Almost Normal

For those of you that have doubted the validity of the title of this blog when referring to me, I now have documented proof. I have just had my latest check up and my oncologist used the word "normal" for a few of my indicators! Not all the indicators are normal but the two that are in the normal range are huge when considering the state of my remission. One cancer indicator is actually deeper in the normal range than the last checkup 4 months ago. My hemoglobin and immune system are the ones that are below what they should be. My hemoglobin is normal for a woman so I should be able to do about the same amount of work as Velda, which means a lot. I'm riding my bike to school (3+ miles one way) and have also started walking 1.25 miles in the evening (~19 minutes and quite sweaty when done). The doctor describes the hemoglobin as "swell" and the immune system as "adequate". The small dose of chemotherapy that I'm taking is the reason these last two haven't reached the normal range. I was hoping to stop the pills after this checkup but things are going so well that it was decided to keep up the present regimen. We are slaying the fatted calf (a figurative way saying "Woo Hoo!") over this news and are grateful to God and to you for your prayers.

Maintaining

I had a checkup today and the results were as follows. In the words of my doctor "No evidence of multiple myeloma". My remission numbers "remain the same". Everything looks "very good". I have been taking a small dosage of chemotherapy since the bone marrow transplant two years ago. At the last checkup in April he hinted at taking me off the pills completely. Today he decided for me to continue taking them because they prevent the cancer from returning. He is also going to consult the doctors at KU Medical Center as well with respect to the pills so there is a possibility that I might stop them. We are rejoicing in the results and thank God for all His goodness.

The Latest on My Condition

I haven't updated for awhile because the news has been the same. Let me put your mind at ease by saying no news has meant good news and that is still the case. Today I saw my oncologist and as far as the cancer he said I looked very good! I asked for a translation and he said that the indicators for cancer continue to show no evidence of activity. I haven't done a bone marrow biopsy because he said that multiple myeloma is patchy and a biopsy could come up clean (all of mine have) but there could be a spots in other places. Conversely a biopsy could show some cancer and it could be the only place. He is using the indicators as his primary source for evaluation. Thank God! On another front, I am taking maintenance chemotherapy to encourage the cancer to stay in remission. The side effect of this chemotherapy is that it depresses my autoimmune system. I have been getting sick more often than usual and the episodes are of greater severity than normal. The plan is to remove me from the chemotherapy completely this summer to see if my body can suppress the cancer on its own before school starts. Another reason to get off the chemotherapy is that it has a chance of causing other types of cancer the longer it is in my body. So here is how you can pray for me. That I get sick less often and that my body will fight the cancer effectively without chemotherapy. Thanks for praying and I will update this summer.

