Judd & Michele's wedding

Our eldest son Judd married Michele Wilson on Friday, December 28th in a small outdoor ceremony at a local hotel, followed by a very nice dinner indoors. We were joined by local family members and a few friends.

The weather was not nearly as cold at the wedding ceremony as at the rehearsal the night before. The marine cloud layer kept temperatures from falling as low, plus the hotel had plenty of gas heaters around the patio area. The groom wore black on black and the bride wore a white gown with a long train. Zachary serenaded attendees by singing "At Last" as the bride and groom walked down the aisle and "What a Wonderful World" as they departed back down the aisle. He also sang "Unforgettable" for the first dance following the dinner. He did a great job.

The newlyweds will be honeymooning in New York City for a week, and will also be driving down to see Clayton and his family in Pennsylvania.

In a decision that still has family members shocked, I completely broke with tradition and did not take a camera with me to the wedding. There were two professional photographers and a videographer at the wedding, but since their pictures are not yet available, you can get a peek at a few photos on our daughter Katie's blog
http://kthodges.blogspot.com/2007/12/judd-micheles-wedding.html

It appears that our son Clayton has also managed to somehow get his hands on some photos and has posted them on his blog. Go fig!
http://claytonandkatiemay.blogspot.com/2007/12/judd-and-michele-hess.html

Lotsa news!

When parents of the bride and groom are intricately involved in the planning of a wedding, they tend to know what is going on. This is not the case with Judd and Michele's wedding. We knew that the wedding was being held Friday at 8pm at the Irvine Marriott, but we did not find out until last night's rehearsal that the ceremony is taking place OUTSIDE! Even though this is Southern California, its the end of December and it was still cold! I was shivering. The weather report shows that yesterday's low temperature in Irvine as 39 degrees! It was probably in the mid-upper 40's during rehearsal, but there was a breeze, which definitely resulted in a wind chill adjustment. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, but no jacket. Fortunately, some of my kids loaned me their coats. I am definitely wearing cycling tights and long johns under my suit tonight! I think the funniest moment of the evening was when the wedding planner encouraged Bishop Mark Cowdell (who is performing the ceremony) to invite the attendees, at the conclusion of the ceremony, to help themselves to the champagne and apple cider. He deftly substituted the phrase "refreshments". I don't think he wanted any blackmail video of a Mormon bishop inviting people to drink alcohol. [BIG grin] Here are some photos from last night's rehearsal and dinner.












Another piece of news is that Jayson's fiancée Celeste arrived from Texas last night for the wedding. They met while they were both serving in the Kentucky Louisville Mission. Judd & Michele generously contributed frequent flyer miles to fly her in. Celeste will be staying with us for a few days. Here are a couple of photos of them together. Speaking of betrothed persons, here's something I just learned. When referring to a woman to whom a man is engaged to be married, the spelling of the French word is "fiancée"; however, when referring to a man to whom a woman is engaged to be married, the final "e" is dropped and the word is spelled "fiancé". The pronunciation does not change.

Last, but not least, we learned today that Zachary has advanced to the third and semi-final round of the Los Angeles Music Center 2008 Spotlight Awards. http://www.musiccenter.org/education/spot/index.html
A master class he gets to attend and his next audition will be towards the end of January. Kim and I are pretty excited that he has made it into the elite 18 out of 400 initial applicants in the non-classical voice category. This is around the same time he needs to audition for BYU's Music and Dance Department, so we may need some help from family and friends in Utah if we have to fly him up alone.

Santa lightened his load at our house.

Santa brought Cam a new camera, among other things. (Hope you got one too, Em.)
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=183&modelid=15657
The old one has not been working so well. You'll probably see some photos from the new camera in the near future. Kim received some storage space for her music and a certificate to her favorite restaurant. Jayson got a new cell phone so he can keep in touch with his intended using his cell phone minutes. Zach also got a camera. Santa left Kaylee a doll house that is taller than she is!

Here is a belated photo taken by Katie.

Of course the best gift of all is the life, love, and atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Grandchild #3!

Kim and I are grandparents for the 3rd time. Our son Clayton and his wife Katie May welcomed their second child, Mayzie Jane, to their family yesterday, December 19th, 2007. Check out these websites for details, photos, and videos.

http://firstannouncement.com/announcements/girl.php?a=5388812a9c37460253
http://claytonandkatiemay.blogspot.com/2007/12/welcome-to-world.html

Why are hospitals such lousy places to rest & heal?

