Lutheran U. The entire house had a stench of death; papa had a grey-green pallor to his skin. It was his religious belief and practice, which allowed him to live so long without any form of treatment. This alone is clear evidence of the power of intention over concern. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter, rings the cliché.
What is little known is the new science of epigenetics, as popularized many years ago by Dr. Bruce Lipton. Sure, a person may have the gene hooked into their DNA spiral, but, in order for that gene to express itself, it must be acted upon. I was never tested. Genes do not express themselves on their own simply because they’re there. If that were true, every man with the detrimental PC gene and every woman with the breast cancer gene, would manifest the undesirable symptoms, but, they don’t. Please keep in mind, that I contracted this “condition”, but my two elder bros did not, at least as yet. Bruce calls this manifest expression, the environmental determinant. You’ll have to read or view [YouTube] some of his work from The Biology of Belief. Epigenetics is now a serious study at the university level.
A rogue storm wave from Hurricane Bill washed the 3 of us off that picnic table at Hirtles Beach, NS. This was after it “carried” the table with the 3 dudes about 50′! I’m to the right; lost a camera and got a gash on my knee – Aug 23, 2009.
Food choices, or emotional response, but mostly food as in animal food, are the usual culprits. Unfortunately, cancer has been monetized, with the vast majority of GP’s, urologists and oncologists having had little training during medical school regarding food nutrition, outside of how to prescribe vitamin and mineral supplements, which we now learn are more harmful than beneficial. Yeah, I digress but it’s all connected.
As my father’s son, I possibly may have carried the gene. Unbeknownst to me, that carry-on made me more susceptible to dealing with this “condition”, later in life. My own diagnosis was revealed in Nov. 2005, at age 57, while living in BC, 3 years after the end of my 35 yr. marriage. At the time, PSA [prostate specific antigen] tests were widely used as an antibody blood marker measure, to indicate a potential problem. The other condition for men is known as BPH, or benign prostate hyperplasia. This latter state of men’s doughnuts is a demonstration of an enlarged prostate, not necessarily diseased. That’s the meaning of benign. The other determination the docs find with a lubed and gloved finger is in a physical inspection or DRE. [digital rectal examination]. The following are their main areas of `blind’ investigation:
A] an enlargement of the gland [normally walnut sized but grown to chestnut by volume]
B] an excessively hard or conversely overly soft doughnut
C] perhaps some lump protrusion(s) which may portent a tumour growth.
Smellin’ the roses, in this case, it’s a m’rume in Whycocomagh Provincial Park in the Bras d’Or Lakes, Cape Breton, NS – 2013.
Men shy away from these very personal and sometimes painful examinations. Some docs can be very impersonal lacking compassion, completely mechanical, going quickly ‘round the world’, causing serious pain. Ask me how I know. hahaha Men are tough and can take it . . . or so ‘they’ say! Far too many males avoid this physical examination, as well as the blood marker PSA test. In the USA, the PSA test has been drastically downgraded. Sadly, health is greatly monetized stateside, with the incessant push for it here above the 49th.
I was a huge carnivore in my personal eating habits. I ate German Mennonite summer sausage ’til it came out my ears. In addition, cheese and butter, bragging how bread was invented so butter could be sliced with a cheese slicer, legally.
“The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified processed meat as a carcinogen, something that causes cancer. And it has classified red meat as a probable carcinogen, something that probably causes cancer. IARC is the cancer agency of the World Health Organization.
Processed meat includes hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausage, and some deli meats. It refers to meat that has been treated in some way to preserve or flavor it. Processes include salting, curing, fermenting, and smoking. Red meat includes beef, pork, lamb, and goat.”
For a man in his late 50’s, the normal PSA range in our western culture is somewhat lower than 3.5. It is highly recommended that should men choose to have this blood marker drawn regularly, that they return to the same lab facility each time. Once the PSA rises above 4 ng/mL, the urologists or the ‘with it’ GP’s will request the patient get a biopsy. 13 years ago I had to endure the mousetrap combined with local needle anaesthetic. I’ve had 3 separate biopsies over the 9 years before I surrendered to the allopathic medical system and the light eternal or EBRT [ Electron Beam Radiation Therapy]. The other route was a separate and prior local anaesthesis of the entire gland, with a single jab of the hypo. The first 2005 sampling, delivered 6 bites for the lab. 2 samples from #1 were found to be cancerous. The second survey was 9 samples, finding no abnormalities. The urologist stated that they may have just missed where the tumour was growing, because my PSA was continuing to rise precipitously. The Gleason score was a low 4 with a Type 2B from the initial biopsy. My urologist at the time told me that of all the prostate types to have this was the one. I told him I felt so personally lucky to have the right one. We both had a short-lived laugh. The third biopsy was clearly off-putting, showing 7 of 12 samples as cancerous or nearly so.
