We wanted to post this to let you know what is happening in our lives and what our plans are for the next few months.

Our original plan was to head for the Bahamas again this year, since we enjoyed last year so much. With that in mind we loaded the boat and set a departure date of October 18th. However, back in August our family physician noted that Doug's PSA score had jumped about 20% over the last year and he could feel something when he did the DRE (Digital Rectal Exam), so he referred me to a urologist in Greenville, NC. After a couple of visits to him, he felt we should to a biopsy of the prostate gland which was done on October 5, and believe it when I say that was not fun. On October 14 we got the results of the biopsy back and they indicated the presence of cancer in the prostate. In fact, 10 out of 12 sites showed cancer cells. After some discussion, we made the decision to go ahead with surgically removing the prostate. This decision immediately resulted in the decision to not go south this winter and to spend the time dealing with the cancer. On October 25 the prostate was removed using robotic surgery and this procedure went very well. The big downside to this surgery is the fact that you have to have a catheter implanted for a week. Doug was up and walking the day of surgery and continues to feel very good. On November 3rd we went back to have the catheter removed and found out the pathology on the prostate indicated the cancer had also been found in the seminal vesicle. This will likely mean a course of radiation sometime after the first of the year.

At this point Doug is doing very well and we are doing a lot of research on prostate cancer and preparing to spend the holidays with our kids.

We have decided to put High Stepper on the market. See the listing at Deaton's Yacht Sales in Oriental. NC: http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?&units=Feet&id=2416569&lang=en&slim=broker&&hosturl=deatonyachtsales&&ywo=deatonyachtsales&

We plan to buy a smaller boat to mess around in and to continue our travels by car, ship and plane.