They say time flies when you are having fun, I’m not sure I would define this as fun-but time has flown. I have had a great time visiting with everyone, being uplifted by all your comments, emails and sharing in prayer. I have already met some very remarkable people along the way, made new friends and renewed old acquaintances. Just a brief update since my last post…
A week ago I attended another cancer support group, this one sponsored by my church called Pray for the Cure. Its creation was inspired by Race for the Cure. At this session there was close to 30 people in attendance. Our room was filled with some who had been cured and others who are battling the worst of what this disease has to offer. There was one other person in attendance that has the same diagnosis as me and we just happened to sit next to each other. Charlie has 22 spots around his liver along with the cancer in his colon. For the rest of the night Charlie and I were matched up, in fact we were two of the last people to leave the church. I pretty much talked his ear off and he was nice enough to answer any and all of my questions. We still communicate every few days. He is a real inspiration.
I had two more doctors’ appointments and they all agree that this is the right course of action. I met with Dr. Sielaff and a general MD for my pre-op physical. Dad and I talked to Dr. Sielaff who explained that his first option is always surgery. If surgery is not an option due the amount of cancer tumors, he named off 2-3 other procedures he will use. The general MD reviewed my most recent blood work and said that all levels were in the normal range, including the bilirubin that was slightly higher two weeks prior.
I headed North for the weekend to spend time with old friends that I haven’t seen for awhile. There was a surprise Birthday party planned for one of them(Kent Bahr) and we ended that with an intimate prayer session. I tell you with all these prayers everything should be a breeze! I left Bemidji with some new good memories, a full stomach and a cooler full of food. In fact I just finished my last piece of solid food for the next two days and it was Kelli’s Wild Blueberry pie-what a treat to end on.
Of course I have coached a couple more soccer games and one more T-Ball game. Brenden has turned into our best scorer in soccer. Remember this is the kid who cried through ½ the games last year and most of the time didn’t really want to go. Can we say coach of the year? Oh, you want to know about Jaxson? Well he and his cousin Caden are the biggest challenges on the team. They both got into minor skirmishes with the opposing team, Jaxson throwing some small fists and Caden getting pulled to the ground. Maybe I better wait on my coaches award speech. Coach Dave (my brother) will take the full reigns of the team next week.
Tomorrow is the big day. Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park is where the battle begins at 1 p.m. The surgery is set for 3-4 hours. I then will be in the hospital for 4 days, probably getting released on Sunday night or Monday morning. Karen, Mom, Dad, Dianne(Mother-in-law) and maybe others will be waiting in the recovery area for me. Sarah and Grandpa Stratton will be leading the charge on the T-Ball field. Sarah will have to do double-duty as we will leave it to her to post on the blog late Thursday night.
Talk to you all on the other side-this cancer thing doesn’t stand a chance.
Chris
Proverbs 3:5&6
The Baty Blog 
