Monthly Archives: March 2010

Long time no talk

All is well with me.  Now I am on a bit of a break for the next couple of months.  I do meet with my Oncologist next week so he may have a different plan.  I came off the Prednisone this week and am feeling a little fatigued.  I guess the radiation caught up with me.  I haven’t slowed down too much, though.  The picture above is of me, my guys and my nephews from last Wed. night.  This was about the best picture we had of the 6 of us.  Even the renowned photographer, Karen Baty, couldn’t get all the Baty Boys looking at the camera.  A bunch of blonde boys, well with the exception of Jaxson.  And of course if you want to get technical, my hair is more grey then blonde, but who wants to get technical.  Below is part of an email I got forwarded to me last week.  I am sure some of you have read it or seen it before, but I thought it was worth posting.  It is a little lengthy, but I believe it is worth the read.

Science vs. Religion
> ‘Let me explain the problem science has with religion.’

> The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

> ‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’

> ‘Yes sir, ‘the student says.

> ‘So you believe in God?’

> ‘Absolutely.’

> ‘Is God good?’

> ‘Sure! God’s good.’

> ‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’

> ‘Yes’

> ‘Are you good or evil?’

> ‘The Bible says I’m evil.’

> The professor grins knowingly. ‘Aha! The Bible! ’ He considers for a moment. ‘Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?’

> ‘Yes sir, I would.’

> ‘So you’re good…!’

> ‘I wouldn’t say that.’

> ‘But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.’

> The student does not answer, so the professor continues. ‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?’

> The student remains silent. ‘No, you can’t, can you?’ the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. ‘Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?’

> ‘Er..yes,’ the student says.

> ‘Is Satan good?’

> The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. ‘No.’

> ‘Then where does Satan come from?’

> The student falters. ‘From God’

> ‘That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?’

> ‘Yes, sir..’

> ‘Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?’

> ‘Yes’

> ‘So who created evil?’ The professor continued, ‘If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.’

> Again, the student has no answer. ‘Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?’

> The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes.’

> ‘So who created them?’

> The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. ‘Who created them?’ There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. ‘Tell me,’ he continues onto another student. ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?’
> The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. ‘Yes, professor, I do.’
> The old man stops pacing. ‘Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?’

> ‘No sir. I’ve never seen Him.’

> ‘Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?’

> ‘No, sir, I have not..’

> ‘Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?’

> ‘No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.’

> ‘Yet you still believe in him?’

> ‘Yes’

> ‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist… What do you say to that, son?’

> ‘Nothing,’ the student replies.. ‘I only have my faith.’

> ‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’

> The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat?’

> ‘Yes. ’

> ‘And is there such a thing as cold?’

> ‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’

> ‘No sir, there isn’t.’

> The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. ‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.’

> Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

> ‘What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?’

> ‘Yes,’ the professor replies without hesitation.. ‘What is night if it isn’t darkness?’

> ‘You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’

> The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’

> ‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’

> The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. ‘Flawed? Can you explain how?’

> ‘You are working on the premise of duality,’ the student explains.. ‘You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.’ ‘It uses electricity and magnetism , but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.’ ‘Now tell me, professor.. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?’

> ‘If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.’

> ‘Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?’

> The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

> ‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?’

> The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. ‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’ The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into laughter. ‘Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.’ ‘So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?’

> Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. ‘I Guess you’ll have to take them on faith.’

> ‘Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,’ the student continues. ‘Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?’ Now uncertain, the professor responds, ‘Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.’

> To this the student replied, ‘Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.’

> The professor sat down.

> PS: the student was Albert Einstein .

> Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs. Science in 1921…

Be blessed,

Chris

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So far, so great!

I am doing really well, feeling better than expected.  I really feel I was lifted through the “fire” of yet another procedure by all your well wishes and prayers.   I was prayed over by a group of prayer warriors Tuesday night as well.  I am tired with stomach cramps, but not feeling nauseated!

