Thinking of Mary & Clara – You Are Missed & Loved!
Day Two of Radiation – Aug 13
After a night of repeated, sleep-disrupting hot flashes, my second morning of radiation treatment began. I felt a level of contentment and peace of mind as I headed out to the Durham VA Oncology department. I now had some knowledge of what to expect, which provided a greater level of calmness. Angel Mary drove me to the appointment.
I had a couple of goals and questions for the staff. I wanted to obtain a screenshot of my radiation process. I wanted a consultation with a Nutritionist for dietary suggestions for inflammation and cell repair following radiation damage. And, I wanted a consultation with Physiotherapy for muscle exercises to strengthen pelvic floor control.
Following my treatment, I stopped at the coffee kiosk at the VA. When attempting to pay for a coffee and a poppy seed cake slice, I was told it had been paid for already. I was stunned. I ask who had paid for it as no one was close by. The young lady at the counter said that lady paid for it, as she pointed to a woman with her back to me overlooking a laptop on the counter nearby. I turned back to the barista and asked, why would she pay for this. She answered, an act of kindness. Again, I was stunned.
There have been multiple times in my life when I have given a random act of kindness at a Tim Horton’s drive-thru or a toll booth. I know the good feeling from paying it forward for no reason other than a good life experience.
This was the first time I had been the recipient of a random act of kindness. As I said to the staff and the wonderful lady benefactor, you are making me leak. I was so shocked and emotional, that I had to sit down to regain my composure.
Coincidence? On the way to the VA, I said out loud, that it seems like some people get some financial benefit from their cancer, mostly illegally. I was wondering if there existed some financial aid for seniors or veterans surviving cancer treatment. And, boom! Somebody, out of nowhere pays for my coffee. Was it a financial reward? Was it a reminder that no matter what happens to you, remember to stop and pay it forward? So many possible lessons and exams combined into one experience.
While contemplating that event, on the way home, another impactful experience manifested before my eyes. Nearby Hyco Lake is known for its Great Blue Heron population and boisterous rookeries. Seagulls have also been seen when the winds blow hard on the N. Carolina coast and the birds head for calmer air. So today, when I noticed a white bird on the way home to the lake, I initially imagined a white Seagull. As I looked closer, I notice it was too large for a Seagull. As I came alongside, it stretched its neck slightly to show the well-known image of a heron in flight, neck tucked in close in the perfect backward S, and its wide wings pushing it forward. It was an incredible sight.
I have never seen a white Heron and was sure it was rare. When I Google-searched I discovered that it is indeed rare to see a white Heron and I also learned of a native message associated with a personal visit by a white Heron.
It is said, this special creature just wants to remind you to follow your unique path without looking back.
Again, it made me leak.
Metastasis
For my lifetime, I have experienced great fear, concern, apprehension, and dread of two simple words. Cancer and metastasis.
From the age of twelve, when my Pop was diagnosed and treated for Prostate Cancer, physical illness has been a forefront thought.
I am on a journey of self-protecting self from self. Cancer, if understood properly since research changes our perception more rapidly each day, is the cell’s infrastructure and protein generation produces abnormal cells.
I am in the process of reducing the size of the aberrant cells and then radiating them so that they die and are absorbed.
During this process, I am advocating for my own health needs. It has been a challenge to gain respect and compassion from the VA healthcare system from the Urology and Oncology departments.
To receive the treatment I need, I have uploaded an mp3 to my YT channel of a letter to the Oncology department admin Joseph K Salama.
Next week I am having internal beads inserted for radiation focus. Radiation therapy begins Aug 11 and finishes four weeks later.
The major side-effect of the chemotherapy so far is lethargy and power surges. The flashes happen at all times, not just at night. They can bring on a feeling of gonna vomit, which is very disruptive.
Catchphrase
- expression.
- jingle.
- phrase.
- rallying cry.
- saying.
- trademark.
- byword.
- catchphrase.
- Idiom
- proverb
- shibboleth
- watchword
- war cry
It seems our lives are punctuated by single or short groups of words to describe our existence. We udder fine, ok, not bad, in response to how are you doing. Niceties are quickly shuttered aside in order to quickly reach the crutch of the matters at hand.
Hope you have a nice weekend, quite the lengthy conjecture, get the typical, U2. Feelings are manifested by a meme. Tweets are combinations of abbreviated cliche in combinations with hieroglyphs.
We are in fact infographics on display. It’s more than trite expressions or catchy outtakes. Colloquialisms abound in one generation, only to be replaced or adopted by the next rising replacements. Some singularities like “rad” die. Others, like “cool”, seem to be conveyed equally amongst multiple generations.
