I crack up.

  9/19/13
 Yesterday I noticed soles of my feet are cracking and flaking and have gotten a bit tender.  Uh oh --Is this going to stop me walking?  Best exercise of all they say is walking 30 minutes a day we should all do.  I  do a lot of this.  But then I noticed that my hands which started peeling a week ago are getting much better.  Why? Vaseline.. which I'm liberally applying.  So now I'm hoping this will keep
me walking. I'm Vaselining one foot and Coconut oiling the other.  Just started this today and think Vaseline is going to win this contest .. but let's see.
9/20/13
Contest over. Had to walk on toes of my left foot (coconut oil) -- soles too sore.  Right foot (Vaseline) OK.  Just read on PRP support site woman who can't walk.  Will pass this info on to her.   But not sure how long this will continue to work .. will this get better or worse?  Time will tell.

I found myself saying today "I've never felt better".  Crazy? I'm sure you're saying that. But that just popped out of my mouth.  I guess it's cause I'm "on a mission".  A real challenge and a worthy one and one I hope others may benefit from my sharing.  And I'm in a privileged position to conduct this mission.  Retired so have the time .. and access to great medical resources to carry it out successfully.
Tomorrow I go back to Johns Hopkins Urology .. haven't seen them in 5 years .. dreaded having to possibly return.  The reason I'm returning?  This sudden PRP rash might be a reaction to an underling cancer problem.  So in my panel of blood tests we've tested my PSA (prostate cancer test) - it's 16. Not nice to hear (nice is 4). But PSA is a very unreliable measure.   And I'm not worried.  Feel I'm much better equipped to deal with this aspect now then when I did before. (see "I bet My Life on Alternative Medicine" Post) And it may be nothing so why waste time worrying. 
9/20/13
Had to wait 1 1/2 hrs beyond scheduled appointment time to see Doc.   So far JH has been great, but not this delay.  I complained loudly to the staff ("where is he!") and they got the Doc right away. Not good for one's health to sit around being non productive. Remember we are the customers and they are running a business and it's vital to the product they are selling .. health care .. that they not produce a bad product. It's not just lousy customer service . It's a bad product. Giving the patient stress, a feeling of helplessness and squandering the time of remaining life is a lousy health care product .. unworthy of the world's top ranked hospital and world's top ranked urology department. . And the hospital can fix this easily just by measuring the wait time and publishing it for each department and US News and World Report can fix it by making it part of the what they measure in creating their rankings.  I'm gonna see if this is being done and if not let's get it going.    One of the things I most dreaded getting back into the health care system is the bureaucracy and delays and wasting time and missing out on spending time on productive and enjoyable things.  I don't blame the Doc.  He apologizes.  He's smart and quick and we agree. I'm the pilot he's the co-pilot and we will do nothing for 3 months while I get rid of PRP rash disease which could be causing elevated PSA as opposed to Cancer causing PRP.  ,.. or the two not related at all. As long as we agree he'll be my co-pilot but if not I may have to get another.  In any event I'm the pilot not him.  Good that's fair .. just the way it should be. My DRE is fine no sign of tumor In 3 months we'll do another PSA and depending may do an MRI which is only 30% accurate as opposed to a biopsy which is quite definitive but in my mind potentially harmful given the number of insertions necessary in the Prostate causing damage and possibly stirring up cancer and making it worse.  Since I'm 76 he's not going to push as agressively as he would were I younger.  Good to be a Senior!  Doc  says prostate biopsy techniques have greatly improved  in the 8 yrs since I had my first (and last - hopefully). I say to you let's delay invasive procedures as long as we can. That way we may never have them and the consequences of their risks or by the time we do have them they may be much safer.  Technology is continuously advancing and at an increasing rate of acceleration.  Medical science is in the dark ages compared to where it may be in another 8 years. Really!