Yesterday started off on the wrong foot as Karen who was going to go with me came down with a fever and the flu.  But my Mom was staying with us anyway to take care of the guys, so Mom got to do the honor of taking me in.  The procedure was a success!  I got into my gown, had blood drawn and had my IV put in by about 10:45 a.m.  Then, as usual, it was the waiting game.  I was visited by all my nurses(radiologist head nurse, liver surgery head nurse, SIRTs head nurse, etc…)  One of the nurses said she had just learned that Abbott was one of the top centers in the U.S. for this procedure.  They have done 130 cases of this type of radiation.  That was re-assuring, but 130 doesn’t sound like that much, does it?  Overall the treatment is relatively new, but it is becoming more popular.  I had a different doctor this time vs. during my angiogram and he stopped by to introduce himself.  He explained that he was very familiar with my background as my case history was recently presented in a conference of surgeons.  The doctors at the conference review all the cancer surgery/radiation cases and come up with a plan for each patient based on all of their opinions.  It is nice to know that they seem to make their decisions as a team.  At 12:30 p.m. I was wheeled into the procedure room.  They scrubbed me up, sterilized the room and then gave me some knock out medicine.  The knock out medicine takes the edge off everything but doesn’t completely put you to sleep.  After that they put a hole into my hip and go up into the femoral artery. The catheter tube has a camera on it and above my body is a bank of tv’s that they/I can view their work.  You basically feel no pain, just a bit of pressure from this step.  During the procedure I can talk to the nurses and ask questions.  One thing that did come up yesterday was that the doctor found another artery leading away from the liver that he needed to embolize (block off) before he could inject the radiation.  Good catch on his part.  At one point during the procedure my nurse felt I was a little too awake, so they shot me up with more juice.  That turned out to be a really good thing.  When he injected the radiation into my body, it  instantly cramped up.  On the pain scale I went from a 0 to a 6.  I imagine the liver itself was just cringing back as it got hit with the poison.  I can’t imagine what it would have felt like if I had no pain meds.  He injected 3 rounds of the radiation beads into my system.  After each injection I would feel the cramp but it would subside after a minute.   After all the injections, everything ended pretty quickly.  They pulled everything out of me, bandaged me up and sent me to recovery.  Later they took me for a scan to see make sure the radioactive beads were in the right place, which they were.  I didn’t realize this until yesterday that the radioactive beads were sent directly to the left lobe of my liver, not the whole liver.  The rest of the afternoon I basically just rested and recovered.  Surprisingly I did very well and was discharged on time at 5:15 p.m.  Again I felt no nausea-that is a big thing for me!

By 7:00 my sick wife, mom and I where all sitting at the dining room table relaxing.  Karen had rallied a bit from her 100 degree fever and Brenden’s temp. had also dropped.  I was feeling blessed to have made it through yet another procedure  and was finally sitting down to get some food in my stomach (it had been almost 21 hours since I last ate).

The battle plan moving forward:  Full blood work up and CT scan in 2 weeks  Then wait till around the first week of June for another scan to view the overall results.  I do have to sit down with my Oncologist at some point to get his opinion and perspective.  I am sure plans, strategies and the future can change, but for today I am thankful and blessed-Praise God!

Thank you for all of your prayers and your special prayer you posted for me Vicki!  Sarah thank you so much for updating everyone yesterday.  I am radioactive and glowing-just not as much as Homer.  Karen continues to battle through her flu/Cold thing and went back to work today-she is amazing!

God Bless,

Chris

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Radiation Report

Sarah here with the radiation report.  Karen just called to say that Chris’s radiation treatment went well.  The procedure started around 12:30 and finished around 2:30.  Sounds like Chris is still in recovery and they’re monitoring him and planning to do some scans, but he’s still hoping to be home around 7 pm tonight.  Apparently Chris was feeling okay after the treatment, but the doctors said the nausea tends to start sinking in later, so that’s one of the reasons why they’re still monitoring him.   Karen said Chris “grounded” her this morning – he made her stay home because she and Brenden both woke up with fevers, so Chris’s mom is with him at the hospital.  Chris’s mom said he is pretty wiped out, so Karen is hoping he can get some rest when he gets home (sister-speak for “please don’t call Chris tonight”).

So Chris is now radioactive (which reminds me of Homer Simpson).

I’m sure Chris will post something as soon as he’s feeling up to it.

Sarah

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Radiation Week

Well this is the big week for trying the new treatment.  This treatment seems to be getting popular with stage 4 colon cancer patient.   Last week I found out about two others that are having the same treatment.  They must be having some success with it since they are moving some of us in that direction.

I have really just been enjoying life these past 8 weeks.  No chemo means every day is a good day.  I am still battling my Cold, but it is nothing compared to chemo.  Karen has been photographing a lot of weekend hockey tournaments so it has been a whole lot of “Boys Weekends” with just me and the guys hanging out.  Now when I feel “beat up” it is not due to my chemo treatments but rather:   snowball fights, snow fort making, football inside the house(yeah we don’t tell Karen about that), doing timed running races around the house, playing good guys/bad guys, etc…

Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. I will take on the two remaining tumors again.  The procedure will last only about 45 minutes, but it will take most of the day with all the prep and recovery.  For the first 24 hours after, I am still “radioactive” so I plan to stay away from the family as much as possible.  The radiation treatment causes fatigue, abdominal cramps and nausea.  The doctors said  that I can resume my normal activities after about 2-3 days.  I am still hoping to work on Friday, but I won’t push it.  My Mom is coming to help us out this time.

Two other things:  I was one of the nominees to be on WCCO, butt(spelling intended) didn’t make the final cut.  Also people have been asking if we are going to create a team for this years colon cancer walk and the answer is “yes”.  I think I/we will be able to get something out to you within the next couple of weeks.  This year the event is 3 weeks later so hopefully it will be a little warmer weather.

Overall, life is good and I am thankful for every day.  I am feeling good and peaceful as we move into the next phase.  I will post something later this week to let you know what it feels like to be radiated.   If you are really bored and want to read more about this process, here is a link:  http://www.umgcc.org/sir-spheres/about_sirt.html

Thank you for all your prayers, comments and cards.  They definitely come at the right time and brighten our moods.  If you read the comments from the last post, you will see what I mean….

Time to fight again…

Chris

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