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Perspective

Anything related to matters of the mind

Bobo

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It's been mentioned before on here but there is a lot of truth to the saying that if you do not have your health, you don't have anything.

Well, several of you know that we've been through a bit of a scare. A weird mole on my back wasn't a mole, it was a Clark's Level IV melanoma. Over the past few weeks I've been through more medical procedures than I have in the past 39 years, total. Three biopsies, 1 brain scan, a sentinal lymph node removal and dissection, a 5cm diameter section of my back removed, radioactive dye injection, radioactive sugar injection, blood tests, MRI's, Sonograms, PET scans, enough paperwork to close 17 real estate transactions and more injections than Amy Winehouse's fan club gets in a year.

Over the past month I've had a real chance to reflect on some things. Without your health, no amount of wealth is worth a damn.

I lost a large piece of skin and a lymph node, I've gained a lot of perspective.

As you review your fastlane goals and todo lists take a moment to add a new column if you haven't already. Put down things like prostate exams and pap smears. What's your cholesterol looking like? How's your liver? What's your EKG looking like? What is your cardio fitness like? How's your diet? How's your weight?

I'm greedy, I want to continue harassing and aggravating Jill for at least another 60 years. Live to 100 is one of my longterm goals now. Poor Jill was terrified that she'd have to learn how to vacuum and do laundry.

I turn 40 in November, I will turn 40 in the best shape of my life with complete awareness of how ALL of my systems are working and I am now officially deemed cured, not better, not in remission, cancer free. Thank you GOD!

Earlier this week I got back the results of the biopsies from the lymph node and excised tumor. Lymph node clean, margins around tumor clean:great:
Then I got back the results of the brain scan, all 3 brain cells look healthy :great:
I got my "Final Exam" today, the post surgery PET Scan came back A+. :great:

Guys, you don't want to hold your breath waiting for test results. It kinda sucks, invest in a complete physical and spend a few hours today learning about self exams for various things. As an example, once a melanoma progresses to the lymph nodes the odds drop to coinflip type odds. When you catch them when they are only in the top layer of skin, the odds are 99% that you will be around. I WAS between the two, but did not have to be. I waited (almost) too long due to a stupid fear of doctors and hospitals. Life is hard, life is harder when you are stupid.:smx4:
 
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PaulRobert

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Thank goodness everything is better Bobo. Without health, money and time means nothing. I too had a wide awakening last August. A spider bit me last year and developed into a nasty infection that was spreading into my body. The infection was 2 millimeters away from my main artery in my leg. If I didn't get operated on then I would not be here today. Life is too short. Everyone live to your fullest, act as if today was your last day and enjoy that you are living now.
Cherish yesterday, Dream tomorrow, and Live today. Once again, glad that your tests came back with positive results. :hurray::banana:
 

Bobo

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Once again, glad that your tests came back with positive results.

Ok, just to be clear - positive results are BAD, I had negative results, which of course is a positive


Oh Shit, positive about being negative? Jill, they missed somethin, I guess I must be bi-polar babe.
 

PaulRobert

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OOO Ok then Im glad your results were negative and that they had a positive meaning! :hurray:
 
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yveskleinsky

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Great post! I am so thrilled that you were able to catch it early and get treatment--we were all praying double-time for you!

...I had to attend a funeral about a month ago for my uncle. He never took care of himself, and it finally caught up with him. The sad part was going over to his new home to see it for the fiirst time. He had finally retired this past year, and bought his dream home. They were in the process of moving into thisbeautiful new home when he passed away--he never even got to spend one night there.

We are the most precious asset we'll ever have, and we've got take care of ourselves--or what's it all for?
 
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Congratulations, for being alive man. Really i must applause your courage to
actually tell this story of your hardships but also conquering your psychological fear of you actually talking doctors and visiting hospitals.

Can you tell me some of the things you plan on doing on orer to keep yourself healthy?
Are you on a exercise schedule? Can you see yourself actually living to 100 years old?" i hope you do:iagree:!
 

Bobo

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Can you tell me some of the things you plan on doing on orer to keep yourself healthy?
Are you on a exercise schedule? Can you see yourself actually living to 100 years old?" i hope you do

Well, I had grandparents live to 100...

Prior to learning of this I was already on a good diet and exercise schedule.
Exercise - Cardio Cardio and more cardio plus a few weights, I had decided to lose a lot of fat, had lost about 25 pounds of it in the last two months. Healthy heart, good body composition is the exercise goal.

Diet: No crap. Seriously - what we call "Natural Organic Food" was what our grandparents called... wait for it... FOOD. If you do some reading about the nutritional content of say beef; compare and contrast grass fed beef that has not been given hormones and antibiotics to typical corn fed feedlot raised cattle - it isn't close. I eat flax seeds, pig out on blueberries, grow my own veggies organically.

I've cut out processed anything as much as I can and try to get things minimally processed. An apple is healthier than applesauce is healthier than apple cider is healthier than apple juice.

We knocked off the vino except for one night per week for the diet, once where we want to be a glass of red every day isn't a bad idea.

This was all before the scare.

Now, I'm adding things like SUNBLOCK, for preventing any return visits from Melaphukanoma, upping the antioxidants even more, giving up tobacco in any form other than the very occasional cigar (buhbye smokeless).