Why is it that hospitals seem uninterested or unwilling to make the seemingly simple adjustments necessary to ensure that their patients get the rest they need to enable their bodies to help with the healing process?! It seems as if the health care industry feels that since something in the patient's body needs "fixing", that the body is there just to be acted upon. Why not rather employ a synergestic approach that maximizes the body's own self healing capabilities? Such a healing approach would surely recognize the importance of enabling the body to get adequate sleep while the patient is being treated in the hospital.

Both of my stays in different hospitals, combined with Kim's six hospital stays has consistently demonstrated that hospital personnel are not concerned with repeatedly interrupting patients who are attempting to sleep. Interruptions include repeatedly taking vital signs, emptying catheter bags, drawing blood samples, nurses adjusting intravenous medications, problems with IV medication pumps that trigger noisy alarms, noisily mopping hallways in the middle of the night with nurses insisting that hospital room doors remain open, housekeeping emptying trash in the patient's room in the middle of the night, nurses waking up patients to ask if they need pain medication, waking patients to ask if they need a sleeping pill, etc, etc.

Here is an article about a study that confirms my personal observations:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22185211/

1st day back at work

I obtained written permission at my doctor's appointment this morning to return to work today, so I drove straight to work after the appointment and had an easier time overall than I expected. I was rather surprised when the nurse practioner said that many patients ask their doctor for 6-8 weeks off work after similar operations. I won't pass judgement on them, but such a long time off would be sandbagging for me. I thought my innards might get tired of all the sitting up, but my desk chair was adequately comfortable and I had only minor problems. I also did not get sleepy without an afternoon nap like I was afraid might happen. One down, four days to go in this work week till Parker's annual Christmas to New Years shutdown, when I'll have a little more time to recuperate.

pushing the envelope

It's been a week since I was released from the hospital. Recovery has been slower than I would like, but I've been trying to do what I can to help expedite the process. I've tried to take care of myself and get the rest my body has needed. I ventured out of the house briefly on Thursday and Friday evenings for Kim and I to make brief appearances at church-related Christmas get-togethers. Since I have a doctor's appointment in the morning at which I plan to request permission to return to work, I decided to push the envelope a little and try a "normal" day today by attending all my normal Sunday meetings, including early morning bishopric meeting, the full 3-hour block of meetings, helping to process tithes and offerings afterwards (a longer than usual 2+ hour session), came home long enough for some lunch and a brief nap, then back to church for choir practice, then a quick meeting with the bishop, and finally a brief Christmas concert at our granddaughter's school. Now at the end of the day I'm feeling weary and have been walking slowly and sitting gingerly all day. However, if I'm capable of making it through a normal Sunday, maybe I can handle going back to work. We'll see.

baby steps

In the comedy movie "What About Bob?", Richard Dreyfuss plays a psychiatrist named Doctor Leo Marvin who struggles to "treat" a multi-phobic patient named Bob played by actor Bill Murray. As part of his one-size-fits-all therapy plan, Doctor Leo sells Bob a copy of his new book entitled "Baby Steps", which apparently advocates an incremental approach to dealing with and overcoming one's problems.

I'm finding myself feeling that my recovery from surgery and regaining my strength and a degree of normality is happening at about the pace of faltering baby steps. This is especially challenging and frustrating when I not only want to be walking briskly or running again, but urgently feel the need to be doing so, especially in regards to going back to work. Instead, I am constrained by my own body to only taking baby steps, sometimes even backward steps. This situation reminds me of the first time I tried to walk after surgery. I felt like I could walk just fine until I tried to put one foot in front of another and nearly toppled over sideways.

I find myself struggling to get and stay warm. Yesterday, I resorted to taking a nap (another non-optional change my body is forcing on me) while wearing a parka and lying on the dining room floor in the rays of the sunlight shining in through the patio window. Last night I went to bed cold with extra blankets and woke up drenched in perspiration.

One of the biggest adjustments is attempting to deal with my 'new and improved' digestive tract. Without being overly graphic, I'll just say that I am sure hoping that the doctor is right when he said things would settle down somewhat after a few weeks. Or did he say several months?!

This experience is continuing to help me develop greater patience and and increased compassion for others who struggle with health problems.

