Much like in the hospital, one day blurs into another and into another. I have now been home three days and have even spent some effort and productivity on work. I spend most of my time focusing on pain management (the drugs are really not very good), improving mobility and my diet. I am on what is termed a Modified Low Residue Diet, which includes things like canned vegetables, no shells, peels, seeds or whole parts of anything – nothing fresh or wholesome. The perfect combo for recovering from colon removal.
Still I am happy to be home and not in the hospital. I know I can recover here faster than there. I have access to the whole house and moving about even has a purpose, even if that purpose is rather self-serving at the moment.
The many many visitors I had while in the hospital made that painful transition so much more endurable. Thank you all so much. It would be shameful if I did not mention the support I received from my ever present, gentle, caring and loving wife, Sally. Without her support my will to even try to get better would have flailed me constantly. You can not begin to understand what she has had to do and endure on my behalf, and given the opportunity would have taken it upon herself to spare me the cost – remind you of anyone? And of course, Willie, my pillar of strength – sometimes literally. Constantly at the side or foot of my bed able to manage feats no mere nurse would ever be able to manage and without so much as breaking a sweat and saving me HUGE amounts of pain. For those of you who do not know Willie, if you have seen the movie Crocodil Dundee, and remember the character Donk. Well, that pretty much sums him, up – a big hulking brute of a man, but with the gifts of mercy and compassion and able to do quite a bit more than wack a few heads.
I have in my head more to say, some serious, some anecdotal, but I am tired now and need a painkiller and a nap…perhaps later.
Some research has indicated that the consumption of sugar may increase colon cancer risk; other studies have determined there is no link between sugar and colon cancer. While one of these is true and the other not (and don’t ask me which is which), the facts are not important here. What is importnant is that my wife, Sally, thinks there is a link.
I cannot reject the idea that eating a healthy diet all the time, but especially after being diagnosed with cancer, is a good idea. It is quite another to join lunacy and declare war against sugar and its evils. I submit the following affidavit as evidence.
On or about May 1st, 2009, after reading about a POSSIBLE link between cancer and sugar, my wife threw out a package of recently opened Oreo Double Stuffs with two rows of cookies left!
Is this something someone in complete control of their faculties would do? The sugar/cancer connection thing is insane! It makes people do unreasonable things, like a cult, cult of the sugar cancer connection! How can something, which appears to be a theory, gain so much traction?
And it does not stop there. Normally sane people have offered all kinds of sagely advice on how to resist or beat cancer. Now some suggestions are more common sense, others have the backing of the medical field or first hand accounts, while others are just insane. Please research the topic before you forward me one of these.
I tried all the reasonable ones, even the one where you lick a monkey’s butt for a week. I still have cancer so I am keeping my date with the surgeon tomorrow. Good night for now. Don’t let the bed bugs bite. The bites itch like crazy and can get infected.
Colonoscopy is the endoscopic examination of the colon via a camera on a flexible tube passed through …well you get the idea.
Now a colonoscopy is not all that big a deal. Preparation for this invasion of privacy, is another matter and only slightly troublesome in light of the information gotten from the examination. First of all, you can get pictures of the inside of your colon! And I have proof. In keeping with the tasteful nature of this blog, I will not post them here . Secondly, knowing your colon is clean of polyps and tumors, is a good thing, and the procedure simple. Be warned, they knock you out, although I think that is to keep you from playing with the camera.
How important is this knowledge? By illustration, let me use the example of a friend, whom, for the sake of discretion, I will call my brother Steve. He recently had a colonoscopy and the doctor found some polyps (which where removed). Having polyps is not a big deal, but knowing you do not have them any more and those little bits are gone, is quite reassuring. Polyps can turn cancerous. I feel much better and hopefully he does also.
Please note: you should never cut corners with this procedure and it should be done my trained doctors in a hospital or doctor’s office, never at home, by say a spouse, just to save a few bucks – I doubt you have the equipment any way – trust me when I say this – the family camcorder will in no way, shape or form do the trick.
