Still here. 8o)

A blessed good afternoon to everyone,

I am still here.  As I sit through my second dose of chemo, I finally have time to update the blog.  The last 7 days have been a bit hectic as I sift through a LOT of paperwork.  Also went back to home base, UT Southwestern to give a lecture about life and being prepared for the unexpected.  It was great to see SO MANY familiar faces and many old friends.  I am amazed at the progress of the program and glad to see that the program is still going strong.  Good to see that a large number of the faculty I trained under were still there.  It was supposed to be a short morning Grand Rounds but I ended up not leaving until almost two hours after the completion of the time allotted.

I was also touched to hear from a resident whose brother is also going through advanced cancer at a much younger age than mine.  I hoped that my message and advice provided them with a framework with which to attack this disease and condition and most importantly, provided the family with the concept of NOT treating him as a terminally ill patient.  Who knows what could happen in the next few years.  New treatments are exploding onto the cancer scene.  He may outlive his family or at the very least live a long, productive, and fulfilling life.  The important thing to provide the positive thoughts, words, and prayers that all of you have done for me, on a daily basis.  Family members of cancer patients should not and cannot treat the person as a patient.  He or she is still the same family member you always have known and should be treated as such.

The fear of death every cancer patient experiences even for just a few moments, cannot be reinforced by the words and actions of those surrounding him or her.  It needs to be stomped out because how can you enjoy life, however long or short, if you are always fretting about when your time will be up?  Having had my near death/real death experience, I want to reassure everyone I meet that there is life after death.  I now understand what people that experience near/real death mean when they say they no longer worry about what happens after death.  They saw it.  They were there.  They were no longer afraid.  It is incredibly reassuring.  It should also serve as a warning to those who would hurt others for money, personal gain, or greed in general.  Do you want to see the Elysian Fields version of Heaven I saw or do you want to see pitchforks and fire?  If more people feared the consequences of their bad actions in life, the whole world would be a better place.  At least a lot more quiet.

In the interim, I have been working hard to get into better physical shape and trying to stay on the straight and narrow on my meds and my vitamins.  There are so many of them that you sometimes get overwhelmed remembering what you have and haven't taken each time.

Aside from that, I feel more positive and enthusiastic than ever.  Physical issues aside, I am determined to remain a positive influence on those around me and I am hoping in the near future to make an announcement that will show what hard work, generosity, and networking with like-minded individuals can accomplish.  I hope that our work will show what can be accomplished in a relatively short amount of time and how the work can make our community better and even more generous in every way.

I was very excited to hear that one of my neighbors had decided to start a cycling team with my name under Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong Foundation!  I have made it my goal to get into good enough shape to at least ride a short distance with the team.  May have to break out the training wheels though.  If and when that happens, I will let everyone know when our first race will be.  Thankfully, through the generosity of Del Jantzen and his obviously better half, Ellie, I have a new bike at an incredible discount that I can ride in a race.  I also now know why they call these modern bikes, NUTCRACKERS.

Once again, I hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful and blessed day and don't forget to smile and laugh with your loved ones and share your happiness and joy with everyone.