This morning when I was walking, I was reminded of a funny exchange I had with one of my second graders at the end of the year. This little guy was busily working on a research project about George Washington. He brought his note cards to me with a puzzled look on his face. He said, "I can't figure this out. It says that George never had any children. But then it says that George and Martha had two children. I know it takes a sperm and an egg to make a baby so how did they have two children without any sperm from George?"
Ummm okay.... this is the exciting challenge of working with children. You just never know what they might say. And as Art Linkletter said...."Kids say the darndest things!"
I decided to skip the biology lesson... after all, this child's dad is a doctor and it sounded to me like he knew the science. Rather, I launched into a lenghty explanation of George and Martha's life.... Martha had been married before, her husband died, she had two children, George raised the kids as though they were his own. He patiently waited until I was finished explaining the George and Martha Washington family tree, looked at me and said...."Well. I guess Martha didn't have any more eggs!" He smiled, shrugged and went back to work.
And people wonder why we become elementary school teachers!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
What Cancer Cannot Do.....
Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love
It cannot shatter hope
It cannot corrode faith
It cannot eat away peace
It cannot destroy confidence
It cannot kill friendships
It cannot shut out memories
It cannot silence courage
It cannot reduce eternal life
It cannot quench the Spirit.
Unknown
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I get it now....
kind of.
Ron came upon a very informative piece online from Johns Hopkins Medicine called 7 Keys to Treating Prostate Cancer. (www.hopkinsreport.com/prostate/) It is a PDF file that is quite lengthy but it covers 7 important things to know and consider about prostate cancer. The info in the following paragraph would have been most helpful to have the day we met with the first doctor and the word cancer was thrust upon us.
The good news is that reliable diagnostic tests and numerous treatment options are available for prostate cancer, and death rates from prostate cancer are on the decline. Moreover, most prostate cancer is slow growing, so usually you can give yourself time to learn about and carefully weigh all the options available to treat prostate cancer. And it's important that you take the time to do so. Of all the cancers, cancer of the prostate is unusual in that there is no consensus among doctors about the best treatment-or whether any type of treatment is absolutely necessary.
I added the bold type to the sentences above. I have been trying to figure out why the docs have been in no rush to do anything. My thinking has been: You have cancer in your body. You get it out. NOW! Not so with this cancer. Now I know.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 21) we meet with Doctor #2. This time we are prepared with our list of questions, pencil, and paper. My prayer is that we will leave this meeting with a clear direction and peace in our hearts.
You will hear from one or both of us! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Ron came upon a very informative piece online from Johns Hopkins Medicine called 7 Keys to Treating Prostate Cancer. (www.hopkinsreport.com/prostate/) It is a PDF file that is quite lengthy but it covers 7 important things to know and consider about prostate cancer. The info in the following paragraph would have been most helpful to have the day we met with the first doctor and the word cancer was thrust upon us.
The good news is that reliable diagnostic tests and numerous treatment options are available for prostate cancer, and death rates from prostate cancer are on the decline. Moreover, most prostate cancer is slow growing, so usually you can give yourself time to learn about and carefully weigh all the options available to treat prostate cancer. And it's important that you take the time to do so. Of all the cancers, cancer of the prostate is unusual in that there is no consensus among doctors about the best treatment-or whether any type of treatment is absolutely necessary.
I added the bold type to the sentences above. I have been trying to figure out why the docs have been in no rush to do anything. My thinking has been: You have cancer in your body. You get it out. NOW! Not so with this cancer. Now I know.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 21) we meet with Doctor #2. This time we are prepared with our list of questions, pencil, and paper. My prayer is that we will leave this meeting with a clear direction and peace in our hearts.
You will hear from one or both of us! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
My Turn:
The Blog was Aly's idea. I was looking for a relatively easy way to communicate with our friends and family (YOU!) without having to spend hours emailing everyone. She suggested a blog. Being a person of finely-tuned computer skills, Aly assured me it would be simple! And she was correct. Setting up the Blog was simple. The difficult part is what to say and how to say it.
We have more than enough technical data to share with you. Lots of numbers and scales and percentages. Not very interesting stuff.
Most people want to know how we are doing. That's not so easy to put in words. Some days I look at Ron as he is getting ready to go to work and think, "He looks normal. He's doing normal things. But things are NOT normal." How weird is that? I am not a person who does well with waiting around to make a plan. If I were in charge of this cancer, we would have a plan, execute the plan, and we would be on to the next adventure in life. But of course... this path in our lives does not work that way. Sigh....