If yah canna portage the canoe don’t own it. I cheated, since this is a kevlar Bluewater, weighing in at only 49 lbs. McGraw’s Cove, South Shore, NS – 2013.
I lived with this scourge for 9 years. I experimented with many different alternative therapies such as Reiki, homeopathy, acupuncture, chelation, herbalism with concoctions + decoctions. After the expenditure of mucho kilobucks, that produced no substantial lowering of the PSA, I had the opportunity in 2011 to view the doc: Forks Over Knives. I at once assumed a vegetarian diet still eating dairy though. After two weeks my food intake morphed into a fully fledged vegan diet, as in immediately! I have been fortunate or maybe it’s just my personal karma, that silent teacher, to be able to make a change in behaviour based upon an intellectual decision or a gut instinct, which tells me to do this NOW! But not always. hahaha I had started a whole foods plant based diet far too late.
Cape Split, NS. Yup, I bought the t-shirt. Thanks, Don. Few people pleasure boat in that enormous current that is the Bay of Fundy – 2012.
This much watched FoK documentary clearly shows the link between animal foods and dairy to prostate cancer, as well as most of the other lifestyle diseases common to westerners, especially those who grew up with the SAD [Standard American Diet]. I’ll not go into the specifics other than to say, for me this was an enormous revelation using scientific statistics and analyzing the data, by means of metanalyses, the way my current health guru, Dr. Michael Greger does in ~ www.nutritionfacts.org
As Carly Simon sings it:
Nobody does it better
Makes me feel sad for the rest
Nobody does it half as good as you
Baby, you’re the best
Throughout this time period, I was consciously practicing what is known as watchful waiting. In due course, this was upgraded to the phrase active surveillance, all this, as if mere words would inspire folks to mind their manners at the diner when it comes to animal intake, i.e., what’s on the fork folks! Humans still seem to evolve so damn slowly. Amazing don’t you think?
The multi-million $$$ Varian designed EBRT machine housed at the VG in Halifax. 28 consecutive sessions of app 10 min. ea. Before laying on this contraption, patients are triangulated with 3 dot tattoos for locating [ one on either hip + one centred below yur BB]. Mine are gone now. – 2014.
Between machine treatments, I walked up to 15 km throughout Halifax every day, while surrendering my body to the treatments that left me quite discombobulated. I wanted desperately to keep my body flexible, refusing to sit in a chair feeling sorry for myself as I observed so many others doing at both the lodge that gives and the lodge that takes. These are two facilities for men who lived out of town. One run by the Canadian Cancer Society; t’other, the not-for-profit privately run Point Pleasant Lodge.
I had moved to NS in 2008. In Sept of 2014, I had assembled my 4 dearest friends in the living room as support, since I was scheduled to go to the hospital soon to submit, ahhh I mean surrender. Yeah, sure, I was anxious. It was fear of the unknown. Not logical because fear can only be experienced from the known, correct? These folk were all intelligent, well-read people. I asked them if there was a foodstuff that they liked the taste of, that if they knew would seriously compromise their health, maybe even become a death sentence, would they forego eating it? Not one said yes. We learn now that people only change their behaviour through experience, not evidence. As a society, we have not evolved sufficiently to know, we ought not to die before we see the light. However, such is life.
Yup, jayöh’s a red oak, tree hugger. Peter’s Woods Nature Reserve Trail, a first growth environmental protected area near Grafton, ON – 2016.
I wasn’t really afraid of death because I had already experienced a near fatal car crash in Hendersonville, NC in 2003. My apprehension was of not living; of not being able to do all the things that give me enormous joy such as hiking, canoeing, woodworking, reading and the growing of vegetables for sustenance. All of these activities are just being with All That There IS. Communing with people who love deep communication and silence is what the Sufis refer to as sohbet. These personal joys are the direct connection with the natural world, a deep spirituality if you will, that our modern civilization has unconsciously decided to forego in lieu of materialism. The world of ideas is what has sustained me all these years in the aloneness.