The Creer's Crazy Christmas

I sleepily open my eyes around eight; the ground is covered with a light coating of snow. It's at least in single digits. This is the perfect Christmas setting! The only problem is, it's technically not Christmas. Since Joshua had to work on Christmas day and the rest of us were in Dallas, we decided to have our family Christmas on December 30th. After I did my devotions, I rushed downstairs to help with the preparation of breakfast. My dad outdid himself this time. The menu was country style eggs, (complete with potatoes, onions, peppers, and bacon) pancakes, and hash browns. Remember the hash browns they come in later. By the time I made it to the kitchen, Michaela and Daddy had already made the pancake batter and were partway through assembling ingredients for the eggs. I don't even want to think about how early they must have gotten up. Nonetheless, I did make it in time to scour the house for mild peppers, and to observe our new vegetable chopper at work. There was a general air of rush in the kitchen because my father had a doctor's appointment at ten 'o clock. We wanted to put everything together and then cook and eat it when he returned. Around 8:45 Joshua texted that he was heading home. When my dad double-checked his appointment time, he realized that it was at elven not ten 'o clock. Now we were in a quandary: should we continue with our original plan or try to squeeze breakfast in before my parents left? We went with the latter plan and the bustle in our already small kitchen increased considerably. I feel I should mention at this point that while most of the aforementioned was occurring, my mother was snuggled up in bed, with coffee provided for her by her husband. Since Daddy was busy with the eggs, he appointed me to make the hash browns, no simple task. Apparently, the trick is to press out as much water from the shredded potatoes as you can. Unfortunately, we did not have the tool the website suggested so we had to make do with pressing them in between paper towels. The hash browns did not go exactly as planned and ended up almost burnt in some places and mushy in others. Yet, my family declared them delicious, and I decided with lots of ketchup they tasted fine. Just as we were sitting down to eat, Joshua walked through the door. We greedily consumed the pancakes as soon as Michaela brought them out. She and I were afraid that we didn't have enough food and  considered making another batch of pancakes. However, there were just enough, with no extras. Now came the hard part: waiting. Once my parents left and we finished cleaning the kitchen, we three kids just sat around in the living room. Joshua took a nap, but I just sat there, waiting for my parents to come home so we could open our gifts. An hour and thirty minutes later, my parents came back! We opened our gifts and played games the rest of the afternoon. Reflecting on our day, it definitely was not a traditional Christmas, in fact, some might even call the day "crazy." But the fact is, our traditions and expectations aren't as important as the fact that Christ was born. Truth be told, Jesus might not have even been born on December 25th (gasp), and that's ok. Christmas is a time to celebrate Christ's birth, something that's a whole lot of fun to do with your family. From that perspective, I'd say we had a great Christmas!

                                                                      Grace

Non-Emergency Prayer Request

A looming possibility for which my Salina doctor was continually watching initially (but eventually relaxed his watchfulness) was shingles. Well shingles manifested themselves on me this past Wednesday. My family insisted that I blog about it. I was reluctant which is why the post is 4 days past the onset of the attack. Shingles are caused by the same virus as the chicken pox. They can be very painful causing severe burning and itching. On a scale of 1-10, I would my set my discomfort lever has been about 2 at the max and much of the day I don't realize that I have the shingles. So why the push to post? Location. Because of the possibility of underage readers I will describe placement my using the digestive process. We will call the mouth as the front end of the digestive process. My shingles have appeared on the back end of the selfsame process. So even though the discomfort is incredibly low, the discomfort is at the most inopportune times. This is not life threatening nor an emergency. So if you want to remember me in prayer over this I will gladly accept it. You guys have a great track record as far as prayer. If you need a reminder simply fold your hands and bow your head during a corresponding bodily function and remember me. If you feel the need to chuckle or laugh over this, I don't mind. If this were a sitcom or comedy movie it would hilarious. Unfortunately for me it is real life. I did rejoice over this just like the initial announcement of my cancer to be obedient and to release God's power and strength in my life either for healing or to endure to the (dare I say it?) end. Thanks for everything.

Joshua's leaving for Great Bend!

Joshua has been hired as a firefighter/EMT with the Great Bend Fire Department. This is the culmination of 21 years of work/prayer/spankings/encouragement/warnings/teaching/etc. Great Bend obviously saw all that we put into him. He starts July 21 with approximately 3 weeks of training. He has a 6 month probationary period and if all goes as planned he will be fully instated as a part of the force. He is required to live either in Great Bend or no farther than 7 miles outside the city limits. He has a 6 month grace period before the location requirement is enforced. He will probably stay with some friends in Ellsworth (45 minutes from Great Bend) until the relocation is complete. His first interview was Liberal (over 4 hours from Salina), Cherryvale (about 3.5 hours), Dodge City (about 3 hours) and then Great Bend (about 1.5 hours). His first preference was to work in Salina and then maybe up to an hour away but nothing opened up within that range. 90 minutes away is quite doable. He can easily come to Salina on days off and holidays. Notice that Joshua is an EMT not a paramedic. A huge perk is that the department will pay for Joshua's paramedic training if he stays 2 years after completing it. The classes are offered at Barton County Community College which is in Great Bend. That is a double bonus. That's because they are not only paying about $10,000 for the training but he will also get a pay raise when done. Sounds like a great place to work. Emotion: Much Elation.

