We are bringing our editor (and my husband) Les, to the forefront of the Rock Your Retirement show to talk about his cancer diagnosis.

Some of you may already know, but In November of 2016 (on election day), we were hit with some devastating news. We were told that Les has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. This means he has prostate cancer in about 8 places in his bones. It has a been a journey of sadness, anger, fear, and yes, happiness. We thought we would share a bit of the journey with you.

So the fight begins

We decided Les would go through chemotherapy and hormone blocking. I have to be honest, I was against chemotherapy at first. We also changed our diet and it was very hard!  Les LOVES his cookies and he had to give them up. It has been worth it though because we both feel like the diet change has really helped. Les also did a ton of research and discovered supplements that helped fight cancer. He started taking practically all of them. He's taking a lot of supplements!

Right now, Les is starving his cancer it and keeping it from getting testosterone which stops it from growing. Over time, the cancer will become resistant to this and that is when the risk is higher. The longer the androgen therapy works, the longer Les lives. If you looked at Les right now, you would not think he was sick. For this type of cancer, the life expectancy is about  3 1/2 years. The way things are going, we both think Les will surpass this.

Everytime Les a new ache, I am not sure if it is because of his cancer or the fact that he is 73!  With the therapy, there are side effects which include:

* Numbness and swelling in the feet

* Tiredness

* Losing muscle mass

* Gaining weigh in the stomach

* hot flashes…ladies is this sounding a little familiar?

* Lack of intimacy. We thought about using tips we learned from Sue Goldstein but we haven't started that yet

Leading a less stressful life when you are fighting a disease

* Support of friends and family has been instrumental in relieving stress

* Mental attitude is important.

* Doing the things that need to get done. Throw yourself into work or activities to take your mind of things that would cause you stress.

* Declutter your house because it can be stressful having all that “stuff” around the house. Lisa Woodruff has given us lots of tips on this!

* Keep your mind busy so you are not focused on how you feel

Now what?

We are going to move forward with our lives and not dwell on his condition.

Still no cookies for Les. We are going to stay away from sugar because we both believe sugar feeds cancer

2018 will be spent making memories together. We are going to spend some quality time together and we are going to be traveling. Our first trip is in March and we are going to Hong Kong, Korea, then China. In August, we are going to Barcelona.

Do you want to come with on either of our trips? We can check into a group rate!  If so, leave a comment below or send me an email through the website.

If you would like to read the blog Les has created about his progress you can go to www.leshascancer.com

This post about retirement and Retirement Lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com