So, it has come to me that a book about Fourth & Goal and Force of Purpose should be a string of infographics. Pictures are worth a thousand words. There. I used a well-known phrase to compost multiple explanations down to a visual word picture. If I were to add a visual context to the phrase, I now would have a picture that conveys an expanding thought.
The Dawn of NFT art by James Wm Frank
With the advent of NFT minting, I began to create graphic art posts for the Ocean See platform. I was required to establish a cryptic wallet and buy Ethereum currency.
The cryptocurrency market is volatile with massive swings in value at this time. My goal is to create and mint over one thousand NFTs in several categories including the Mary Boleyn Hospice Foundation Inc.org. This is in timing with the annual CF awareness month of May.
Here are a few examples of favorites at this time.
Another successful trip around the sun & love to Ken & Mary Elizabeth Christopher
Metaverse, NFT’s, Decentraland, dAPPs, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, Open Sea, wallet, dashboards, Covid-19, corporate buyout, pitch deck, body build, help the most around the world. Personal development, change, asking better questions, learning more of what I don’t know, understanding self, facing fears, staying in the now, defining intimacy, exploring the existentialism of death.
These are some snippets of what I have thrown on the wall while making some semblance of where I am at this time in the universe.
First the exam, then the lesson
Ken Christopher made his transition on March 27, in a hospice unit of Grand River Hospital. Ken had a profound impact on my life. From introducing me to Peak Performance and the Phoenix Seminar to years of mentorship in developing a global Amway business, Ken, along with Mary Elizabeth became lifetime friends and confidants.
I remember sitting in the house on David St, in Elora, ON, and reading Success Magazine. Somewhere in the back advertising space was an ad for Brian Tracy Learning Systems in San Diego, CA. It listed a toll-free number. It occurred to me that perhaps I could sell Brian’s training material in Canada.
Brian’s sales material had come into my life by way of one of my sales reps at Lambda Crystal. A well-skilled sales rep gentleman out of Toronto, named Keith Howard, had loaned me a bootleg set of sales tapes by an unknown speaker.
Keith had been a senior buyer for People’s Jewellers in Canada, and also helped me design and buy a diamond wedding ring set for Molly McGregor – paid $7500, valued at $15,000. The tapes Keith loaned to me were on the Psychology of Selling. I transcribed a twelve tape series on my first laptop during a Montreal Gift Show in a gorgeous hotel in a Montreal suburb in the Quebec lake area, circa 1989.
After applying some of the skills I learned from those tapes, I increased sales in the subsequent gift shows that year by four and five times previous results – from $40,000 to $200,000 in the fall Toronto Gift Show. Molly did the same in Edmonton. The process invigorated Lambda Crystal and sparked 40% growth, year-over-year for many future years.
I learned Brian Tracy was the lecturer on those tapes. Shortly thereafter, I saw a set of tapes on my brother, Mike’s, bookshelf, still in the saran wrap. it was called the Psychology of Achievement on twelve tapes, by Brian Tracy. I borrowed the tapes and began to digest the material back on David St. in Elora.
I remember well the day I sat by myself, listening to those tapes and answering a set of questions, Brian posed, on finding a major definite purpose in life. One question was if you only had six months to live, what would you do? I remember thinking what if it was six hours, what would I do? My immediate answer was that if I was not with my loved ones, I would get to them as fast as possible, or call. It then occurred to me that if that is my value, why am I spending so much time away from my family to build my businesses?
Now back to the Success Magazine and the Brian Tracy Learning Systems. I gathered the courage to call the San Diego office to determine if I could get some Canadian rights to Brian’s material. I spoke to a sales manager. He told me that if I wanted to learn about Brian’s material in Canada, I should contact a guy by the name of Ken Christopher, who lived nearby in Kitchener/Waterloo. I soon called the number given and spoke to Ken for the first time.
Ken introduced me to the Phoenix Seminar by Brian Tracy as a corporate training tool. What separated Brian’s video-based, facilitated, workbook and audio program from other corporate training I had seen was its conciseness, duplicatable, multi-person approach to building the person to foster a more self-aware employee.
I went on to form one of my corporations to sell the program in Canada to corporations, Performance International. I sold over 40 programs and facilitated groups of attendees, including my daughter Mary and step-children Miranda and Michael.
Incorporating the personal development journey throughout my life has been a major focus and joy.
Ken & Mary Elizabeth as change agents
One day I was at Ken & Mary Elizabeth’s on Beachwood. I noticed a box of Double X on a counter. I had heard of Double X as the Cadillac of vitamin supplements. I asked Mary Elizabeth where I could buy some as I was already taking a daily supplement.
