I want to start a movement among knifemakers

i know how you feel. its also hard for me to quit cause my body is so used to the nicotine. best of luck to you and quitting smoking. i hope i do well this time. im in town right now at the local library and i plan to stop by the grocery store and get some toothpicks for when i quit.
 
Yeah, smoking's THE hardest one to quit. I'm 28, been at it since I was 12... All the guys I'm in school with right now are out playing soccer and snowboarding, and I have trouble walking up the mountain to school! It %&*#$%& sucks to smoke. And there's certainly no "rebels honor" to be had in dying an early and painful death from it.
 
I'm having the robot surgery this spring. The cancer was caught early with

a PSA test.

The doc said something besides this would kill me. My reply: Nobody gets out alive.

Fred
 
Thank goodness you caught it in time Fred. I've heard it's a real tough procedure but many have gone through it. Best of luck with the surgery and the recovery. I'm sure you've got a lot of knives still left in you to make. Dave
 
we are cheering for you Fred. you cant die on us just yet. you still have yet to make a BF themed knife. no one here is allowed to die on us yet. you old men need to live another 50 years atleast and pass on all the secrets you have learned to us youngins so we can continue to get better and make knives not only for ourselves but for all of yall. i just thought of something cool we could do. get a group of bladesmiths together and have them all agree on a design and then everyone in the group works on that one knife adding their special touch to it and shipping it to the next guy inline. that way when its completely finished and everyone has signed it or added their stamp to it we could put it up for auction and the procedes go towards cancer research to help them find a cure. who here likes this idea? it doesnt have to be just one team and one knife. it could be many teams and many knives. if i was alot more skilled i would love to get involved in it.
 
Hi, I am almost 60 and I have just returned to work after having my prostrate removed , they saved the left nerve that allows you to get a erection but it may be up to a year before it becomes functional again if at all.A friend of mine opted for the radiation treatment and he now has leukaemia , the main problem with the radiation treatment is that it causes a lot of scar tissue and if it doesn`t work then you can not have the surgery to remove the prostrate because the scar tissue will not heal . One more small problem is that you will loose a little bit of length.
 
Back in 98, we found out my dad had colon cancer, he is fortunate that they caught it in time. Mom and dad are both cancer survivors, dad will turn 85 this month, mom 84 in Nov. Since my father was diagnosed, and his sister is also a survivor from the same cancer, my siblings and myself have all had colonoscopies on a regular basis.

fitzo said:
....You have to want to quit. Nothing more, nothing less. None of the pills, gum or other aids make you quit. They just help with the withdrawl.
Click to expand...
Fitzo, as nasty as it may seem, last October one of my fathers brothers passed away. As arraignments for the funeral were vaige , I called a couple of cousins who lived in the same area as my Uncle Sam. During the conversation with Cousin Marc, he told me that his leukemia had returned, which caused my great concern for his health, and also pissed me off. When done talking to Marc I called Cousin Tony about the funeral arraignments, and during the conversation with him, he told me he has cancer in his stomach. This got me real upset, my two favorite cousins from my fathers side of the family with cancer. You know what I did, went out into the garage, had a good cry, and lite up a cigarette, talk about stupid, but it seems that those nasty old smokes really to a hook in me.

My oldest Sister told me that if I don't quit, no matter if I live to be 80, when I die, it will be from smoking.

To all you young people, as you grow older, all those accidents that you have in your younger days, will most certainly come back and remind you of the day you hurt yourself :eek: , believe me, that's a fact.
 
does that include broken bones, badly sprained ankles, and a back injury at the age of 14? im slowly working on cutting back on my smoking. i hope their cancers go away. best of luck to them Beaver. and to yourself.
 
PimpinSquee said:
does that include broken bones, badly sprained ankles, and a back injury at the age of 14?
Click to expand...

You bet it does. You say you're 22 now ... you should be feeling the effects in a couple of years (definitely before you turn 30); these things catch up with you much sonner than you anticipate.

I have quite some broken bones in my body (chipped bones in finger joints, multiple metacarpal fractures, spiral fracture of tibia, multiple metatarsal bones broken and a couple of broken toes) and weather changes - I assume it has to do with the air pressure changes - make those broken bones ache like hell sometimes ... that dull pain that just doesn't want to go away for hours. I've learned to keep those fractured parts warm all the time and it helps alot.
 
Fred,
Good luck with the surgery. The robot surgery is what I had and everything came out fine. I’ll be praying for you and the doctor.
Diggerdog,
I’ve got a good scar but the procedure wasn’t all that bad. I was out of the hospitial in 2 days and was able to work on some knives in about a week. Your (Fred) results may vary.
Tinbasher,
It is great that they could save the nerves. They say that it may take a year but I had signs of life after a week.:D If it worked well before it should return if the nerves weren’t damaged in the surgery. I was very lucky that there was no problem, even with one nerve removed and grafted.
Bruce,
Great news!!! :thumbup: Did you get an appointment for next year???
Now for PimpinSquee,
You remind me of myself at your age. Ten feet tall and bullet proof. Contrary to what Mike said smoking is NOT the hardest to quit. Chew or dip is much more difficult. I have quit both at different times in my life.
What worked for me was cold turkey. I woke up one morning and said to my self that it has been 8 hours since my last cig or chew so I’ll quit now. One thing to remember is DO NOT falter. One cig or chew and the cycle starts over again. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the positive feedback guys. It means a lot to me.

