After 4 years recovering, drawing 50# again!

modernlongbow

Active member
I was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer in 2015. The kindly old gal at the Prostate Centre said, " We're going to turn you into an old woman." She was right. The treatment involved chemical castration and radiation. I'm very grateful to the sex offenders in Australian prisons who shortened their sentences by participating in the drug trials that benefit me. My last shot of Lupron was in June, 2016, and my strength is slowly returning. My Birtwistle flatbow is 71" of smooth 45#, and it's now up on the wall, because I'm just now strong enough to draw to my anchor point, and hold there long enough to really aim well.
My present bow is an October Mountain Products Ozark Hunter, which I named Stax, because that's what she does. The flat trajectory of a 50#, 68" bow gives me scores that I've been waiting to see again. Tournaments may have been cancelled for this year, but this pandemic will pass into history.
Halleluja, I'm back!
 

modernlongbow

Active member
Technically, I shoot a flatbow. My bowyer is glueing up and glazing a 50# version of the 71" bow. I'll be 75 next week.
 

modernlongbow

Active member
Update . . .I flunked my bloodwork. My B12 is too low, and my PSA is too high. The monster in the engine room is back. When I get my 50# bow, I may be too weak to hold at full draw long enough to get a decent sight picture. Stay tuned.
 

modernlongbow

Active member
It's confirmed, my nemesis from 5 years ago is back. Some of the cheeky cancer cells waved at the camera. I have found out why I was able to draw Jezebel, my 71" Birtwistle flatbow, during my previous bout with prostate cancer. She draws 40#, not 45! I have banished Stax, my 50# Ozark hunter, to the bowcase, and ordered a 6' hickory stave from Grayvn. That'll give me something to do while I wait for the BC Cancer Agency to set up my first injection.
 

modernlongbow

Active member
Update to my update: The radiation oncologist at the Cancer Agency did not set up a series of radiation sessions, because there was too much damage to surrounding tissue the last time. Instead he and my urologist prescribed a much stronger dose of Lupron. Eight times stronger!! The result : fatigue and loss of muscle mass. While my bowyer is at work on a 45# flatbow, I'm shooting a detuned 6' warbow. All is not lost, I'll die with the cancer, not from it.
 

modernlongbow

Active member
The combination of Apalutamide & Lupron has prolonged my life. A minor downside is that I've lost height, weight and strength. Jezebel Too, my new Birtwistle flatbow, shoots like a dream. 45# at 26".
 

bownarra

New member
Very sorry to hear about your illness. After my mother got breast cancer and doing a lot of research on the subject I found a different story than the norm regarding cancer...I highly suggest you go to a website called pheonixtears run by a man called Rick Simpson. I can 100% vouch for the truth of what he says.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
I can no longer draw a 45# bow. I'll be competing at the 55 Plus BC Games, third week of September, in the barebow category, shooting a recurve with 35# limbs.

It’s not great to hear you’ve been forced down in bow weight but good to hear from you & that you are at least shooting - good luck at the Games
 
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