Cancer Update 6/6/11

Hard to believe it has been 4/30 since I wrote a blog. It's certainly not due to a dearth of things about which to write; probably due to life being so busy there's been no time to write! Among the fun things going on was a week in Louisville, Kentucky, with Daniel and his family, culminating in watching Daniel receive his doctorate from Southern Seminary. Lots of fun times and lots of good pictures and maybe someday I can write some blogs about it, but until then, the Facebook postings will have to suffice.

Anyway, I went to see the cancer doctor today, and the news is the same as the last few postings (kind of like a Dallas weather forecast in the summertime - almost always the same). The cancer is slowly increasing, and the doctor anguishes over when to resume chemotherapy - a little increase doesn't warrant resumption, but have many little increases does it take...? Regardless, we will not resume chemotherapy now, particularly with the tirp to Kenya coming up, and will check everything again in two months.

By the way, this is pretty cool and high tech. I am sitting here in the infusion room, wirelessly connected to the internet via my new netbook, getting to redeem some of this infusion time with writing and other work. Now, if they can only come up with a wireless IV, maybe even one I could download over the internet...

Thanks, as always, for the love, prayers and concern.

Saturday Morning at the Zoo.

Saturday morning at the Fort Worth zoo with Carol, Emily, Alyssa and Brooke, 4/30/2011.

Easter Egg Hunt 2011

Okay, Easter eggs have nothing to do with the resurection of Jesus Christ, but we had a fun time with the local grand daugthers after church and before lunch on Sunday.

Anniversary Passed

Three days ago, on Good Friday, marked a milestone for me of being one year off of chemotherapy. On 4/22/2010, I completed cycle # 14 of Revlimid, which essentially marked 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy. Yay-rah!

Passport, Received

On Saturday, 4/16, the mailman delivered to me my passport. Two and a half weeks ago, I applied for it, thinking Carol and I would take some of our grandchildren on a brief excursion to Canada this summer. Then, the opportunity came for the trip to Kenya, and the Canada trip got re-scheduled to later in the year, perhaps when it will be cooler.

Anyway, if you received your passport by mail, did you have to again swear your allegiance to the United States, and run around the mail truck with your shirt off, flapping your arms and making a sound like an eagle, and singing"My Country, 'Tis of Thee," (all four verses), or did my postman take me for a ride?

Burleson Relay for Life, 4/15/2011

On Friday evening, 4/15, Carol and I attended the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Burleson, Texas. Carol did her duties as a health inspector checking the food booths, then we stayed for a portion of the evening festivities. As a cancer patient, I wore a purple tee-shirt. As my care-giver, Carol wore an orange one. This relatively small, hard-working community just south of Fort Worth raises over a quarter a million dollars annually for cancer research at this event.

Carol got "arrested" and I had to bail her out of the fund-raising "jail." It's impressive the wonderful relationship she has with the community. How many restaurant owners say to their health inspector (sincerely), "Now you come see us real soon, ya hear?"

The president of their chamber of commerce has also battled cancer. I met him at another community event recently, and promised him I would come and walk the "survivor lap" around the track at this event, if I could walk it with him, and not by myself. I went, and we both kept our promise, and had a good time.

Kenya, Here I Come

I want to let you know that I am planning a 2-3 week to Kenya this June. I will be going with Charlie Yates, another elder from our church, and Dallas Turner, a missionary our church supports. The purpose of the trip will be to teach local pastors, check on our sister church, and encourage an indigenous missionary that our church supports. It will be 30 years precisely this June since I have been to Africa, and I am looking forward to it very much. The last time was under much more rugged conditions, and on the opposite side of the continent, in French-speaking west Africa, just on the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert.