Let's take a break and talk about life in general...

The election is in 12 days and that is of course a big deal. A very big deal.  The outcome will in some way affect each and every one of our lives in some way. It will affect the future course of our nation and our standing in the global order. I've been posting about it on here for weeks, talking about things that many of us don't hear about in the mainstream media outlets. But today, I want to take a break from politics and talk about something else. I changed the name of my blog recently to include "Life in General." We all have things going on in our lives that are important, sometimes even critical. We actually spend most of our waking hours taking care of our own important personal issues, maintaining a system of order in our lives. Once we have all of the topics of our own lives attended to, then we can take a little time to ponder politics and or any of the other things that might deserve a little attention. Or not...

Now and then, though, things pop up. so to speak that were unexpected, not in anyone's plan and certainly not in your own. Sometimes such things are benign, they have to be dealt with but soon they once again disappear into obscurity, where they seemingly came from. Sometimes though, these 'things' appear, leave you in shock and reeling and you don't have a clue as to how to deal with it or even how you may feel about it at the moment. The only thing you know at the moment you become aware of their existence is, this is serious. Damn serious.  In your personal queue of important things to deal with, this one suddenly and quickly moves to the front of the line. Life has a habit of being unpredictable and those unforeseen moments can be anything from memorable and precious to shockingly frightful and even horrible. Some, so it seems, tend to come into your life gradually, they may even seem innocuous at first. But as they develop, and the more you learn about it, the more the risk of danger makes itself known. For circumstantial reasons you cant know just how serious they may be until things progress. Tests have to be performed, there may even be a period of let's just wait and see how this thing develops. All you know in the beginning is it could just be 'nothing' or it could be a matter of life and death. 

Such has happened to me as it has many others before me and certainly for will many more in the future. Let me get to the point. I recently went for an annual physical with our family doctor. I have learned through the years from these visits about my high cholesterol, high blood pressure and sleep apnea. Untreated, any of these conditions can lead to serious and dire consequences. But as I learned about them they were treated with medication or therapy of some sort. Fortunately, I have not had any serious consequences from them. I am now 70 years old and have been blessed with relatively good health as a result of regular check ups and preventive measures. Until this year. My annual blood tests routine revealed an elevated PSA. If you haven't heard that acronym before it stands for prostate specific antigen. It's a protein in the blood released by the prostate gland. Often in those with cancer cells growing in the prostate glad, the level of this protein in the blood begins to increase. Mine did, so my doctor recommended that I see a urologist for further tests. I did, and the urologist found that since the original blood test with my family doctor and the blood test he had performed two months later the PSA level had increased even more. He told me I have three options. 1) I could choose to do nothing. If you know something isn't right and your health is potentially at risk, why would anyone choose to do nothing. I dont know, to each his own. 2) I could do an MRI, a non-invasive procedure that is helpful but not conclusive or 3) do a biopsy. The biopsy is conclusive as far as revealing the presence of cancer. For me, if there is the possibility that I have cancer, I want to know as soon as possible. So I can do whatever I need to do to treat it. And survive it. 

It is known that prostate cancer is one of the slowest-growing types of cancers. It is also known that cancer (including all types) is notorious for being unpredictable. My mother, father, brother, grandfather, all died from cancer. For some it took years for the evil disease to claim them, for my older brother it took only a month. So, not doing whatever I can as soon as I can, and taking unnecessary risks isn't really an option for me. At the moment I'm in that period of waiting. I've had the biopsy, now I wait to hear. It's not easy but then at the same time I dont want to worry about something that hasn't happened and maybe isn't going to happen. It's an unknown. An unknown with a potentially unhappy ending...