Over the last year I’ve re-learned that my experience with cancer is a journey, and I’m not necessarily finished when I think I am. To honor this stage of my life, I now often sign correspondence with the closing, “Onward”. Onward is one directive I know to be relevant about my life journey. Plans, not so much. This is an update on my journey, both figurative and literal.
During Cancer Awareness Week in 2019, I shared how prostate cancer saved my life — that during pre-op screening I learned I first needed a quadruple bypass. Unexpected Detour! I’d had no symptoms, never been seriously overweight and had always kept a basic level of fitness, but my heart’s arteries were 98% blocked. So we took care of that, and then I had the prostate surgery. The cancer in the prostate was a little outside the margins, but there was nothing in the lymph glands they removed. Good news. So, onward.
Last summer, my PSA number began to climb, and living without a prostate I understood it was a red flag I couldn’t ignore, much as I wanted to. Not what I’d planned on. Suddenly, both my husband Bob and I were dealing with unexpected health challenges.
In one of those intimate, tender, deep, calm, no-holds-barred conversations partners can have, we decided this was a sign. It was time to change our lives and live a different way. We decided to sell our house in south Florida, and rent for a year as we prepared to move to Europe. I know we’re not supposed to talk politics here, but I’d be lying to you if I omitted that one of the factors in our decision was the cultural and legal deterioration for men like me and Bob in the US, and especially in Florida. One of the factors, not the only.
So Bob got his pacemaker, and I scheduled hormone therapy and 34 radiation sessions. I resolved to start taking mandolin lessons again, as I realized making music was an important but neglected part of how I want to live. I hope to one day play and sing with others in a jam. Onward!
Our house sold quickly in the hot market, and ensconced in our Fort Lauderdale rental apartment we set about preparing for an open-ended European adventure. The preparation took more time than I expected – so many moving parts. After research, we set our sights on a French long-stay visa good for a year and renewable for a second. Our plan was to rent for relatively short (3 months or so) periods in Spain and various spots in France, getting a feel for places in those countries so when our visa was getting close to ending, we could decide whether we wanted to renew, apply for permanent residence, or return to the US. We even created a FB page: Two Old Men Move to Europe.
On October 8th, just a couple of weeks ago, it happened. We flew to Paris and began our grand, silver-haired adventure/experiment. We’re now in Málaga, Spain, where we’ll stay until the end of January. Then it’s back to France for the rest of the year.
In the middle of all this, in March I found an agent who was ready to go to bat for me and my work. Even as I write, the amazing Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Agency is flogging my latest project, The Garden Witch. Onward, to who knows where?
Living post-cancer is as much part of the journey as diagnosis and treatment. Same journey, different country, so to speak. While it also wasn’t the deciding factor, my cancer warning signs certainly contributed to our decision to translate our health/age/bucket list journeys into a geographical one. There’s no time to waste — adventure awaits!
Onward…

The Companion by Lloyd Meeker

Genre Gay Romance, Suspense

Heat level R

Shepherd Bucknam hasn’t had a lover in more than a decade and doesn’t need one. As a Daka, he coaches men in the sacred art and mystery of sexual ecstasy all the time, and he loves his work. It’s his calling. In fact, he’s perfectly content—except for the terrors of his recurring nightmare and the ominous blood-red birthmarks on his neck. He’s convinced that together they foretell his early and violent death.
When Shepherd’s young protégé is murdered, LAPD Detective Marco Fidanza gets the case. The two men are worlds apart: Marco has fought hard for everything he’s accomplished, in sharp contrast to the apparent ease of Shepherd’s inherited wealth—but their mutual attraction is too hot for either of them to ignore.
Shepherd swears he’ll help find his protégé’s killer, but Marco warns him to stay out of it. When an influential politician is implicated, the police investigation grinds to a halt. Shepherd hires his own investigator. Marco calls it dangerous meddling. As their volatile relationship deepens, Shepherd discovers his nightmares might not relate to the future, but to the deadly legacy of a past life—a life he may have to revisit before he can fully live and love in this one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VCPK5YK/

Lloyd A Meeker Social Media

Born on a farm in the Colorado foothills and having led what can only be described as a checkered life, Lloyd Meeker can honestly say he’s grateful for all of it. He’s been a minister, an office worker, a janitor, a drinker, and a software developer on his way to finishing his first novel in 2004. He is a three-time cancer survivor.
A number of his stories have been published, including Traveling Light (DSP Publications), Enigma (Wilde City Press), Blood and Dirt (Wilde City Press), Blood Royal, (Wild Rose Press) and Stone and Shell (NineStar Press). His novel The Companion (Dreamspinner Press) was a finalist in the 2015 Lambda Literary Awards.
Meeker and his husband have been together since 2002. Between them they have four children and five grandchildren. They live in south Florida, and work hard to keep up with the astonishing life they’ve created.
Twitter https://twitter.com/LloydAMeeker
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lloyd.a.meeker
Amazon Author page https://www.amazon.com/Lloyd-A.-Meeker/e/B008FC5VF4