Hopefully this time I'm home to stay

The date of my previous posting was the day I was initially discharged from the hospital (December 1st). I began to relapse with severe pain on Saturday afternoon shortly after my previous posting and an infection induced fever set-in by Sunday afternoon. Therefore, I was readmitted the evening of Sunday, December 2nd and spent a very long week in the hospital. I was re-released last night (12/9/07) and am hopefully now home to stay. The following journal entries provide some insight into what our lives have been like since going in for surgery on November 28th. For those who are interested in more medical details, you can check out this posting on my son Clayton's blog. (http://tinyurl.com/39jdgh) He is a 1st year medical student at Penn. State.

Hurry up and wait

Kim and I showed up right on time for our 6:15 morning check-in time on Thursday, November 29th at UCI Medical Center and immediately encountered a typical hurry up and wait situation. Even though we were apparently the first check-in of the day, we still had to wait. I eventually was called in to complete admittance paperwork and later the pre-op prep work, such as being fitted for the one-size-doesn’t-fit-all immodest gown and lying on the way-too-short gurney that caused my feet to bump against the nurses’ unmentionables as they struggled to reach around my feet and hold onto the gurney while steering me to the operating room. I was introduced to a parade of unfamiliar faces participating on the surgical and anesthesiologist teams. In response to my inquiries, the re-op nurses told me that the most painful part of the epidural would be the numbing prior to insertion of the narrow catheter. It did sting a bit, but was not as painful as I had feared. Kim was allowed to come back and say goodbye to me prior to going into surgery. I did not see Dr. Stamos prior to surgery. The first time I saw him was late Friday afternoon. He sent several assistants and residents to talk to me on Thursday and earlier in the day on Friday. His primary assistant, Dr. Smith, told us to plan on about a 3 hour surgery, which meant an 11:30am estimated completion time since I was taken into the O.R. at 8:30am. The only way I knew Dr. Stamos was in attendance during at least some of the surgery was that he used the first person singular when later describing what he did during the operation and the fact that family members told me that he was the one who came out of the operating room wearing scrubs to report how the operation had gone.

As successful as possible

Several family members and friends waited with Kim in the waiting room to give her moral support and to help take her mind off her worries. She began to get anxious after 11:30am. The clock struck 11:45am, then noon, then 12:15. Along about 12:30pm, Kim was relieved when Doctor Stamos exited from the O.R. to report that the operation was as successful as it possibly could have been. Due to the unusual shape and location of my sigmoid colon, he was able to reuse my appendectomy scar on my right lower abdomen (a zipper, if you will) through which to remove the colon rather than making a new incision on the left hand side. The only other incisions were two small laparoscopic access points. He reported that it did not appear to the naked eye that the tumor had breached the colon wall, neither was there any visible evidence of the cancer having spread to any of the 12 lymph nodes that were removed along with the 9 inches of large intestine. Of course conclusive results will not be available until the pathology lab work is complete on or about Tuesday. If the lymph node pathology turns out to be negative, its possible that my cancer staging might be downgraded from three to only one or two, which conceivably might not require any chemo treatments. Granted, this would be a best case scenario, but I am hopeful that the fasting and prayers of family and friends might be granted.

Zero on a scale from zero to ten

Even though I was groggy and weak following surgery, the epidural provided a pain free post-operative experience. When asked to rank my pain on a scale from 0 to 10, I consistently reported a value of zero. When I first tried to walk to the door of my room on Thursday night, I was anticipating being able to walk with only minimal problems, but was surprised that I had severe equilibrium problems which made it difficult to keep from tipping over from side to side unless I took very small half steps. I had remembered from my 1983 appendectomy surgery that hospitals are not conducive to rest and uninterrupted recuperation. This stay was no exception. Hospital workers come into the rooms every 30-45 minutes to wake up the patients to take vital signs, empty catheter bags, offer pain pills, change IV saline or medication bags, reset alarms on the metering pump units that are reporting that the current bag of medication its nearly empty so its time to order a new one, and housekeeping literally coming into the rooms at midnight to empty trashcans but forgetting to comply with repeated requests to refill empty antiseptic hand wash soap dispensers. I took advantage of some of these wakeup calls to walk the hallways to build up my strength and help restore normal bowel function needed before I could return home. The catheter was removed early Friday and the epidural was removed at 5pm on Friday and a single pain pill taken orally about 8pm. By Saturday morning, I was feeling fine, except for a very bland and boring liquid diet. Once I had the key bowel movement Saturday morning that was a prerequisite for going home, I pushed to be discharged from the hospital, which was granted Saturday around noon. I was feeling great. Before leaving, I ate my first solid meal since surgery. I was taken to the curb by wheelchair and Kim drove home carefully. On her way to the church to accompany some of her students at our Stake’s annual Crèche Community Christmas Celebration, Kim dropped off the prescription for the Vicodin pain relief medication. Everything seemed fine. Little did I know that this was the calm before the storm.