I surrendered and allowed my physical body to undergo 28 consecutive treatments, each about 10 minutes, as it was assumed that that would be sufficient. The young undergrads positioned my lower extremity with an exactness as duplicated by a laser beam, triangulated by the 3 tattoo dots mentioned earlier. Prior to this, no chemotherapy nor hormone treatments were suggested, because, I was still quite fit, well within my BMI and the ultrasound and other tests had relatively determined that the cancer had not metastasized to the lymph or bone marrow. It’s not an exact science people. What could not be determined, however, was if the disease had punctured the gland to spread outside, lurking nearby. So lucky jayöh, got an extra blast of the light eternal. hahaha
Any veg or fruit which is dark or purple has more antioxidants and phytonutrients than lighter coloured ones. Yeah, it came from me raised bed veg garden – 2015.
What few Nova Scotian’s realize, is that before Darrell Dexter and his NDP cohorts were booted out of office in favour of a refrigerant repairman with that dude’s ragtag bag of Fiberals, Dexter stole Dr. David Bowes from Victoria, BC . Darrel gave David a mittful of cash, matched through private donations to setup the VG Cancer centre in Halifax, with electron beam radiation machines, which at the time, were second to none in the world. Such a calming interface when one knows there will be side effects. hahaha
About 4 months after suffering the usual side effects, such as temporary incontinence, ED where Willy revokes Woody’s status, plus bowel ‘mistakes’, some semblance of normalcy slowly began to return. Lads, don’t think for one moment that all your nerves are spared from this light eternal, or from any of the other invasive treatments. Again, these are insidious treatments; that’s correct, no free lunch. The sound of running water would begin a letdown reflex at the kitchen sink. External kegel exercises proved not fully helpful. Sometimes one wasn’t sure if it was wind or a more ‘firm pressing matter’ that needed to be released. In those daze, I was changing my undies several times each day. Nope, I take no prisoners. hahaha I was also sleeping more than 10 hours straight, continuing to do so for nearly 5 months. The theory is that the radiation kills the cancerous cells, while also doing damage [read killing] the healthy cells too. The cancer does not grow back but the healthy ones destroyed, do . . . at least that’s the theory! hahaha Even our illustrious Alexander Graham Bell experimented with radiation to kill cancer cells, more than 100 years ago. He spoke of his success at doing so, but he also killed many of his patients too. Better to look at our stress levels, anger outbreaks, but most critically our food choices. Yes, the prevention is that simple.
For men with prostate cancer, there are 4 potential invasive treatments. I’ll list them but not overly elaborate.
- Hormone therapy [to shrink yur doughnut prior to surgery]
- Radical prostatectomy [snip snip . . .]
- Brachytherapy [implantation of stainless steel radioactive isotopes directly into the gland]
- Chemotherapy [y’ll know ‘bout that hairless invasion]
There are now more modern additions and variations on these 4 main ditties, but, and here’s the caveat: *do not think for one minute that they are all safe, proven and therapeutic, that you can return to whatever you were doing prior to being diagnosed, as if nothing happened.* All these therapies are investigational, applied based upon a statistical average of good outcomes. In other words, most live, but yes, many still die. The numbers belie the anticipated life expectancy. hahaha See, I don’t take any of this too seriously anymore. It’s why I’ve not had a PSA blood test in nearly 2-1/2 years. I’ll take my chances, since the quality of life is far more important than having a PSA of zero, for this respondent.
Bakers Brook Falls, Gros Morne National Park – Aug 2014.
During my 3-year stint living on Vancouver Island in Courtenay, BC I frequented the men’s prostate support group. Oh dear gawd! The men had that ashen look of death, long faces, few smiling as if much of life had been sucked out of them. Many of their belovèd wives’ came in tow for individual support. One could intuit, that little nookie was happenin’ in that group. hahaha When I arrived in NS, I sought out a similar group, went to one meetup, then decided after seeing similar facial dread, I didn’t need that damned depression in my life, despite coming here, not knowing a soul.
