SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2015
FRAA offers
classes on
selling online
Florence Regional Arts
Alliance (FRAA) will offer
informative online selling
classes. Classes will take
place at the FRAA Art Center,
4969 Highway 101, Munsel
Lake Plaza No. 4.
The free introduction class
is scheduled for Wednesday,
July 15, from 2 to 3 p.m.
This session’s topics will
cover Online Selling: How do
I start?
The instructor will guide
participants through all
the things needed to think
about before you start,
as well as what everyone
should know in order to get
sales. Topics will include
staying legal, wearing both
the artist and business “hats,”
how to start with little or no
money, where to sell online
and more.
Additional classes about
online selling of handmade
products are offered from 2 to
4 p.m at the FRAA Art
Center, with the fee for
each class being $15 for
3 B
Us TOO Flor ence
Behind the headlines
FRAA members and $20 for
nonmembers.
Other sessions will cover:
setting up and improving
your
Etsy
storefront
(Wednesday, July 22); the use
of social media (Wednesday,
July 29); and what to do after
your first sale (Wednesday,
Aug. 5)
To register, contact instruc-
tor Brooke Shenson at 541-
590-3163, or email her at
brookeshenson@hotmail.com.
Shenson is a fabric artist
whose passion is animal res-
cue. She is active in the grey-
hound and Spanish Galgo res-
cue community, and donates
most of her art and special-
ized sighthound collars to
these groups to raise funds.
She has been selling online
for nine years, starting back
when most people hadn’t
even heard of Twitter or
Facebook or Etsy.
A retired teacher, Shenson
says, “I have customers on
every
continent
except
Antartica.”
B Y B OB H ORNEY
U S TOO F LORENCE FACILITATOR
P ROSTATE CANCER SURVIVOR
This month I share an
anonymous
local
man’s
prostate cancer journey. His
good fortune started with
annual PSA tests and included
an alert primary care physi-
cian.
His Journey:
I have had BPH (benign
prostatic hyperplasia) since I
was 40 years old. I am now
67. At age 40, it had crept up
on me so slowly that I really
couldn’t figure out why I was
having a difficult time trying
to urinate.
A close friend of mine men-
tioned that he had the same
problem and was taking
Cardura for the problem.
I spoke to my doctor and he
prescribed the same drug,
but the generic version
Doxazosin. I have been taking
Doxazosin for 25 years
or more with no problems.
Every year in October, I
would get a PSA test and have
a doctor visit which included
a DRE (digital rectal exam).
The DRE would always be
normal and the PSA test num-
ber would always be about the
same.
During those 25 years, my
PSA went from 0.5 to 1.5. If it
moved at all, it was extremely
small movements.
Fast forward now to 2014
... I had my usual PSA test and
went in to see the doctor and
was told my PSA had jumped
one
full
point
to
2.5.
My doctor said the number
was not a problem for my age
BUT the amount of jump (1.0)
was the problem.
He felt that I needed to see
a urologist and see what he
had to say.
In late November 2014, I
met with Dr. Brady Walker of
Oregon Urology Institute
(OUI) and he reviewed the
numbers and suggested that I
have a 12-needle biopsy. He
explained the procedure and I
agreed.
It was scheduled for Dec.
17 at the OUI Springfield
clinic. The procedure went
smoothly and Dr. Walker said
he would contact me with the
results.
On Dec. 26, I received a
phone call from Dr. Walker
that the pathologist had found
cancer in three out of the 12
tissue samples.
Dr. Walker explained that
my Gleason Score was 7,
which is right in the middle of
good and bad of prostate can-
cers. He asked that I buy the
book “Prostate and Cancer”
by Dr. Sheldon Marks.
This book really answered
all of my questions.
I met again with Dr. Walker
on Jan. 7, 2015. He explained
my options and asked me
what I wanted to do. I said
“take it out,” meaning the
prostate and the cancer.
I felt it would not get better
on its own and would only get
worse.
I had a DaVinci Robotic
Prostatectomy on Wednesday,
Feb. 18, at McKenzie-
Willamette Hospital.
My surgery took four hours
followed by two hours in
recovery. I was up walking
the next day and never had
any pain.
I was discharged on Friday.
I was very happy with the
staff at the hospital and was
treated very well.
My wife was able to stay
with me as they have a fold
down chair in the room.
Since a catheter was insert-
ed prior to surgery, I went
home with a bag to hold the
urine and was taught how to
empty it and care for it.
I met Dr. Walker one week
later and during this follow-
up visit, he removed the
catheter.
At that visit, Dr. Walker
gave me the pathology results
of the prostate gland that was
removed.
It was worse than we first
thought.
The pathologist raised
my Gleason Score to an 8
after examining the entire
prostate
gland,
having
found an area of aggressive
cancer where the needle
biopsy could not sample.
Because it was about
the size of a thumb print,
Dr. Walker said I probably
had only two years before
it would have been inopera-
ble.
I met with Dr. Walker on
April 1, after giving blood for
a follow-up PSA test, and he
said it had dropped to 0.011.
That was great news.
He will check my PSA
quarterly for two years and if
all goes well change it to
every six months for a year or
two, and then annually from
then on.
SOS building remodel, improvements completed
Siuslaw Outreach Services
has completed its building
remodel project.
“There were a number of
compelling reasons to under-
take the project on our 1950s-
era building,” said executive
director David Wiegen. “The
old donations room was very
small and many donated items
could not be put on display.”
This also limited how many
3
0
0
TO YOU!
$
OUR GIFT
Subscribe to the
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donated items the facility could
have onhand at any one time.
In addition, the roof had
been leaking intermittently for
years and was long overdue to
be replaced. The windows
were old, single-pane, and
many were missing screens.
