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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 2018)
SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2018 | 5A Community Voices Natural Perspective — By Emily J. Uhrig, Ph.D Special to Siuslaw News H eading into the holidays, many of us expand our diets to include sea- sonal favorites like pecan pie, eggnog and all things pumpkin spice. While many of these treats take a toll on the waistline, one Thanksgiv- ing favorite can actually be good for us: the cran- berry. Native to North Amer- ica, the cranberry’s nat- ural range is localized in the northeastern U.S., al- though most commercial- ly cultivated cranberries grow in Wisconsin. Oregon is also a major producer as the berries grow well in the sandy soil of our south coast. Oregon’s cranberry cul- tivation started in 1885 when Charles McFarlin turned from gold panning to planting cranberries. Today, cranberries are an important source of agricultural revenue for Coos and Curry counties. The temperate coastal cli- mate lengthens the grow- ing season resulting in darker red berries. Cranberry cravings In fact, juice from Or- egon-grown berries is sometimes mixed with the lighter juice of berries grown elsewhere in order to improve the color. Sometimes touted as a ‘superfood,’ fresh cran- berries are naturally low in sugar with only about 4 grams per cup (an ap- ple, for comparison, has around13 grams). But there is a drawback. Being low in natural sugars means many cran- berry products, like juices and sauces, contain a lot of added sugar to com- pensate for the tartness so going on an all-out cran- berry binge may not be the best idea. However, the cranber- ry’s superfood status is not based only on sugar levels. Notes from the Siltcoos — By Barry Sommer Special to Siuslaw News R etirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Yes, you can sleep until way past noon, never change out of your pajama bottoms and generally be- have as if the world and you are acting on different time zones Personal hygiene aside, when the clock starts to be- come your enemy it then becomes imperative to find an outlet, anything that’ll get you out of the house and away from the growing pile of laundry composed main- ly of soiled pajama bottoms. Aside from the volunteer time I like to give there is also a part time job in the hydrocarbon distribution industry as an onsite petro- leum dispensation worker. Okay, I work at a local gas station pumping gas into everything from cars to smurf colored side-by-side ATV’s and I liken the brief interactions with customers to our own Oregon coast version of the United Na- tions. The summer tourist sea- son is my favorite time as I get to meet and talk with visitors from literally across the globe. One of my favor- ite games to play is try to guess where they are from based in their accent. Ev- eryone seems to love to see if I can guess their country of origin and when I get it right, well there’s usually tip coming, almost as a way of saying thanks for the en- tertainment. Whoever said show busi- ness doesn’t pay never worked at a gas station in a tourist town. There is an ebb and flow to the business with locals providing the continuous bulk of money during the winter months while the visitors flood in at summer- time, adding their revenue stream to that our neigh- bors provide. You get to know people when they show up regular- ly by their faces, names are, at least for me a bit harder to remember. Sometimes I identify people through the vehicle they drive as it is easier to think “hey, here Health benefits of cran- berries have long been recognized. Well before European colonists arrived, Native Americans used cranber- ries for various medicinal purposes and as an ingre- dient of pemmican, an en- ergy-rich dietary staple. For sailors, cranberries were a source of vitamin C to ward off scurvy. The berries also contain naturally antibacterial chemicals that may help prevent urinary tract in- fections. Their antibacterial prop- erties could also benefit oral health and a number of cranberry toothpastes are on the market. Beyond fighting bacte- ria, cranberries contain antioxidants. A common health food buzz word, antioxidants are basically chemicals that neutralize some of your body’s natural by- products that may other- wise accumulate and ad- versely affect health. Other research suggests that cranberries could have an even broader range positive health ef- fects, including helping with ulcers, cholesterol, and blood pressure. So, while surveying your Thanksgiving table, look out for the cranberries. Sitting among the riv- ers of gravy, mountains of stuffing, and outcrops of pumpkin pie, the berries could be an oasis of rela- tive health benefits. Out of the bored room comes the Pontiac family”. Then there is the couple from Anywhere, USA on their second road trip in the family car. The stories they tell, and believe me they want to talk about what they have seen and where they are going in vivid and lengthy detail. Californians make up a large portion of our visi- tors as do Washingtonians, Canadians and a vast array of out-of-state and out- of-country tourists, each ingesting Oregon through a vast array of multi-col- ored lenses and taking away memories storied by their own culture and experi- ence. License plates can also be a giveaway as to the origins of our travelers. The prob- lem occurs when the as- sumption is made that the driver is actually from the state on the plate. More than twice I have said hi and asked what part of (insert state here) are they from, to which the an- swer at times might be, in a thick Russian accent “Oh no, we are tourists from the Ukraine and rented the car in Missouri” It is at that point I’ll try my best to use my limited Russian which, even in the best of times sounds more like Klingon than