A Few Things Before My Hiatus

After today I'll be offline for at least six months, maybe longer

Many of you know that I was diagnosed with third stage prostate cancer early in 2024. I’ve been on Androgen Depressant Therapy since May, and I just started radiation therapy on Nov 15, a day after my 70th birthday, and that’ll be five days a week until January 15, 2025.

The good news is that my research into finding the best urologists, medical oncologists, and radiation oncologists to treat me has been successful. My treatment period will be longer, but the side effects will be less as will the risk of anything really bad happening because of a poorer standard of care.

TIP: If you’re on Medicare, stick with “original” Medicare. Do NOT take Medicare Plus, or any other health insurance plan where you get locked in to a particular group of providers.

The bad news is that the side effects are kind of miserable. Originally I was on two different ADT therapies, but one of them gave me constant migraines so that had to go. I feel fatigued almost all the time. Most of the time I feel like I’m walking underwater. I can’t make it through Costco without having to stop and catch my breath. I won’t bore you byh listing all of the various side effects that come with treatment because they’re all online if you want to look, and honestly, I feel like I’m complaining when I post them. I’m lucky because even though I have an aggressive tumor that just missed being classified as stage four, it is still non-metastatic.

My Book

Thank goodness that I had finished writing my book before the side effects got too bad.

For those of you who purchased an autographed copy in order to help me with my medical bills, I’m very grateful. I still owe you what you purchased, but due to the cost of the book, the time it takes for me to receive them, then the time to sign and package them, you should receive your copy before the December holidays arrive.

I’m very proud of the third edition, and I’m grateful to everyone at O’Reilly who assisted me with its publication, however, I’m very disappointed with my publisher for setting the price so high.

I don’t understand how O’Reilly makes these decisions, but I’m sorry that I brought the book to them because I believe that they’ve priced it WAY outside of what people can afford to pay these days. I was counting on royalties to help with my ongoing medical bills, but at that price point I don’t expect a lot of copies to be sold.

I’ve started work on a novel that I’m pretty excited about, and I hope to have it done by the fall of 2025. Needless to say, it’ll be with a different publisher, or possibly self-published with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

Bluesky

I’ve cut way back on social media over the past few months because what little time I have to be productive I want to put into the new book or spend with my wife and dogs. I’m rarely on LinkedIn and never X, but you can find me on Bluesky (@securityink.org).

Best wishes for the upcoming holiday season, and a happy 2025.

I was about to take a more “serious” selfie with the book, but Kiku had other ideas!