November 2014

From Occasional to Constant

I met with my primary care MD, Dr. Ronald Grose. He suggested seeing my GI MD, Dr. Michael Piper. He also made an interesting comment. After checking my belly he did not observe anything unusual.

This is where the medical care breaks down in our country. I am not blaming anyone or finding fault with any one physician. Until you demonstrate a life threatening situation, you could die waiting for an appointment. Dr Piper is highly regarded in metro Detroit and very busy. I could not get in to see him till after Thanksgiving. I tried to explain that I my condition was escalating but late Nov was the earliest appointment.

Thanksgiving was dreadful. No turkey, stuffing, no beets (ok there were a few blessings) no pumpkin pie, no apple pie, no fruit tarts. My weight started to drop. In October I was 195 and sometimes as high as 200, now I was 185-190. I was also losing my appetite.

Carol was doing everything she could to keep maintain my health. My diet went soft. If I could not gum I was not allowed to have it. After a few days I would try a more substantial dish but would suffer the consequences 3-4 hours latter. We finally gave up on that experiment.

Piper ordered a upper and lower GI but once again it would not take place till after Christmas.

October 2014

Something is amiss

I did not have any other symptoms for the first two weeks in October. Then something changed. I kept having issues on Friday night. Saturday would be a miserable day of pain every 3-5 minutes. I fasted and by evening my abdomen would be very tender but the intense pain would not be ripping through my stomach like a knife.

The last Sunday however, things changed. The pain became so severe that I had to leave a part time job early and ask a friend to drive me home from the Howell Nature Center (HNC). (I was a facilitator with HNC working with a treatment program, Accepting Responsibility is Mandatory (ARM)). Now things were getting serious.

September 20, 2014

First Indications of Cancer

Since my stem cell transplant in 1997, I have had issues resulting in small bowel blockages. They are quite painful and a few have resulted in hospitalization but no surgery. We, Carol and I, have struggled to figure out what was causing the blockage. The MDs(Doctors) were baffled. I was tested for allergies but the allergist found nothing. In addition, I also had low protein and albumin. This was curious because I was eating food with high protein.

Dr Ballinger, my GI MD, and Carol finally figured this out. Carol asked if there could be something blocking the digestion of protein. Dr Ballinger did some research on this and discovered a few cases in which that occurred. Protein is digested after fat. Since I was also eating a high fat diet my body was discharging the protein. We changed to a very low fat diet and my protein level rose, never to a normal level but much closer.

Lets get back to the blockage. Over the 17 years since my transplant I would endure the pain of a blockage until I vomited and the pain would ease. The last time I required hospitalization was in 2012. Carol and I finally figured out what was happening. I did not chew my food properly. If I had beef for lunch and was in a hurry, I gulped and usually ended up with a blockage.

 However, this September something else happened. I did not eat beef but chicken. After vomiting the pain continued. I was in agony and had Carol drive me to the hospital. The MDs gave me some morphine, stuck a garden hose up my hose (actually the ER nurse who performed this was fantastic), and admitted me to the hospital. This was a Saturday morning. I scrambled to find a replacement. Fortunately I the Rev Dr. Roxie Davies was available. The blockage finally dissolved and I was released on Tuesday.

After one of these episodes Carol puts me on a all liquid to very soft diet. Nothing solid and certainly no meats. My body responded and eventually I returned to a normal diet.

One Fenced in dog

 
The wiring for the electric fence broke. I fixed it today. Shadow came out of the house while I was testing it. This was as close as he would get to the property line. Last week we ran away and actually ran into the home of a neighbor who had opened their door. This dog knows what happens when he hears the sound of that beeping.

Get Inspired

The caption to the link read, get inspired or just start typing. Sound advice. I have found again and again that when I am bogged done the only way to get "unstuck" is to start typing. If the inspiration is not present, then the time has come to make the perspiration.

An Abrahamic like vision is not the normal method of God's communication. If you here too many still small voice you may need to adjust your medication. Most of the time, God wants us to trust the desire of our hearts. For me that has not always been easy. My desires are constantly changing. I hear about Project A and my adrenaline starts pumping and I swing into action. I become a 'Martha' . The excitement of a new venture, new possibilities is exciting. The tasks are fun until the tasks become repetitious, deadlines go unmet, help from others evaporates. Then I start complaining to myself, then to my wife, then to anyone who will listen and then maybe to God.

Oh, I spend time at the feet of Jesus. I have studied the art of listening to God. I have a Dmin to prove it. I can find 100 quotes from the spiritual mothers and fathers on listening. I can quickly look up how Baxter, Owen and Manton would have instructed a seeker. At some point in the academic regurgitation I might even pause to take a breath and sit to relax.

It is usually in those periods of relaxation that God really does speak. That is not to deny or minimize the perspiration. Even God only got water out of rock once. We have to be willing to dig the wells to enjoy the refreshment of the water. But we also must sit and pause or we will not taste the waters clarity.

I will not condemn Martha for her busyness. Nor will I withhold praise for Mary. The two are absolutely essential for every one who wants to live in God's presence. However, we must be willing to imitate each one at just the right moments. Marys appear lazy and serve as barriers when there is real work to do. Marthas create guilt, anxiety and tension when people are not conforming to their expectations. Marys must learn when to engage and Marthas must learn when to disengage.

Maybe one day I will learn the secret to both. (Gosh, when I started this blog I had no intention of connecting it with the story or Martha and Mary) The fruit of a little prespiration!

(Gosh, when I started this blog I had no intention of connecting it with the story or Martha and Mary)

Caring for Creation

This week Ritz-Carlton announced that they are making a switch from plastic bottle water made from oil to plant based bottles. The move will significantly boast the Ritz's "green" image but not is bottom line. The "green" bottles will cost as much. This is a first of its kind move and could lead to other hotel chains following the Ritz's decision.

This is at least a step in the right direction. I was stunned when I discover the plastic waste dump that has form in the Pacific Ocean because of all the plastic that we have thrown away. If you are not away of what I am talking about google "sea of plastic pacific ocean" Plastic breaks into tiny pieces that drift with the currents. A Plastic Vortex has been created in all the major oceans from all the garbage, especially the plastic that we throw away. The Gulf Oil Spill receives all the press but this human-made continental size islands of plastic are created their own nightmare for plant life.

Carol and I do not intentionally purchase water in plastic bottles for that and other reasons. I cannot justify the transportation costs and the consumption of fuel that occurs simply because I can have my own individual water container. The water from the Detroit Public Water system is amazingly clean based upon the tests results that I have read. We have fallen into the trap that the secular culture has present which states that our personal convenience is more important than anything else. As a stewards of God's creation we are called to care for and tend the earth not consume resources for reasons of convenience.

This summer when the scorching sun drys out your mouth and you must replenish necessary body fluids, I would hope that you would consider the environmental impact of the water contain you are using. I am not saying that you are cursed if you use plastic water bottles but we must consider that God will ask us how we took care of his Creation. Did our lifestyle inflict excessive damage when other options were also available? Did we make good choices whenever we had the opportunity?

Snopes

Snopes