Cyrillic. I’ll never be a diplomat or a translator, unless the Fed- eration needs me. As the flow of cars, trail- ers, quads and boats makes its way through the pump islands, they start to blend in and the little details get lost in the procession. There are unexpected ex- ceptions and from this last summer one stood out in wonderful human detail. It was a family from Colo- rado, travelling in an almost too small car and trailer and heading for their new life in Oregon. Like pioneers of old they had stuffed their wagon with everything they needed, the children repre- senting one of three gener- ations ready to plant roots when they stop for the last time. I could see the anxiety in the kids’ eyes along with the excitement of the ad- venture. Tiredness hung on their faces but they knew there were only a few hours left until the end of their 1500 mile sojourn. As the gas tank filled I bent down and asked the older child, a boy of about 10 how long they had been riding in the car. He lift- ed his head and looked at me with eyes belying his age and said “four days” to which I replied that his journey was almost over and soon he would be in a new home, starting a new adventure. He smiled and said yes, he was happy that in this new home he and his sib- lings would each finally have their own bedroom. I smiled and waved as they pulled onto Highway 101 to go north, convinced that the indomitable spirit of exploration, adventure and discovery that has led man to inhabit all parts of the globe was still alive and well in the 21st century. Then it hit me; the most important thing for this boy is finally having his own bedroom. The trip or the disruption of life and job and school had not ruffled him, he simply wanted his own space. As John Steinbeck said, even though the physical travel ends the actual trip continues forever. May the boy and his family be bless- ed with the trip of a lifetime in their new home. These interactions are why I stay engaged with my fellow bipeds. You cannot experience life staying in the bored room. Us TOO Florence — My prostate cancer journey By Richard Moore Prostate cancer survivor M y journey with prostate screening began over 25 years ago when I had a small cancerous growth on my blad- der removed. From then on, I had yearly PSA tests which were recommended by my doctor. My PSA number was usually around 6, which is a bit high- er than the PSA of 4 that many doctors see as time to check it out, but mine was not increas- ing. With my PSA remaining stable, we felt confident in checking it annually, watching for any change. In 2017, my family doctor in Florence retired and that year I missed my PSA test. In the spring of 2018 I had my PSA checked and it had jumped up to 22 which caused the doctor to be alarmed. Doubling of a PSA in 12 months raises major concerns and will start a concerted effort to discover the reason for it. With mine nearly quadrupling in two years, it is easy to see why my doctor was alarmed. That one PSA test that I missed raised critical questions that we couldn’t answer, mainly how did the PSA increase occur? Was it evenly distributed over the two years; did it all occur in the year before or after the missed test? We’ll never know the answer, but we do know the increase meant I wasn’t just going to wait to see what the next annu- al PSA test showed. A biopsy was scheduled with my urologist, Dr. Brady Walk- er, Oregon Urology Institute (OUI). His biopsy came back negative. Not content with those results, Dr. Walker suggested an MRI be done because my PSA num- ber was so high, and he knew cancer could be present in the prostate, but beyond the reach of his biopsy needles. The MRI showed a suspicious shadow on the back side of my prostate. At that point, Dr. Walker scheduled an appoint- ment at OHSU for a relatively new prostate cancer diagnos- tic procedure, an MRI guided biopsy. He wasn’t going to rest until he knew the significance of that “shadow.” Eleven biopsy samples were taken. The results came back positive for cancer. My Gleason Score was 7. Now we knew that I had a moderately aggressive form of prostate cancer, thanks to the tenaciousness of Dr. Walker. My rapid PSA rise and Gleason 7 suggested — treatment. The treatment choices given to me were: Nine weeks of radiation, seeding or removal of the pros- tate. I chose to have my pros- tate removed. The downside of removal could be difficulty with controlling urination for a period of time and my sex life would be impaired. My reason for choosing re- moval was because chances of the cancer spreading was less likely. I’ve had friends and family members who have gone through different treat- ments with little success. Since my prostate was removed and “personally” examined by a pathologist, I can rest assured that my cancer was contained inside the prostate. I didn’t want to take the chance of having it spread and now I know it won’t. My thought go- ing into surgery was: Get rid of the cancer and continue living! I am happy to say my Aug. 22, surgery was successful. The prostate was removed along with lymph nodes that tested negative for cancer. A month after surgery my PSA test was 0.7, which is a positive number that I am happy to live with. The side effects of difficulty controlling urination is im- proving each day as Dr. Walker said it would. There are pro- cedures available that will aid with a healthy sex life. All in all, the choice I made is a positive choice for me. I feel good and I’m back to golfing, fishing and doing other favor- ite activities. I will continue having my PSA checked in the future and am glad I didn’t listen to the mes- sage that yearly PSA tests aren’t important. The tests I took raised the red flag that possibly saved my life. Only the modern prostate MRI imaging and guided biopsy technology was able to defini- tively locate the cancer in time to be cured.