After 3 months of returning clarity from The EBRT, I had blood drawn and my PSA checked. It was near absolute zero on the Kelvin scale . . . if there is such a thingy. The oncologist told me he had never seen a man of my age [66] recover so quickly. I’m a voracious reader. I informed him that prostate cancer and all of the other diseases mentioned in the Forks Over Knives documentary were matters of lifestyle with little genetic predisposition. David said: “I’m beginning to see that now.” After 6 months, I got a scare as I had another PSA test and there was that common frightening uptick known in professional circles as a PSA bump. It’s a little outcome that the scientists don’t fully understand. I’d had enough. That was my last blood test for PSA. I simply wanted to remain content with what I had, to live out the rest of what The Universe would grace me with. I chose compassion and a love for all. Not easy, since despite all the Christian religious talk, y’all know the kind of world we inhabit in 2018. That’s what’s happenin’ dudes and dudettes.
The latest great documentary regarding the animal food industry and the cancer connection is called: What The Health. I suppose that the title is a takeoff on the oft used colloquial expression, WTF. It patently documents the corrupt connectedness between these so-called NGO prevention associations, big pharma + the corporate agenda period. It’s nothing personal; it’s just business. BTW, both of these documentaries are on Netflix, at least the CDN version where I pen this scribble.
I visited China in 2012 for several months. While in Beijing, I saw 100′ long banners pinned to walls in many locations. I asked Xiaoli, my Chinese guide and interpreter what they said. She told me that they were imploring men to get their blood sampled and have a physical examination. The West exported our consumer culture and diet to the far East. Now they have our lifestyle diseases. Prior to this, meat was only a condiment used in Asian cookery. I read last year, i.e., 2017, that China was scouring Ontario for excess dairy capacity. Oh boy, are they ever in for a huge uptick on this prostate phenomena, as dairy is THE #1 implication for pc. Since the 1940’s here in the West, dairy consumption has doubled and so has pc along with other lifestyle diseases like breast cancer for women. Milk and cheese, especially the casein protein is the perfect food for a newborn calf. It is the most concentrated and even more so in fat-free milk or low fat milk.
It’s now been over 3 years and I have zero groin pain, no blood in the stool or urine and can still put in a full day’s work in the garden or workshop. In 2016, I completed the 22 solid poplar doors, most weighing in at 80 lbs a piece on my own, for this passive solar retirement home. I can still outhike anyone who has come by this severely over the angle grade that is the Burgess Mtn Rd. This is not idle pride, ego or bragging. It’s simply a statement of what is.
The numeral 9 occurs often in my life. I’m no numerologist adherent, but that does not detract from the mysterious synchronicity in what happens. Remember it took 9 years to finish the retirement house. My life # is 9. On Tuesday, January 9th, 2018 my oncologist, Dr. David Bowes discharged me from active care with the Halifax VG Cancer Care Centre. He said he needed to make room for the endless lineup of men seeking the light eternal. I don’t make any of this up, so dinna shoot the messenger. Because of this number significance, I’ve only included 9 images, outside of the old cannon featured image.
Does all this mean that I am free of this scourge? I dunno? Am I bothered that I dunno? No. I choose to live in the Now, as ET exhorts us to, I wish to be a witness to all the moments, both glorious and inglorious. I’ve done my time with this numbers game, refusing to live in a constant panic of what might reoccur or not. All aspects of life are happening simultaneously. That’s what the ancient Tao suggests in its Yin/Yang symbol. I don’t wish to miss anything and if I do, well don’t blink, ‘cause there’ll be another happenin’, as Jim Carrey phrases it, coming yur way soon. hahaha
I, like so many others, have retreated into my forest lair, as there is far too much anger online. People feel the existential crisis ramping up. The ice isn’t waiting for humans to get it about their carbon footprint. The hurricanes are not waiting for people to stop eating rainforest hamburgers either. One cannot post a comment on a news article that permits such actions, without being jumped upon from those who refuse to identify themselves and clearly demonstrate they have little if any grasp of the issue of why plant foods matter. That is an additional chapter for a new day.
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I AM John Ötvös, aka jayöh.
John Gabriel Ötvös 
Nice Tilley, John!
Yeah, the ventilation works well. Lifetime warrantee. This is #2 for jayöh. hahaha