I have been encouraged, blessed, and overwhelmed (in a good way!) by the response from our family and friends. It is my hope that this blog will be a way we can communicate with you and keep you informed as we make a plan and move forward. Please feel free to add your comments. We appreciate your prayers . And we love hearing from you!
The Blog was Aly's idea. I was looking for a relatively easy way to communicate with our friends and family (YOU!) without having to spend hours emailing everyone. She suggested a blog. Being a person of finely-tuned computer skills, Aly assured me it would be simple! And she was correct. Setting up the Blog was simple. The difficult part is what to say and how to say it.
We have more than enough technical data to share with you. Lots of numbers and scales and percentages. Not very interesting stuff.
Most people want to know how we are doing. That's not so easy to put in words. Some days I look at Ron as he is getting ready to go to work and think, "He looks normal. He's doing normal things. But things are NOT normal." How weird is that? I am not a person who does well with waiting around to make a plan. If I were in charge of this cancer, we would have a plan, execute the plan, and we would be on to the next adventure in life. But of course... this path in our lives does not work that way. Sigh....
I have been encouraged, blessed, and overwhelmed (in a good way!) by the response from our family and friends. It is my hope that this blog will be a way we can communicate with you and keep you informed as we make a plan and move forward. Please feel free to add your comments. We appreciate your prayers . And we love hearing from you!
A few words of introduction..
I am a 60 year old father of three, husband of one elementary school teacher. Days are spent at Gonzaga University, designing, installing and maintaining A/V equipment in classrooms. Most of my "spare" time is given to running a volunteer ski patrol.
Last week, on July 9, Cindy and I showed up for an appointment at the surgical urologists' office for the results of a biopsy. It went something like this:
Doctor: I've got your test results and some bad news. You have cancer and Alzheimer's.
Man: Boy, am I lucky! I was afraid I had cancer!
Fortunately, he didn't say anything about Alzheimer's, but the next hour was filled with strange terms such as "risk grade," "stage," "brachytherapy," and "photomicrograph." Suggested available treatments were offered: Surveillance, Hormonal therapy, surgery (open or Laparoscopic), radiation (external beam or brachytherapy), cryotherapy, and a shopping list of cutting edge therapies.
In the days since, I have read many anecdotal accounts of others having been through treatment, have watched fascinating videos of actual surgeries, and have received great advice from others that have first and second-hand experience.
What's next? Next Wednesday (7/21) we have a consultation with the DaVinci-certified surgeon (laparoscopic), then another meeting Friday with the oncologist that we had the initial meeting with a week ago. Hopefully a game plan can be put in place at the Friday meeting that I can live with.
I will be posting links that I have found helpful, if you have someone close that could use the information, these are resources that have helped me understand the disease and formulate a stategy to fight it.
I am a 60 year old father of three, husband of one elementary school teacher. Days are spent at Gonzaga University, designing, installing and maintaining A/V equipment in classrooms. Most of my "spare" time is given to running a volunteer ski patrol.
Last week, on July 9, Cindy and I showed up for an appointment at the surgical urologists' office for the results of a biopsy. It went something like this:
Doctor: I've got your test results and some bad news. You have cancer and Alzheimer's.
Man: Boy, am I lucky! I was afraid I had cancer!
Fortunately, he didn't say anything about Alzheimer's, but the next hour was filled with strange terms such as "risk grade," "stage," "brachytherapy," and "photomicrograph." Suggested available treatments were offered: Surveillance, Hormonal therapy, surgery (open or Laparoscopic), radiation (external beam or brachytherapy), cryotherapy, and a shopping list of cutting edge therapies.
In the days since, I have read many anecdotal accounts of others having been through treatment, have watched fascinating videos of actual surgeries, and have received great advice from others that have first and second-hand experience.
What's next? Next Wednesday (7/21) we have a consultation with the DaVinci-certified surgeon (laparoscopic), then another meeting Friday with the oncologist that we had the initial meeting with a week ago. Hopefully a game plan can be put in place at the Friday meeting that I can live with.
I will be posting links that I have found helpful, if you have someone close that could use the information, these are resources that have helped me understand the disease and formulate a stategy to fight it.
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