Tall Tales Two

Jack Kregas was born in New England in the north east of the United States. After a stint in the US Army, he was discharged in Europe and the next forty years were spent skiing and living life to the max as well as creating several successful businesses.

After many winters in the Alps and summers windsurfing on Maui, Jack departed Switzerland for Maui full-time with his Australian wife and small daughter. Five years later, he moved to Australia with his family and became an Australian citizen.

Jack now lives in Brisbane and plays golf and tournament poker. After publishing his first book in 2015, the autobiography of his adventurous life, he has written another nine books.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Fiction

Joey Moretti Thrillers

Mystical Glasses

Innocent Retribution

Contested Ransom

Decisive Sunset

Other Fiction

Choice Cruise Lines

Tall Tales – a Collection of Short Stories

Slick Justice

Non-fiction

It’s All About Me and a few others

It’s Not Only About Me

Tall Tales TWO

short stories truth and advice

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JACK KREGAS

Publishing Details

Tall Tales Two – Short Stories Truth and Advice by Jack Kregas

© Jack Kregas

The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright restrictions above, no part of the production may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

1st Edition 2018

Copyright: Jack Kregas 2018

This book is copyright

Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters in this book are fabricated from the imagination of the author. Some places and locations maybe real, others are not. Any similarity to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

This book is dedicated to my friends who have had prostate problems, Glen T, John M, Bill M, Mike P, Charles M and Bill Van Atten who has shared his story in this book. The more men are informed, the greater the chance they have of an early diagnosis and a successful treatment. This was the motivation for this book.

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Very special thanks to:

Dr. Alan Grigg, my General Health Practitioner practicing in Ipswich, Australia; and

Dr. Teng my Urological Surgeon practicing in the Ipswich region, Australia.

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And as always, maximum gratitude to my editors, Susan and Megan, who have been with me from my first book and they inform me that after ten books their job has not gotten any easier. I agree writing is the easy part. Making it readable takes more talent than I have.

Contents

PEE-ved   (Truth)

Bill’s Story  (Truth)

George   (Advice)

Not All Days Are The Same  (Jack’s truth)

Off The Grid   (Advice)

Being An Author   (Advice)

PEE-ved

Forward

In general, I do not like doctors. I don’t trust them or the complete medical establishment. This is no particular reason for this. No bad experiences. I have been influenced by medical horror stories related by others, which made up my mind that doctors should be avoided. I have been fortunate enough to be healthy. All my experiences with doctors have been because of accidents, which for the most part, were my own doing.

At fourteen, a compound fracture of the right leg with bones sticking through my ski pants. Two weeks in a hip cast then an operation with two screws inserted to hold the bones together. Ten months later I was meant to go back to have the screws removed. They are still there today.

A torn meniscus in my left knee from skiing. No medical attention.

Broken ribs from falling on ski poles numerous times. No medical attention.

Two broken ribs in my back from coming off a mountain bike. X-rayed and went home.

Dislocated left shoulder in an avalanche. Doctor pulled it into place. Was skiing an hour later.

Dislocated right shoulder skiing. Same doctor, same result.

Ligaments torn and muscle torn away from left knee. X-rayed and told a reconstruction needed. Had therapy instead.

Informed that knees were bone on bone and needed replacement. No way Jose.

Informed that my PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) was high. Was sent to a specialist who recommended a biopsy. The hell with that.

The following year a different doctor, same recommendation. This one was a female doctor who called me at my house and sent me letters telling me I had to sign-off that she had informed me I was in danger of prostate cancer and would not follow advice. I told her in her office that she had nice tits and I would like to invite her for dinner. I never heard from her again.

By chance, I went to Dr. Grigg for another matter. He was less than concerned and said to monitor it. I told him I preferred an erection and early death to a long life, limp. I have been going to him for check-ups for five years. He is my kind of doctor.

My PSA rose rapidly from one six-month period to the next. With a large prostate, as is common for men of a certain age, and a high PSA, Dr. Grigg recommended I see Dr. Teng, his choice of urologist. I made an appointment because I trusted his judgement.

From the start, I liked Dr. Teng. He explained the situation and possibilities. Have an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to check the prostate. If it showed anything suspect, then have a biopsy. Depending on the findings, surgery may be required. Once you start with the MRI, you have to follow through. I told him I could live without knowing. He agreed to continue to monitor my condition every six months. My thinking was that if after eight years I had cancer, it was slow growing and I would die with it. Sex is more important to me.