Well, there you have it. If you are fifty plus – get a colonoscopy if is not already a part of your health regiment. If you are one of my siblings get it done now!
I believe that is the first time I have ever used the word sibling in a sentence. I think it makes them sound like whiney snot nosed little kids, but I assure you they are quite large and all grown up.
Ok, here is the deal. I have cancer. T2-T3 N1 M0 Stage 3 colorectal cancer.
What does that mean?
I take chemo and go to radiation every day M-F (for 5 weeks-ish).
I will, in all probability, have my entire colon removed (mid-June).
The small intestine (mine) will be attached to the rectum (again, mine).
I will have an ileostomy (I’ll poop into a bag) for a few months while the surgery heals.
After I have healed adequately, the ostomy will be reversed and I can read Calvin and Hobbs again (in the library).
Stage 3 colorectal cancer has, in the US, approximately a 68 percent survival rate. If the lymph nodes affected were affected because of the biopsies and not the cancer – stage 2 colorectal cancer five year survival rate is about 90 percent.
The elders at our church have come and prayed over me and as I am yet unhealed, I am proceeding with the recommendations of my team of doctors. Yes, you heard it right, team. I have a team. Go team!
Incidentally, even with the auspicious team of doctors attending me, I still covet the prayers, from you praying type.
How has this affected my life so far? Let me just say I have started to take my health a bit more seriously:
New Trek 7.3 Bicycle $579
Cool Looking Helmet (to make me go faster) $40
Cool Night-time Running Lights (to keep me safe) $30
Water Bottle Cage (to…duh) $5
Water Bottle (to keep me hydrated) $2
Forgetting to fill the water bottle and put it on the bike on the first day of my eight mile bicycle commute to work, priceless.
more later…
The President, you and me, we are all consumers. Government wisdom says spend more to make more. That does not sound like wisdom to me. What kind of insane notion is that?
Want to help make our economy stronger? Spend less, buy only what you need, be fiscally responsible (unlike our government) by not spending more than you have and don’t buy things you won’t use or don’t need. Pay the taxes required of you but not a dime more. Our government has no clue how to manage money.
What has consumerism cost us? Banks that can not keep running, car manufacturers that can’t make cars we can afford and businesses that would have failed without huge infusions of cash, our cash. Does this make sense?
I love this country, but we have a messed up sense of what is right and wrong. Why am I paying for the bank, mortgage lender, car manufacturer and the Wall Street mess? That is just wrong. For example, in the Wall Street fiasco, the government plunges us deeper into debt while the leaders in that industry receive HUGE bonuses. Does that make sense? They exercised such poor judgment that they lost billions in our retirement investments and helped plunge the US into trillions of dollars of debt (read, you and me). I have an idea, if someone loses billions of dollars in a job that is supposed to make money, fire him. He is not doing his job. Certainly do not pay him huge bonuses. Let someone take his place, like the guy who won the football pool based on excellent draft picks.
It seems to me our goverment needs the same kind of accountability as the banks, auto industry and Wall Street. Maybe Ross Perot would have made a good President (scarry thought – sorry).
Tags: Add new tag, Consumerism
I stumbled across a post on Zenhabits, call Edit Your Life.
I’m a former newspaper editor, and one of the things I learned was to edit brutally (no sarcastic comments about why I don’t do that with my blog posts). Cut out everything that’s not necessary, and you’ve got a more meaningful story. (from Zenhabits, Edit Your Life)
I liked the idea of cutting out everything that is not necessary and having a more meaningful life for it. There are four posts on Zenhabits for Edit Your Life covering commitments, rooms, closets and drawers and your work space. I am concerned mostly with my work space at the moment, so I will concern myself with that. This will go hand in hand with my 100 Things Challenge.
Observations:
- There is too much stuff in and around the workspaces in my home for me to manage it all.
- The stuff gets in the way of completing and/or enjoying tasks.
- I do not have methods and means for organizing the stuff I do have meaningfully.
- Habits and stuff are the two main contributing factor to this Life Clutter.