Wait. I am feeling something else inside. Joshua is moving to Great Bend. He will no longer be a Salina resident nor stay in his room on a regular basis. He won't be a regular attendee/contributor at family devotions. I won't see him praying and reading his Bible in the mornings. He won't be able to update me on what is the latest workout he is doing at the Y. We won't able to kid each other on the frequent faux pas's that are a regular part of each of our lives. Velda's biggest rule is that everyone must be home for supper. Joshua is now exempt. In case you didn't know we home schooled our children so Joshua has spent a majority of his time growing up in educational activities that centered around the family. So until he went to Texas to school we rarely experienced long separations. (2 weeks max at summer camps) Going to Texas for school was a dress rehearsal but he still put his home address as our house in Salina. All these things are coming to an end for the foreseeable future. Besides, none of us can think of a single person in Great Bend that we know for which he could make a connection. Emotion: A noticeable amount of melancholy.

Wait. There is another emotion lurking in the shadows. Shall we ferret it out? Velda runs the house in a very organized way. Everyone has chores. Early on we were all trained that if chores weren't done in a timely fashion; heads would roll. Joshua, as well as his siblings, has been very faithful in performing his duties. He even will do those impromptu jobs that come up without (much) extraneous commenting. Who is going to take up the slack?!?! Emotion: PANIC!

All said and done. Pray for Joshua and his family as we make this transition.

P.S. Joshua will probably never see this entry in the near future. He very rarely reads the family blog and even though he has a Facebook account, he is on Facebook about as often as he is on this blog. His only hope is if someone says to him something like "Your dad put an interesting entry about your leaving on your blog/Facebook" at which point the probability will go up slightly that he might navigate to this entry and read it.

What's Up Doc

Today at my monthly checkup in Salina my doctor said "You are amazing". To which Velda replied "It's not him". It is God. Remission is when indicators are within a certain range. One of my indicators improved since last month. So I am in a better complete remission! To go along with this news, my kidney indicators improved since last month as well. My appointments have been quite short lately which is a good thing. Respectively this blog is short for the same reason.

Scwewy Squirrel

This year looks like a good year for our pear tree. We planted the tree in the spring before Michaela was born so it is 23. We have had other good years but have not had the chance to enjoy them because of squirrels. Their modus operandi is to climb the tree months before the pears are ripe. They take a bite out of the pear and realize that it is not ready and drop it to the ground. By the time the pears are ready, what started as over a hundred have been reduced to single digits. Add in the fact that when they are close to ripe the birds peck holes in them which causes the remaining ones to rot prematurely. Several years ago we used a humane trap to catch the squirrels alive and caught twelve in one summer and enjoyed our pears. The squirrels were given a one-way ride to Lakewood Park located on the outskirts of town. That was then, this is now. Again we borrowed a humane trap (compliments David Newcomer). So far we have trapped a few sparrows, cardinals grackles, five squirrels and two opossums and several sprung traps with no bait. About the opossums. One morning I found the trap overturned and the bait gone. It was a small Godzilla had picked up the trap, shook the bait out and then tossed the trap aside leaving the yard with a little snack. At that point it was determined that was to take in the trap at night. Opossums are nocturnal and were trapped when I neglected my responsibilities.