She said to me, that depends. Do you want to pay retail for wholesale for it? I retorted that I avoided retail as much as possible, being in the wholesale giftware business. She said I can get these for you at wholesale. And, that’s how I became an Amway distributor, sponsored front-line to a Diamond.
Not long after, I sold a line of crystal giftware into the Canadian Amway catalog and went along with the Christophers to tour the Amway head office and factory facilities in Ada, MI. As a manufacturer, I was very impressed with their technology, distribution warehouse, and the enormity of their manufacturing capability.
I was there when Ken & Mary Elizabeth made the decision to join Network Twenty-One in Grand Rapids. Molly & I went on to become Q12 Platinum producers for five years running and were recognized in the top 25 Platinum producers in North America repeatedly.
Our business stretched into seven countries and I, along with a couple of close friends helped launched Amway India, but that’s a story unto itself.
Looking back over fifteen years of developing business with Ken & Mary Elizabeth brings only smiles of joy. They lived with us in Fergus while they were between houses. We drove together to Florida many times for seminars and to visit them in their Bradenton house on the golf course.
I am unable to count the weekend seminars we went together to. The weekly open seminars we developed together in several Ontario cities. The hours we spent with them along with other N21 leaders. Whenever Ken & Mary Elizabeth needed our help, Molly & I were the first ones to volunteer to help out. They poured their lives into ours and we poured our lives into theirs. It was always a win-win relationship.
Sayings from Ken. This too will pass. If anybody can do this, you can. You are looking for the people who are looking for you. Never leave the people who don’t need you. Always arrive early and stay late.
IBID
Hey, my friend. Some good news. The VA has agreed to cover all my costs to an outside urology clinic, Southside Urology, Danville, VA. They specialize in Prostate conditions. 2. New peer-reviewed study to American Urology Conference has a urine test out of the UK, 94% as accurate as biopsy for benign and aggressive cancer presence. Also, Mary & I have a local, black, female, famous bodybuilder coming to our home gym each week to work out with us, keep us responsible, and motivated. That has been a dream of mine for a long time.
Hoping to receive my booster soon. Then home to Canada.
Love ya lots. Love to all, Arun & Rose.
For now, James & Mary
Message to Punkaj
Hey Pankaj;
As we all prepare for the circle of life
There are two things our minds can control
The thoughts that we think to remain in the now
And an attitude fresh from the soul
That’s a little diddy I made up while on my two-mile trek every morning at the nearby nature trail. Some jogging up the hills we lovingly named Agony & Heartbreak. Mostly fast-paced walking – about 4700 steps. We have been at it for some time. Having a local fitness trainer – Veronica coming tomorrow to start some accountability. Mary is eagerly participating.
I think about the newest rise in the Covid situation and ask the universe to look after you. I hope all is well with you, Arun and Rose.
As a follow-up to my question regarding PSA 13, I have recently received the results of an MRI, which I attach. As it looks very possibly like early prostate cancer, still encapsulated, it does show elongated abutment to the prostate wall. My next understanding needs to be my options for post-biopsy. The steady rise in PSA, in the absence of other symptoms, is enough to nudge me toward some pro-active measure of radiation or otherwise. I would rather not be even a few years older facing this, and a 10-year longevity window if left untreated is not an option. Every other health measure on me is not only WNL but felt by….only a few.
On another note, the new launch of Rapidgo Driver is hours away. One of my coders has been struck by Covid in Pakistan, and I am waiting on one last link to connect everything. I attach the pitch deck created by my friend in India. I saw Uber’s first pitch deck when they were asking for not much more than we are, pretty funny looking back to 2007 marketing.
Stay safe, my friend. The world needs you.
Love ya lots!
James & Mary
10,000 Steps
People often ask what they thank their younger self for. Today, I am grateful for all the times I put on running shoes and went for a jog on a regular basis. The memories of running the streets of Guelph, Elora, Fergus, Oakville, Bangalore, India, Calcutta, Berlin, Germany, Istanbul, Cairo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, and more.
After reaching my seventy-third trip circumnavigating the sun, I am proud to say I have put on my running shoes again. I look forward to my ninety-year-old self thanks me for what I am doing each day now. I am proud of myself.
Change Your Habits to Change Your World
When you find yourself, dragging yourself, kicking and screaming in the direction of a goal you know damn well is good for you, get excited, you are breaking an old habit that blocks your road to happiness. Focus on the glow of how the better results feel and push through. The new habit will prevail with less pain of discipline.
Why do I struggle is, as always, the wrong question. Like, why do bad things happen to good people? The question should always be what am I going to do about it? Always go to where people are helping because there you will find hope.