What am I going to do with these revelations? First I am going to start by practicing my 100 Things Challenge using my downstairs computer work space. Second, I am going to go through an aggressive purge of all the stuff in my basement and third I am not going to start any new projects until the one I am working on is “put away” completely first.
Proof of my commitment to this? Why before and after pictures of course!
Before:
What separates me from God? That is easy. My own desires separate me from God. Tithes, short term missions, and “the work of the church” all insulate me from seeking what God wants from me.
What if He wants me to chuck it all and move to Guatemala to serve the poor there, live among them, eat what they eat, drink what they drink, wear what they wear and serve them with all that is left after I give every material possession I have away?
I don’t know. I just don’t know. I can’t say I look forward to that kind of calling. But I should be listening still and willing to go if He asks it of me. And I will leave it up to God to explain it all to my wife if it happens.
I am listening…
According to Earth Policy Institute, “the global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004.”
According to the Container Recycling Institute, “American consumers purchase over 500 million beverage bottles and cans, on average, every day. Only about one in three are recycled while two out of three beverage containers sold are land?lled, incinerated or littered.”
Bottles for the water requires millions of gallons of oil to make according to Food & Water Watch.
In the US bottled water typically costs more per gallon than gasoline.
The bottled water industry is growing – producing more bottles of water than ever.
Why would we do this to our planet? Bottled water has its place. Certainly providing clean drinking water is vital, but is bottled water the answer to the world’s water problem? Or our water needs? I think not.
At the very least burying our bottles consisutes the loss of billions of dollars in the scrap value of the containers. And those containers affect our planet, its animals, including the quality of life for humans.
Think before you drink, nuff said.
Dave Bruno, in a post on his blog, decided to do a 100 Things Challenge. His basic idea to to limit his personal belongings to 100 Things. My inspiration for trying a 100 Things Challenge came from The Story of Stuff.
My 100 Things Rules:
- Shared or household things do not count.
- Collections count as one item.
- Books do not count.
- Tools and household maintenance things do not count.
- Undergarments do not count.
- Computers do not count, although they will be considered for reduction.
- Items that are a “set” count as one (camera and lens).
- Items of personal hygiene do not count.
My goals include:
- De-clutter my life.
- Recognize what I truly do and do not need.
- Not just reduce my stuff, but reduce the stuff I need, reduce my consumerism.
- Rules for getting stuff in the future.
In order to make this happen I need a plan. Here is my plan:
- Take inventory of my stuff.
- Identify stuff I must keep.
- Get rid of stuff I definitely do not need.
- Make a decision on “marginal” needs items – revise rules as necessary.
- Repeat until 100 things goal has been met.
Goal number four is not a copout. There might be somethings I need, for my job for example, that I might not have accounted for. Likewise there are probably a few things in the garage that fall under household maintenance that I do not need.
I will think on my rules and goals a bit and read some more on how I might improve my 100 Things Challenge, but I will post my inventory of stuff in the next few weeks. My tentative goal is to complete my challenge by September 1, 2009 and that includes getting rid of my excess stuff in the greenest way possible – after all my inspiration was
The Story of Stuff.
What does that mean, walk the walk? Well I found a pretty simple definition:
walk the walk - to show something as true through your actions
Christians are often accused of being hypocrites and living just like everyone else. George Barna’s The Barna Group, a research organization providing research on things concerns of the modern church, have not only found that to be true, but that non-Christians notice it.
As a Christian that concerns me. Why? Because odds are most people would not even notice a difference between what I say and what I do, from what they say and what they do.
Is my God the God of the universe who created everything out of nothing, a dad who lost interest in his children or a heavenly being using us as playthings? According to my beliefs, He is a God who not only created the universe out of nothing, but cares so deeply for me personally that He actively pursues a relationship with me and regardless of the neglect I have in that relationship.
It is time I ACT like my friend, God, is the creator of universe and not a dad who has no real interest in His children. Nuff said.
Behold my Visage! Not a bad representation of the real thing, methinks.