The siding was very old, dete-
riorating, and was suspected of
hiding dry rot.
Fundraising started in early
2013 with a “Buy A Brick”
campaign, and more than
$13,000 in memorial bricks
were purchased by more than
100 local businesses, churches,
service clubs and individuals.
“These were used to demon-
strate local support for the
project, enabling us to receive
foundation grants from Meyer
Memorial
Trust,
Spirit
Mountain Community Fund,
The Collins Foundation, and
Oregon Community Found-
ation,” said Wiegen.
The target date for comple-
tion was June 30, 2015, with an
overall budget of $123,000.
When the first bidding process
resulted in bids well beyond
the project’s budget, SOS re-
structured the bids and started
over.
“We have now completed
the project just under budget,
and were able to add a fairly
substantial list of extra items to
make the building even more
functional and attractive,”
Wiegen said.
The building now has a new
roof and gutters, new windows
all around, new siding, an
attractive and functional new
entryway, a new front door
which lets in more light for the
lobby, four remodeled offices
with more usable space in
each, new paint in all four
offices, reception area and the
hallways, and new wiring for
supplying the Internet to parts
of the building.
Some additional interior
wiring was relocated, and
some exterior lighting was cor-
rected. The donations room
now has 330 percent more than
its previous space by eliminat-
ing duplicated hallways and
some unneeded cabinets. The
donations room also added all
new LED lighting, which will
significantly reduce power
Denture Services, Inc.
COMPLETE DENTURE SERVICE
SPRING SAVINGS COUPON BOOK .
Valued at over $300.
S IUSLAW N EWS
SUMMER COUPON SAVINGS BOOK
OVER
300
$
IN COUPON
SAVINGS *
EWS
W N VINGS BOOK
A
L
S
U
A
S I UPON S
PON
COU
COUPONS MUST BE USED BY MAY 31, 2015
*BASED ON MINIMUM PURCHASE AND ALL COUPONS USED. NO CASH VALUE.
ER CO
SUMM
S IUSLAW N E
WS
SUMMER
COUPON SA
VINGS BOOK
OVER
300 S
$
COUPONS
MUST BE
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OVE
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300
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USED. NO
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GIFT
COUPONS
GALORE...
OVER $300!
015
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AMAY . NO CASH VA
ED CO B UP Y ONS USED
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U
E
ST B D ALL
S IUSLAW N EWS
SUMMER COUPON SAVINGS BOOK
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UE.
UP
*
IN CO
GS
SAVIN
OVER
300
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COUPONS MUST BE USED BY MAY
*BASED ON MINIMUM PURCHASE
S IUSLA N
$
300
OVER
COUPON
S MUST
*BASED
IN COU
PON
SAVING *
S
BE USED
BY MAY
ALL COUPO
31, 2015
NS USED.
NO CA
ON MINIMU
M PURCH
ASE AND
SH VALUE.
Call 541-997-3441
for more details.
Coupon Books available at the Siuslaw News office.
148 Maple Street • Florence, OR
IN COUPON
SAVINGS *
31 2015
AND ALL COUPONS USED. NO CASH
W EW
SUMMER
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COUPON
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Sherry
Offi ce Manager
FREE CONSULTATIONS
*BAS
IN COUP
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SAVINGS *
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SED COUP B ON Y S USED. NO CASH
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E
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USED W
E BY AUGUST
AW N VINGS BOO 31 K , 2014
L
S
U
I
S PON SA
ON
ON MINIMU
M PURCHA
SE AND ALL
William A. Foster, L.D
Denture wearer
*
IN
INGS
SAV
VALUE.
• Dentures
• Relines
• Partials
• Repairs
• Implant Retained Dentures
William A. Foster, L.D.
“Locally Owned and Operated”
Serving the Central Oregon Coast
Emergency Appointments Available
Denture Services, Inc.
524 Laurel Street, Florence
541-997-6054
usage.
Lighted exit signs, which
also serve as emergency light-
ing, were added. The new dou-
ble-pane windows all around
will save energy.
“We also added many new
clothing and shoe racks to be
able to display everything that
is available,” Wiegen said.
“Last year, we served well over
2,000 persons and many of
these were seniors, disabled,
and low-income residents
receiving aid in the form of
clothing, footwear, household
items or toiletries — always
provided free.
“The expanded room also
allows us to have a special area
just for children.”
During construction, a num-
ber of problems surfaced,
which is common during
remodels. Most were fairly
minor, according to Wiegen,
but considerable areas of dry
rot underneath the siding were
discovered. This required sig-
nificant portions of the soffit
and siding to be replaced.
“Needless to say, we are
very pleased we were able to
catch this problem while it was
still able to be fixed at a rea-
sonable cost,” said Wiegen.
“All of our contractors were
local, and all did their respec-
tive work in craftsman style.
The remodel team included:
masonry work by Shawn
Prociw Masonry; architect
Paul K. Jensen; interior remod-
el work by Rodet Construction
Co., Inc.;
plumbing by
Chuck’s Plumbing Inc.; win-
dows replaced by Siuslaw
Glass and Mirror; flooring by
Goodman’s Floor Covering,
Inc.; painting by Brown Paint
Co. Inc.; electrical work by
Lighthouse
Electrical
Contractors, Inc.; siding and
entryway by Gary Lee
Construction; roofing by
Skyline Roofing; and memori-
al bricks engraved by
Stone
Impressions
of
Milwaukie.
“There are a few finishing
touches remaining, such as
sealing and re-striping the
parking lot, but the project is
essentially complete,” Wiegen
said. “Everyone at Siuslaw
Outreach Services would like
to thank the many people, busi-
nesses and organizations in our
community for making this
project such a success, as well
as the foundations for their
critical support.
“We now have a building
that should serve well for
many years in the future.”