Jacob,

22 and immortal. I remember it well. It's a great age to be alive.

Treat the smokes as if they were your mortal enemy. They are. They are trying to kill you.

63 is not the old guys! We like to refer to ourselves as vintage and a fine one at that.
At 63, I am in better condition than I was at 22. To much drink and cigarette's back then. These days its the martial arts and training young guys, your age, how to defeat their mortal enemies.

Good luck in your battle with the smokes, Fred:thumbup:
 
Making knives is not a particularly healthy occupation. There are lots of health hazards people ignore all the time (aside from the obvious sharp, pointy-thing hazards).

Chemicals, dust, metal fumes, forge fumes, smoke ... That ceramic Fiber in the forge is a 'Probable Human Carcinogen' according to the CDC. As it gets bumped, and degrades, those fibers are blowing into the air.

Adding all this to smoking has always seemed like a death wish to me.
 
My grandfather once caught my dad and an uncle sneaking cigars when they were kids. He made them smoke the whole box saying afterwards they could smoke if they pleased. Of course they got very sick and wanted nothing to do with tobacco again. For years, the smell would make them nauseous retch.

Gramps was a 'Jesus Freak' as Bruce puts it. Had 8 kids and lived a 'clean' life. He worked for SO.Cal. Edison as 'Inventor' before moving to Norhtern CA, because "LA in the 40s was no place to raise a family." He lived to nearly 100, and was digging ditches for Gold in Alaska into his 90s. I found out in his obituary that in the 1920s, he once rode a bicycle from L.A. to Mammoth lakes.---that's more than 300 miles with altitude and mountains on a bike that probably weighed as much as my car. :)

I'm told my other Grampa was a good guy. He was a heavy smoker and died in his early 50s.:mad:
 
oldwolf said:
I was very lucky and found out about a non envasive treatment Called Proton Beam Therapy, done in Loma Linda, Ca. Most Doctors won't even mention it as they are Specialist in Surgery, Radiation and can't do it. If you're told that Surgery is " The Gold Standard" please do your homework.
Most men don't have any treatment symtoms at all with The Proton Beam and many play 18 holes of golf everday while in treatment. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it is.

I'm a big proponent of Proton Beam Therapy and I'll tell everyone that will listen about it . Like Oljoe, I don't want any guy to have to go through some of the nasty side effects that can occur with other Cancer therapy just because they have not been fully informed.

This is way off topic, but too important not to inform others.

A lot more info at www.protonbob.com

Ken
Click to expand...

I know of three people that had this done at Loma Linda, one of them a very close friend. If at at all possible, this is the way to go. It is the least evasive method.

M.D. Anderson in Houston now has Proton Beam Treatment available in Houston as well.

Craig
 
Fred.Rowe said:
I'm having the robot surgery this spring. The cancer was caught early with

a PSA test.

The doc said something besides this would kill me. My reply: Nobody gets out alive.

Fred
Click to expand...

Fred,
Please see my post above. I'm a believer. My friend was two days away from surgery when he found out about it. I consider him fortunate for being able to have the Proton Beam Treatment. I can get you in touch with him if you like...

Craig
 
I agree with everything that has been said--was diagnosed with prostate cancer in spring of 1999--surgery , Sept 99--now after it is all over I am glad that I had good doctors, supportive family and good friends--I am always open to discuss my experiences any man that is going through this ordeal--we all need to be open to other men that are where we were sometime in the past--it ain't much fun but it can be beaten Tom Hollowell (aka Cooter DeGraw)
 
I have a knifemaker friend who had surgery this year for a very seriously progressed prostate cancer. He has been pretty diligent about getting his PSA tests...so he thought. As in every year previously, two years in a row he reminded his doctor to get his PSA test when he had the rest of his bloodwork done. When he called up to ask after his bloodwork results, he was given the standard line, "Everything is within normal limit." As it turned out, there had been a snafu at the office twice and the tests were never run. He had no way of knowing, and took them at there word of "passing everything."

When he had some problems, digital exam by a urologist led to biopsy and he had a major dose of cancer. Surgery followed. Because of the advanced extent of the spread, he now lives waiting for the "metastatic" axe to fall.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS ask for a copy of your yearly test results. Learn how to read the results, and ask the doc for an explanation if you need. Keep them on file at home. You have to do your part. Medical practices rely on clerical people in addition to the MDs, and there are sometimes mistakes from unexpected sources.
 
Hi Mike. That's an amazing story. Their diddling and errors are very serious. Once the cancer has spread outside of the prostate gland (into bones or lymphnodes for example) there is no longer a cure available. The best the doctor's will be able to offer your friend is treatment to try to keep you alive as long as possible. Hard decisions have to be made when balancing quantity of life over quality of life issues. I hope it work's out for your friend. Best regards. Dave
 
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