I think the key is mixing old and new - eating and being active the way people were 1000 years ago while taking advantage of PREVENTIVE technologies and screenings to ensure that anything caught is caught early.

Jill and I have both felt better since we started the diet and exercise together a few months ago and we're both looking at this as a wakeup call.

I think a real key will be to remember not to piss Jill off - she's a really good shot.

Most importantly, whatever I live to I want to LIVE TO. I've known centegenarians who died at 60 - it just took another 40 years for their heart to stop. I like my world too much. Just sitting still for a week and a half has been excruciatingly boring for me.
 
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kwerner

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Good to hear that your test results were negative. It's great to see that during all of this, you've kept a great humor.


This would make a great sig line:

Life is hard, life is harder when you are stupid.:smx4:

:yourock:
 

TaxGuy

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Kasey- I thought ignorance was bliss :p

Atleast I know 99.9% of my stress/anxiety comes from over-thinking as I'm sure is the case with most people ;)

Chuck- I'm really looking forward to learning more from you, it's amazing how much you provide and added to what Jill provides, combined you two might just be the most valuable contributor to these forums :coolgleamA:

The food equation alone, I know it's a process(pardon the pun) to cut out all the crap, but slowly and surely I'm workin on it, the hope is by next month to keep boxed and pre-packaged foods to a minimum. If I had the funds, I'd definitely be at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, but for the time being I need to eat as our ancestors called it, "food", the stuff that takes time to prepare and isn't full of crap, which most stuff is quite literally, especially working in the fast-food industry now seeing that the infamous bacteria outbreaks are usually b/c crap is mixed with what the lazy call "food" :p
 

rcardin

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I understand the feeling Bobo. I was in the hospital at Christmas time. Major headache on the left side of my head. Doctors thought it might be an aneurysm. Many tests later and 2 days in the hospital they ruled out everything they could. Seems now it is a pinched nerve and still bothers me some, even after spinal stretching to relieve the pressure.

This experience taught me to really live life as if there was no tomorrow. Hence the corvette in the avatar. That car brings me more daily joy than almost anything else. We are already planning next summer's vacation to make the most of it.

Unfortunately it didn't change my habits too much. We have always had healthy food. We cook every night and use a lot of fresh vegetables. But as far as exercise, I can't stand it. Maybe it was the 4 years in the Army that soured me on exercise.

Glad everything is ok now for you!
 
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Halli

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I'm so glad that you are ok :) I lost my dad because of cancer and I don't wish that upon anybody :yourock:
 

MJ DeMarco

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Glad to hear the great news Chuck, health a$$ kickings really do have a way of grounding us into perspective. I've been there and in some ways, still am. And even better news is you got through all those complicated tests promptly and didn't need a bureaucrat to approve them.

Live long and prosper!
 

randallg99

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nothing else matters besides health and family. Now you have more knowledge how to pay attention to your body.

A few years back I got a lung cancer scare and man, that was quite frankly pretty much F*cking my day up badly. (turns out after a million tests, probes, xrays, scans and questionnaires that my esophagus is scarred after having H Pylori)....

I've lost friends and family to diseases that could have been prevented or at the very least their lives prolonged had they been better to their bodies or paid more attention.

Good thing you kept your eye on the ball.

the best gift you can give yourself is taking care of yourself.
 
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Jul 6, 2009
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Well, I had grandparents live to 100...
Diet: No crap. Seriously - what we call "Natural Organic Food" was what our grandparents called... wait for it... FOOD. If you do some reading about the nutritional content of say beef; compare and contrast grass fed beef that has not been given hormones and antibiotics to typical corn fed feedlot raised cattle - it isn't close. I eat flax seeds, pig out on blueberries, grow my own veggies organically.

I've cut out processed anything as much as I can and try to get things minimally processed. An apple is healthier than applesauce is healthier than apple cider is healthier than apple juice.

We knocked off the vino except for one night per week for the diet, once where we want to be a glass of red every day isn't a bad idea.

Its great to hear you are taking precaution, in order to consume the right foods. It goo to see your on a goal of long living, because i can tell you first hand that life is precious,. And i don't have to tell you that :smx6:
So what was you diet before the transition into healthy foods? What type of food did you eat?
 

Bobo

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So what was you diet before the transition into healthy foods? What type of food did you eat?
My biggest downfall is simple carbs. Simple carbs create havoc with your insulin levels. If you enjoy drinking wine and eating breads and don't have the metabolic rate of a hummingbird ya get fat.

The thing we've been working on for the long term is to replace white rice with brown, applesauce with apples, sugar with honey, store veggies with stuff from my garden, candy and chips with nuts and berries.

Amazingly, after a few weeks of picking nutrient dense snacks over the junk we found that we really enjoy the 'real' food more.
 
Jul 6, 2009
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My biggest downfall is simple carbs. Simple carbs create havoc with your insulin levels. If you enjoy drinking wine and eating breads and don't have the metabolic rate of a hummingbird ya get fat.

The thing we've been working on for the long term is to replace white rice with brown, applesauce with apples, sugar with honey, store veggies with stuff from my garden, candy and chips with nuts and berries.

Amazingly, after a few weeks of picking nutrient dense snacks over the junk we found that we really enjoy the 'real' food more.


Glad to hear that the transition was effortless and it allowed to enjoy more.

Cheers to you!:yourock:
 
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