Tremble because of pain

After a few minutes of laying down to sleep, I began to experience increasing pain that was much stronger that anything I had felt with this operation or any of the procedures of the past few weeks. I tried unsuccessfully to find a position that provided some relief. I was writhing in pain. Each time my heart pulsed the pain would shoot throughout my abdomen, causing my abdominal muscles to involuntarily spasm with each heart beat in a futile attempt to protect my increasingly traumatized surgery wounds. As I recognized that I was trembling with pain each time my heart beat, I recalled the Lord’s words in the sixteenth through eighteenth verses of the nineteenth section of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. “For behold, I God have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent. But if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain…” Even though it doesn’t take much to make me tremble with pain, this experience helped me gain a greater appreciation for the selfless love that motivated the atonement of Jesus Christ. As I desperately sought for relief, I tried to call Kim’s cell phone to tell her about the pain and to ask her to bring the Vicodin ASAP. I was dismayed to find out that Jayson, who was watching football in the living room, still had Kim’s phone, even though I had asked him several times to return it. I asked Jayson to give me a priesthood blessing, which he did. The blessing did not promise relief from the pain, but rather comfort in knowing that the Lord had already suffered everything I was feeling. The blessing provided the comfort I needed until Kim returned with the Vicodin, which eventually provided the desired pain relief.

Relapse

I was very surprised by the intensity of the pain I had experienced, especially considering how well I felt at the time I was discharged. Prior to the pain attack, I had been considering attending Sacrament Meeting and perhaps the Stake Choir’s performance at the Crèche on Sunday evening. Now I was spooked and thought it best to stay down and rest, which I did for the remainder of Saturday night and into Sunday. I slept on the couch because it was comfortable. Since the weather was unusually cold and the wall heaters in house still don’t work, several thick blankets were needed to stay warm. After she returned from teaching her Sunday School lesson the following day, Kim took note when I asked her to keep a window open because I was hot even without all the blankets still on me (usually she is the one who wants windows open). As afternoon turned to evening, she also noted that my face was looking red. She felt my face and said that I was warm. She took my temperature several times with our digital thermometer. The reported temperatures were in the range of 100.8 to 102.8. Kim re-read the discharge paperwork and learned that even a moderate fever was a reason to call the doctor, which she did. After he heard about my severe pain and my fluctuating temperature, the doctor “motivated” us to return to the hospital’s emergency room by saying that if the source of the fever wasn’t immediately treated, I might be wearing a colostomy bag the rest of my life. OK, he got my attention, but dang, I did NOT want to go back to the hospital, even for an emergency room “visit”. I had just escaped from there. Just to be on the safe side, I packed a bag. It turned out to be a good decision.

UCI Medical Center: Déjà vu all over again

The UCI Emergency Room turned out to be surprisingly empty for a weekend. The doctor had left word for him to be paged as soon as we arrived. In record time, we were filling out medical forms and I was giving my first of many samples of urine and blood. I was attended to by the O.R. nurses and doctors on duty. I was grateful when Steve Johnson (a close family friend and an assistant chairman of a pediatric ICU unit at an L.A. hospital) arrived to talk to Kim and I. His good company was welcome, but his medical expertise and instant 2nd opinions on UCI’s proposed treatment plans was even more appreciated and helped reassure Kim and I that the right choices and treatments were being made. I was admitted into private room 5017, because they told us that all semi-private rooms were already occupied. They scheduled me for another CAT Scan later than night and started me on antibiotics, and re-hydration fluids by IV, as well as an on-demand morphine pain management solution. Even though the scan was scheduled for 9pm, it did not actually occur until 3am due to higher priority trauma patients. After he had a chance to review the results of the scan, Dr. Stamos said that the scan showed some air under the diaphragm and down around the section of the colon that was reconnected, but no obvious or blatant leaks of the contrast liquid I'd been drinking. However, he surmises that there might be a pin hole leak in the colon that is allowing air and small amounts of digestive tract contamination to enter the abdominal cavity. His plan is to continue to treat the fever (and presumed infection) with antibiotics, to put me on complete digestive tract rest that requires abstaining from food, liquids, and oral medications for the rest of the week to see if the bowel will heal itself before deciding whether follow-up surgery is needed. I am to receive essential nutrients, amino acids, and other nourishment directly into the blood stream, along with medication to prevent my empty stomach from eating at itself and forming ulcers.

