I have been very busy over the past couple of months. And to top it all off I am back on my old Acer computer because the Asus I purchased in 2014 has given me no end of trouble. Most of my recent work is on that computer. I will be able to get it back running again, I hope.
Sandra and I went to Florida for a mental health break in mid September. I found there that my strength had pretty well returned - I walked up to 15 miles (24 km) per day there. Then at the end of October we flew to Los Angeles for a Writers Digest Novel Writing Conference. That was a great experience, including seeing the hundreds of homeless on the streets of downtown LA, right in the middle of a conglomeration of marble-fronted bank headquarter buildings and 4/5 star hotels.
In LA I met agents and fellow authors and came back all full of high energy to get writing on my Young Adult novel. The story takes place in the Arctic and I am on my first rewrite. I sent one complete chapter to my new author friend KK Allen and she gave me great encouragement to write on. You can view some of her published work at her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorkkallen/
Well, that was the fun side. I have now got some paid work, training engineers on four new Northern Infrastructure building standards to respond to climate warming and melting permafrost. And this weekend I am in Tuktoyaktuk doing a business planning study. It is good to be working as a professional again. Although that leaves me less time for writing.
The sun is going down at the end of next week in the Arctic, permanently at our latitude for about 6 weeks. The sun will rise again around January 6 and there will be a Sunrise Festival in Inuvik to mark that occasion, with fireworks and huge bonfires out on the ice of the Mackenzie River. During that 6 weeks the sun will be just below the horizon in the afternoon, with the most magnificent and brilliant sunrise/sunset colours you can imagine.
In my early September post I pointed out the importance of both Iscador and concentrated curcumin in my cancer treatment. I forgot to point out the importance of keeping my immune system on high alert at all times. I do that through my old standby, elk Velvet Antler capsules from Erica Yurt at www.yurtland.com, that I have been taking daily for several years. I take two capsules daily, or more if I feel a tickle that might be a coming sore throat. Why take elk Velvet Antler? - you may ask. Because it boosts my immune system so that I almost never get a cold or the flu. I get a cold at most once a year, whereas 10 years and more ago I was forever getting colds. The reason that I recommend Erica and yurtland.com is because she sells the highest quality product, consistently. So take my advice. Elk Velvet Antler will keep your immune system working at full throttle. I have recommended it to others who have had similar results of better immunity and freedom from colds.
On a more somber side - yes, the cancer thing. Today I read a cancer recovery blog by a friend of a friend. His name is Rob Truscott and you can view his blog at http://cancersuckschronicles.ca/2016/11/rip-colin-hackett/ . Colin Hackett was an Alberta athlete who courageously fought colorectal cancer for two years. If you click on the podcast link at around the 26 minute mark you will hear an interview with Colin done only about 3 to 4 weeks before he succumbed to the dreadful disease. His upbeat courage in the interview is wonderful.
Cancer doesn't play around. After I read Rob's RIP account for Colin I couldn't help but come face to face with my own fears again. Because this Stage 4 kidney cancer thing has an infamous history in other patients of returning within two years of the original cancer operation. And only 8% reach the 5 year mark of life extension after their operation for renal carcinoma. Am I in that 8%? I am patiently waiting now for the next CT scan to take place in Yellowknife in mid January 2017.
So I am firmly resolved again to severely limit my sugar and simple carb intake. That has served me well up to now, as you the reader know if you have read my earlier blog entries. And I will probably be on Iscador for the rest of my life, complemented by concentrated curcumin just for good measure.
Well there you have my update. And later this week, on Friday the 25th of November Sandra and I are London bound. I am invited to Buckingham Palace for a 10th Anniversary celebration for the Princess Royal (Anne) as President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. The 1851 Royal Commission awarded me the Overseas Scholarship that took me to the UK away back in the mid 1960s to do my PhD research at the University of Warwick. You can read all about it in a neat CBC North broadcast record athttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/buckingham-palace-david-malcolm-exhibition-1851-1.3857999 . I will let you know how the trip went when I return.
