The Journal #9
PSA. Insanity. Cancer. Ears.
01. HEALTH - Joe Gaunt
Knowledge is Power
About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime.
Prostate cancer develops in the prostate gland, a small walnut-shaped gland in men and is most common in older men, typically diagnosed after the age of 50.
Symptoms may include difficulty urinating, blood in the urine or semen, erectile dysfunction, pain in the hips, back, or chest, and weakness or numbness in the legs or feet.
PSA Testing (Prostate Specific Antigen Test)
The PSA test measures the level of PSA in a man's blood. PSA is a protein produced by both cancerous and noncancerous tissue in the prostate gland.
Elevated levels of PSA can indicate prostate cancer, but they can also be caused by other conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or inflammation of the prostate.
The American Cancer Society suggests that men at average risk should have an opportunity to make an informed decision about screening starting at age 50, while men at higher risk (such as black men or those with a family history of prostate cancer) should consider screening starting at age 45.
So a serious consideration for all men as we age past 45. PSA tests are free on the NHS from the age of 50 and though our HealthNav partnership with Medichecks, NXT45 community members can get £10 off a home kit (reduced from £65 to £55).
02. MINDSET - Jonny Grayshon
The Definition of Insanity
If you were to stay on the same path you are on right now for 5 years…
How would you look?
How would you feel?
What state is would your health be in?
What does your relationships look like?
How’s your sex life?
How confident are you?
What would your waist line look like?
How big is your bank account?
If you’re not happy with things as they are right now, unless you are prepared to make some changes, why would any of that get better??
Doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different outcome is insane (ask Albert Einstein).
Don’t look back in 5 years time and wish you had done things differently.
03. FAMILY - Mike Bates
Cancer
Last week I was invited to speak to an audience ahead of a Royal visit to Leeds General Infirmary by the patron of Leeds Children’s Hospital Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh.
It was a special occasion and I was really grateful and proud to be a small part of it.
This followed the announcement last May that the government would fund the build of a new flagship children’s hospital in Leeds with a delivery date of 2030.
Great news.
But, Leeds Hospitals Charity now needs to raise £30m in order to add all of the bells and whistles which would transform our new hospital into the ‘Great Ormond Street of the North’.
A pretty exciting and powerful mission and one that certainly got me thinking - more on this in the future.
At lunch I was seated between Her Royal Highnesses’ private secretary and her lady-in-waiting.
We got chatting about each of their relationships and friendship with their boss.
Sarah, the lady-in-waiting, told me that she was childhood friends with Sophie and carrying flowers and handbags on their many travels felt, well, like not a job really at all. She was just hanging around with her friend.
Sarah told me a story about a 4 day stay she spent with the entire Royal Family over Christmas and how upon arrival our late Queen had taken her by the arm, walked her through the drawing room and said, quite normally, “I’m not sure you know my mother” (as an introduction to the Queen Mother). Sarah of course replied “no Ma’am” whilst privately thinking to herself ‘of course I do…it’s the Queen Mother!’
The overwhelming feeling from Sarah’s rather surreal visit to the Windsor’s was how normal they all were. And, how they are just the same as any of our own families when the cameras are put away.
They too suffer stress, bereavement, joy, pride, frustration.
Family life is all of the above and that is normal for us all.
This reminded me of the time I met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and showed her around a covert vehicle we had been using on many of our operations. My feeling was exactly the same as Sarah’s in so far as it felt like I was meeting someone else grandma and not the most famous person on the planet. She was of course everything one might expect.
All too often we view the world of others through a different, rose tinted lens and not the same lens that we use to focus on our own.
We shouldn’t.
We all have our challenges and we all make it through them together.
This week as the world front pages were dominated by the recent cancer diagnosis of both our King and The Princess of Wales I too was told that my own nan’s cancer had spread throughout her body and that it wasn’t something that could be operated on. My brother-in-law also lost his dad to the disease.
A reminder that money and privilege doesn’t buy you happiness or health.
We’re all the same when it comes down to it.
We’re just human beings.
Try to remember that when you’re facing something that feels like it’s only your problem.
Family is everything.
04. QUOTE
“No man is free who is not a master of himself”
Epictetus
05. TIP
You’ve heard the saying ‘never put anything in your ears other than your elbow’, right? (no need to try!)
Gents; that includes tissue paper, cotton buds, car keys and screwdrivers.
So how should you keep your ears clean?
Use a small facecloth, some warm water and add a little baby oil to help soften the wax if needed.
You only need to clean the wax that has moved outside of your ear canal and not the deeper stuff within.
Ears actually clean themselves and ear wax contains anti-bacterial properties so do them and your hearing a favour by keeping your distance.
How does that sound?
The Journal by NXT45
