With this December newsletter article, you are all caught up and aware of what I see as my greatest challenge yet!

    “Reflecting On This Year of Brilliant Achievement &                               Setting My Determinations for 2019”                                         
                                  by Kevin D ’Arcy

December has arrived and I find myself once again putting together this newsletter, wondering not just what has been going on this month but what has been going on for this entire “Year of Brilliant Achievement.” I need look no further than my recent Doctor’s visit on November 27^th. 

However, before I go there, I find myself reflecting further back to February and having to deal with losing not one but both of my parents.  Yeah… not the best of times. Nevertheless, it was around that time that I started to have issues with my esophagus and periodic choking when I ate meat. I ignored this and proceeded to put on 15 “grief pounds” I am calling them, that led me to get on the scale at a whopping 227.4 lbs. The most, I think, I have ever been in my life.  The year of 2018 proceeded to be one challenge after another that eventually led to the breakthrough in my practice  which revolved around my niece Andrea, nephew Zen, and Zen’s girlfriend Jessica by the power of NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO attending the 50K festival in September. I felt my practice really take hold since that time and I feel an honest to goodness transformation of my life and my relationships.

 

Just when I thought missing my mum was going to be my biggest challenge of the year, life has decided to throw me yet one more challenge to overcome.  The Big C – CANCER, or at least the possibility of it. 

Last month, you may recall I wrote about booking YOUNG SHELDON. Well my focus and determination did not end there. My very next audition I booked an episode of Eva Longoria’s new series GRAND HOTEL, an American adaption of a Telenovela from Spain, which I watched on Netflix and fell in love with. I was on cloud nine being a part of this new production.  Everything about the experience was a lesson for me in the power of my practice.  On the day of my shooting, in my first scene, I had to eat a banana as I said my lines in a seedy motel.  I did numerous takes eating banana after banana. When we finished shooting the final take of the scene, I started choking on the banana, which I then proceeded to spit up.  The set’s medic was a young guy who immediately took my blood pressure. It was dangerously high. He continued to freak  out when it was not dropping as fast as he would like. I said, “hey I’m fine, I just want to go shoot my second scene tonight so I’ll go to my trailer and I’ll be fine.” He said “no, you could have a heart attack and not know it!”  This was not helping lower my blood pressure. Long story short, I had to go to an urgent care somewhere in Manhattan Beach for a doctor to approve my returning to set to shoot my scene.  I complied and once the doctor said I could go back to shoot my scene, my blood pressure returned to normal. However, she said, you shouldn’t be having food getting stuck in your esophagus so you need to have that checked out. Given that I was a smoker for many years my having quit February 5, 2017 did not help me escape the possibility that this choking issue was esophageal cancer.  I will admit, I tried to avoid mentioning to anyone the whole cancer issue for about a week. Once I wrapped my head around it, I made my doctor’s appointment for November 27^th.

At my appointment, I learned my weight was at that whopping 227.4 lbs, and my blood pressure was once again high and I shared with him my whole choking issue.  Because of my smoking history, the “cancer issue” is not off the table. However, I have noticed that the inflammation in my esophagus has been getting better with my recent change in diet to address the issue with plant based eating. I also noticed that when I stood up to drink I avoided choking more and more. This led my doctor to believe we did not have to jump to the conclusion I was dealing with worse case scenario, esophageal cancer. Instead it might be what I proposed to him – that the constriction was caused by pressure from the visceral fat gain around my waist.

My goal now is to lose as much weight as I can specifically around my waist to alleviate the constriction, as well as reduce my blood sugar and blood pressure levels so I don’t have to start 2019 taking blood pressure pills and diabetes medication. I will have a physical on January 28, 2019 for the moment of truth on not only my pre-diabetes, but also my blood pressure and whether or not there are signs of cancer in my lab results.

So why am I writing all this? Because, once I acknowledged the possibility of having CANCER, I recognized that I stopped my old pattern of avoiding my fears and instead faced them head on and took action like my Buddha nature guided me to do. Now I have a plan of attack that will not only get me to the place of  finally addressing the health issues I stumbled into the San Fernando Valley Buddhist Center to address on February 18^th, 2017, but I know that I don’t have to give into all the fears that cancer engenders. 

Instead,  I can face them down with an unshakeable determination to make 2019 the healthiest, wealthiest year of my life.  Today, I bought a dumb bell bench so I have no excuse not to get serious about my exercise goals. I even decided to deem 2019 my year of #NoExcuses!   I know that great things are coming my way and I wish the same for every one of you in my district family!  NEVER GIVE UP!! Δ

So.. Yes, this is where I am. The adventure begins in earnest!