I had no interest in having a biopsy and following through with surgery, if that was the call. I was not sick and had no intention of going into a hospital, a place that scared me and made me feel faint by the smell alone. I once visited a friend and could only manage to stay for less than five minutes. For me, it feels like a place of death and disease and is to be avoided at all costs. This is only my opinion and I appreciate the work the medical profession performs. It is just not a place for me.

August 2017, Brisbane

I’m restless again. I want to go on a trip. Every three months or so I feel like this. My latest book Tall Tales has been released and I can do a book signing in LA. I can visit my friend Charlie, watch the baseball playoffs, and visit a place I have never been. I decided that Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park were the places to go.

It is an easy drive from LA. I also planned to visit my friend Bill who was in Colorado. Bill has had an interesting life and has asked me to work with him on making his story into a book. This was to be a trip to could cover many objectives.

The next hurdle was to convince my traveling companion, Diane, to join me. She always has to check to make sure the timing doesn’t clash with other commitments. Family, work, theatre, house, etc. I know in the end that she will give me some dates and I made plane reservations to fly to LA on 3 October.

We did some homework on Zion and Bryce canyons. Diane made hotel reservations and I decided to book a horseback ride in the red canyons near Zion. With Butch Cassidy’s trail and hideout from when he first became an outlaw in this area, it appealed to me. A half-day ride was $99. A six-hour all-day ride with lunch was $120. Always a man looking for the best deal, I opted for the six-hour all-day adventure. The fact that neither Diane nor I had been on a horse in more than forty years didn’t concern me. It sounded like fun.

The reason Diane and I have fun traveling is that she mostly goes along with my ideas. A few years ago she had her first attempt at snow skiing and then went back for a second year. What is the sense of going on a trip if it’s not a new adventure and experience? Life is too short not to enjoy it while you can.

Tuesday, 3 October 2017

Gold class on Virgin gives us lounge access and other priorities, which makes flying much more comfortable. We boarded VA7, the direct twelve-hour flight to LA, bringing our own food. Airline food hardly qualifies as food. Just the smell of it makes me feel ill. The flight lands at seven o’clock in the morning local time. I try to sleep so I can arrive without jet lag.

I will not go on about how it can take up to two hours to clear customs. The system is worse than ever regardless of how automated they try to make it. Once out of the airport, it’s onto a shuttle to pick up the rental car. I always book online with U-drive. They are half the price of all the others with all taxes included and the cars are sourced from the major players. It is then a thirty-minute drive to Malibu and my home away from home at Charlie’s. Because of the time difference with Australia, we get to have Tuesday all over again, having more fun the second time around.

Wednesday, 4 to Thursday, 5 October 2017

There are traditions I have to follow when I arrive in the US. The first is to stock up on Häagen Dazs ice cream. I like Coffee, Strawberry and Vanilla Swiss Almond. None of the fancy flavors for me. Two of each will hold me for a day or two.

The next is a meal at Gilbert’s Mexican restaurant on Pico. The waiters are the same as were there more than forty years ago, which was about the first time the place was recommended to me. The food has never changed. No-frills Mexican that, after finishing, you want to order the same meal again, to reassure yourself you weren’t just dreaming how good it was. I have occasionally found Mexican food as good, but not better.

Taking in some shopping in Santa Monica, watching sport on television and talking politics with Charlie is a relaxing couple of days for me in LA.

For this trip, the plan is to drive to Mesquite, Nevada, a small town about 80 miles north of Las Vegas. It is 350 miles from LA, which takes about five hours, driving non-stop. We plan to stop at various shopping outlets along the way. Diane doesn’t drive in the States. She did try it once near the Grand Canyon but prefers to be the navigator so we don’t get lost. I don’t mind driving, especially where you can still speed along without being busted by cops or cameras using road safety as an excuse for fundraising. It’s a free feeling, rolling fast along roads through the desert.

Friday, 6 October 2017

We left LA around 7:00 am to avoid some of the traffic going to downtown LA. Driving in LA is a pure luck situation. There is always traffic. Sometimes it’s fast, scary fast, across eight lanes or can be slow for no apparent reason. An accident will have you stuck in one place for hours. It takes an hour and a half to clear greater LA and be on the Interstate 15 to Vegas. I’ve done this drive many times and you can roll along at around 80 miles per hour if there aren’t too