When it scurried away it went into a brush pile in our yard that had a convenient opening in the bottom of it the same size as the opossum. Velda suggested burning the pile but we thought that would simply attract a crowd of former Arkansans wanting to know who was barbecuing. I can say say this because my fathers heritage is from Arkansas, I lived there for 6 1/2 years, and I have eaten "possum" at my Poppoe's (PAH-poe, nickname for my maternal grandfather) farm in southern Arkansas when I was young. Now onto the empty traps. While sitting on my back porch I saw both a grackle and a squirrel go the following scenario. The perpetrator would enter the trap. Then it would extend its neck and grab the bait from off the platform with out touching the platform which is needed to spring the trap. Next the miscreant would would BACK OUT OF THE TRAP! If it would have gone forward it would have been toast. On one occasion as I saw a squirrel in the trap going through the aforementioned procedure, so I snuck (sneaked? spellcheck doesn't like snuck, twice) up behind it and ran clapping my hands thinking it would run forward to escape me. It backed out of the trap free as a bird (dare I say grackle) and scurried away a few peanuts heavier. Am I starting to look like Elmer Fudd to anyone? In my defense I would like to say that I don't have a lisp and Bugs was not a ninja which is what I am dealing with. I was patient and continued to feed these vermin via the trap. We caught grackles because they got cocky (another bird joke?) and careless. We didn't give them the ride because when let go them see to continue flying until out of sight. Our yard has been fairly grackel-less (spellcheck) lately. The squirrels are a different matter. We would see 3 playing in the yard fairly regularly and caught them in short order. Next we saw two more regularly. We think that one of these to was the ninja. When we finally caught the fifth squirrel I saw one sitting on our swing set (#6) chatting away. We surmise that the one on the swing set is the ninja master and there must me a training or initiation going on. The master recruits novices and trains them by showing them the technique. There is practice from a distance and finally that test. The master watches the novice from the swing set and coaches them. Inevitable one will slip and the master gives final comments and returns to the ninja lodging and starts over. Now we have notice 2 squirrels again regularly in the yard. Curse you ninja master, I will get you some day! Oops I swtiched cartoons/comics. I like being referenced as Snoopy much better. He is way cooler and it was a childhood nickname of mine.
P.S. Spellcheck also doesn't like spellcheck.
P.P.S There could be a few more blogs this summer. I have more time on my hands than usual.

Time Marches On

The thought occurred to me recently that the students who were seniors my first year teaching in Cushing, OK are now 51.

Latest Checkup

Two weeks ago I had my monthly checkup with the Salina oncologist. There were not a lot of the exclamations that accompanied the last two monthly checks. The results seem to have leveled in the complete remission stage for which we are offering abundant praise to God. He is also interested in any anomalies in my general health so I shared a couple with him. I have had a cough since early March that would nearly go away, get worse and then repeat the cycle on a monthly basis. To this he said let him know if there is a fever. I also have a ache in my right side and back that also waxes and wanes in intensity. To this he first gives me a look that seem to imply A-G-E. Then he said call if I go up a flight of stairs and am out of breath. I have had neither. It has been hard to get a grasp on this age thing. Two years ago Joshua and I were working two jobs that added up to over 50 hours a week of manual labor. We also rode our bikes to work nearly everyday which was 6 miles one way. When it comes to bike riding it is about the only area that I was still superior to Joshua. I would let him lead so that I wouldn't leave him too far behind. Last summer was the bone marrow transplant. I made an acquaintance with a man who had a BMT about 8 years ago. He said that he didn't feel completely normal until one or two years later. I, of course, thought I would beat that schedule. Well I'm approaching a year later in August and I feel 60%-90% normal depending on the day. The quandary is that I am aging and I wonder is what would be normal from two years ago. I siding with the notion that the change is still to precipitous and that I have still some more strength to gain. Now Joshua lets me lead on the bike so that he doesn't leave me behind. I am only working a 15 hours a week and I sometimes am wiped out after one shift. Velda has declared that this summer will be as low an activity summer as possible so that I can focus on recovering and being ready for the next school year. Last year I started teaching on December 9th and hardly missed a day until the end of the year. After my last day I nearly slept the entire Memorial Day weekend and was barely able to move. I must have been teaching on fumes and adrenalin. I have slowly worked back to my present energy level and have recently added mowing the lawn to my activities. We are not gardening this year giving the ground its sabbatical rest. This helps keep me idle. We are working on flowers and simple landscaping around the house (plans developed for us by Dan Fiorillo) but that really is mostly done by the girls. Joshua is not motivated on working on things that cannot be eaten. I am doing a lot reading and also working on the next school year. We are giving all high school students and teachers chomebooks so I am working on making my class as paperless as possible. My kidneys are still not in the normal range so I appreciate prayer for those two little guys. Thank you.