SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
11 A
Us TOO Flor ence
My Prostate Cancer Journey — An Update
The following is part of a
series of true personal stories
about men’s experience with
prostate cancer. These men tell
their stories with the hope that
they will help someone else
traveling the same road.
O
kay, so the best thing that
could have happened to
me was having my initial
referral for treatment with
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
(HBOT) being denied.
That sure didn’t make sense at
the time, but looking back…
B Y B OB H ORNEY
CANCER SURVIVOR
I had previously scheduled a
July 31 MOH surgery with Dr.
Jay Park to remove an Infiltrating
Basal Cell Carcinoma from
below my left eye.
Fortunately, with the delay in
getting my HBOT approved, my
start date at the McKenzie
Wound Center was set for
Wednesday, Aug. 2. That delay
gave me time to complete my
surgery with Dr. Park prior to
starting the HBOT.
Dr. Park then suggested not
starting my HBOT treatment
until the following week to give
his surgery a chance to begin
healing.
So, on Aug. 7, I headed to
Eugene for the start of my pre-
scribed 40 HBOT treatments.
Dr. McKimmy’s referral to the
McKenzie Wound Center stated
that up to a third of my bladder
showed signs of radiation injury.
Of course, the location was the
lower third, which included the
area where the bladder meets the
urethra. That fact is readily
noticeable when I go from a sit-
ting/reclining position to an
upright position, and the bladder
contents shift directly to the
injured area.
Wham-bam-gotta go!
In my previous update for
August, I referred to HBOT as an
“exciting adventure.” I’ll stick
with that term because it is my
primary hope for regaining my
continence (i.e. normal life).
First came the necessary edu-
cation about this therapy. I will
be sealed inside an acrylic cham-
ber with an air mask, urinal and
small water bottle. Once sealed
in the chamber, I will be lowered
to 33 feet below sea level (two
atmospheres). That “dive” takes
about 7 to 8 minutes with a lot of
relieving pressure in my ears.
Once at my assigned depth, there
is no longer a need to clear the
ears.
At that point, and for the next
90 minutes, I will be breathing
100 percent concentrated oxygen
while either watching TV, listen-
ing to music, looking around or
sleeping. I have chosen to simply
snooze the time away.
It isn’t just the fact that I am
breathing 100 percent oxygen, it
is the “concentration” of oxygen
that counts. Here’s something to
compare:
Standing next to the HBOT
chamber, the room air oxygen I
am breathing is 21 percent.
However, being in the chamber
pressurized to 33 feet below sea
level, I am getting 10 times more
oxygen in my blood stream with
every breath than at the 21 per-
cent room air. That level of con-
centrated oxygen is saturating
my body with oxygen, so much
so that it needs to find places to
use it.
That is good news for my
bladder, because some of that
excess oxygen will be used in the
generation of new capillaries in
my damaged tissue. Those capil-
laries will, in turn, lead to trans-
porting oxygen to that area and
healing the damage done by the
radiation 9 years ago.
This process doesn’t happen
with one or two “dives.”
I know it could take up to 20
treatments just to get my body so
saturated that the growth of new
capillaries begins. For that rea-
son, I’ve been told to expect my
greatest gains between treat-
ments 20 and 40.
As of today, Sept. 13, I am in
the mid-20s of my treatments.
In my particular case, what are
we looking for as evidence of
healing?
With no bleeding to monitor,
the short answer is reduced — or
hopefully elimination of — my
current symptoms, i.e. frequency
of urinating and urgency to uri-
nate.
If those two symptoms disap-
pear, I’ll be confident my radia-
tion injury has been healed, espe-
cially if my bladder is retaining
an increased volume of urine
before being voided.
Terry, my HBOT “Dive
Master” (my term), tells me that
using HBOT for treatment of my
delayed complications from radi-
ation therapy is one of the very
successful uses of hyperbaric
oxygen.
I’ll update again in October.
Ute
were sold from 1940 to 1954.
While some research indicates
the earlier existence of a 1929
Pontiac Ute, General Motor’s
Australian subsidiary, Holden
Ltd., entered into the Ute market
its their own version in the
1950s. However, they also built
200 Holden Ambulance units in
1942 and 1943 on the Willys
Jeep platform for the United
States Marine Corps.
Jumping a few years into the
future, Ford Motor Company of
Australia again produced a mili-
tary variant of the Falcon Ute in
the 1960s. Ironically, it utilized
the Jeep CJ drivetrain for the
four-wheel drive components.
Some research insinuates that
the Australian Utes of the 1940s
and ’50s were the pre-cursor to
the US-market Rancheros and El
Caminos in the late 1950s.
Unfortunately, both Ford
Motor Company of Australia and
Holden, Ltd. are scheduled to
cease production of passenger
cars in 2017 or 2018, which is
sad.
Back to Barney’s brute.
While not a former military
Ute, it is a very unique vehicle
which is seldom seen in the
States. To be sure, it is no longer
original as it was built into a
high-end custom hot rod in
Australia before being shipped
stateside in 2001.
That build included conver-
sion from right-hand drive to
conventional (at least to us) left-
hand drive, plus many other cus-
tom body mods.
Instead of the iconic flat-head
V8, it now sports a twin-turbo
charged small block Chevy 350,
which produces roughly 600 hp.
What I thought was one of the
coolest features is a build-tag on
the firewall required in Australia
which actually chronicles the
major re-build elements of the
vehicle.
There are only a small hand-
full of other Utes in Oregon, so if
you see Barney’s rumbling
through town on the way to the
drive-in, be kind and don’t form
a convoy behind him — it truly
is a real car.
To learn more about military
heritage in general, visit the
Oregon Coast Military Heritage
Museum Thursday through
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at
2145 Kingwood St. in Florence,
or visit www.oregon coastmili-
tarymuseum.com.
from 10A
Army during WWII and again in
the 1960s.
Urban legend says an
Australian farmer’s wife sent a
letter to Ford Motor Company of
Australia in 1933 pleading “My
husband and I can’t afford a car
and a truck, but we need a car to
go to church on Sunday and a
truck to take the pigs to market
on Monday. Can you help?”
The end result was the devel-
opment of a new design, called a
“coupe utility,” starting produc-
tion in 1934. Australians nick-
named it a “Ute.”
Based on a Ford Model 40
five-window coupe, it was a
hybrid that incorporated the bed
into the body, and over 20,000
m
M
erica
Biscuits & Gravy!
$2
n
A
LCC opens registration
for continuing ed. classes
ARKET
Registration for the Lane
Community College Florence
Center’s Continuing Education
programming is now open.
Classes begin Sept. 26.
New courses for the fall
term include a watercolor
painting series, Viking knit
jewelry making, basic quilting,
genealogy basics, hula dance,
handcraft cards, understanding
intuition and chair yoga.
This term, there is a special
opportunity
for
Oregon
licensed massage therapists to
earn up to 16 Continuing
Education hours through an
introductory course that
explores energy medicine.
Program favorites, such as
courses on how to better use
iPads and iPhones, health and
fitness and clay, are also avail-
able this term.
The program’s Outward
Ventures — educational and
cultural day trips — include
tours of the coastal bridges
with Judy Fleagle, a behind-
the-tank tour of the Oregon
Coast Aquarium, a trip to expe-
rience the musical “Singin’ in
the Rain,” and a visit south to
Stillwagon Distillery and the
holiday lights at Shore Acres.
To register, visit lanecc.edu/
ce. For more information, con-
tact Marsha Sills at sillsm@
lanecc.edu or 541-997-8444,
ext. 4825.
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2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence
(541) 997-3475 • 1-800-348-3475
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