Journal Entry for Thursday December 6, 2007

Today Dr. Stamos decided to move up my planned CAT Scan by one day to today rather than tomorrow. The nurses here at UCI hospital have already started me drinking the regimens of contrast solution. The scan was requested for 4pm (in about 4-1/2 hours), but will also depend on the demand for CatScan services by Trauma Center patients. If all goes well, they should restore me to a liquid diet today and hopefully a solid diet by tomorrow morning. Hopefully I can then be released by tomorrow’s 11am discharge time.

During a talk with my father on the phone today, he confided that both he and his brother Vince have problems with their blood, not unlike their father who eventually died of leukemia when he was eighty years old. I believe that my father said that his platelet count is high and that my uncle has a high red blood cell count. Both of these could develop into leukemia if left untreated. They both take what amounts to daily chemo pills in an attempt to kill or limit the number of red blood cells and keep the number within a range of values, as well as have their blood checked weekly (or monthly in my uncle's case) to verify that the treatment does not over correct and kill too many red blood cells.

Dad asked whether the rumor was true that Jayson is engaged to be married. I told him it was and gave him a few of the details, such as a mid-March date. I also told him about Judd & Michele’s upcoming wedding the end of this month.

Journal Entry for Friday December 7, 2007

The CAT Scan taken yesterday shows about a 50% reduction of “air” around the surgery site compared with the scans taken early Monday morning after I was readmitted. This was incremental improvement, but less than had been hoped for. I spoke with Doctors Root, Smith, and Stamos this morning about my treatment plan. They each recommended somewhat different plans. Doctor Root suggested sending me home soon (maybe today) with supplies to continue IV feedings at home while the pinhole leak in the colon continues to heal itself. Dr. Smith recommended putting me on a liquid diet for several days and then switch to a solid diet if all goes well, with a possible release date of early next week. Dr. Stamos (who leaves on vacation next Monday) has agreed (pending verification of no surprises in the results of the blood work drawn this morning) to discontinue the daily blood thinner shots, put me on solid food right away, and discontinue the IV feedings. We also discussed possible chemotherapy options and potential benefits. They agreed to have one of the UCI oncologists come talk to be and give me their recommendations. My cancer has been typed as Stage IIA: T3 N0 MX. Since both the cancerous polyp and the tumor itself have been removed, along with 35 lymph nodes that have all been certified as being cancer free, I should technically be cancer free. Chemo should not be required, but would only be optional to further decrease the chances of any reoccurrence. Dr. Holcombe (http://tinyurl.com/2rkl9u) visited with me in my hospital room and basically told me that the cure rates for someone with Stage 2 colon cancer was about 80-85% without chemo and that the chances increased about 3% to 83-88% with chemo. He admitted that 3% didn't seem like much of an increase, unless you happen to be those 3 people out of 100 whose prognosis switches from death to cured due to the chemo treatment. I've received advice from multiple people who are either against or for submitting to chemo. Definitely something to think about. Dr. Holcome said to come talk to him sometime between 1-2 months following my surgery.

Here is a photo of a few of the many visitors I had while in the hospital. I am very grateful to all those who made the effort to visit me, especially those who came to visit and found me already checked out.

I'm backkkkk!

I was discharged from the hospital today (Saturday December 1, 2007). I'll post more after I get some rest. Thanks to all who prayed for me, supported me, expressed love for my family.

Borderline normal

My gastroenterologist has a habit of being the bearer of bad news. He's the first doctor ever who told me I have a small hernia. He's the one who performed the colonoscopy and told me I had cancer. He always shares the bad news first and might get around to the good news later. Of course he, along with the rest of the medical profession, communicates using a foreign language which needs translation into English through an interpreter. So, the first thing the doctor does is ask the rhetorical question that I think all health care providers should strike from their vocabulary, unless they REALLY mean it, which they usually don't. When the receptionists and nurses in the doctors office ask this question, I usually just ignore the actual words and just play the game and give the pat answer. But when a doctor asks the question, I give a truthful answer. So, when the doctor says, "Hello, how are you?" I told him, "I'm sick!" He looked taken back for a second, as if he was deciding whether one of us should be wearing a mask so as to decrease the chance of disease transmission. Then it dawned on him what I meant and he said, "You're not sick; you just have a 'problem' that we're going to take care of." Sorry, Doc...but in *my* book, having cancer qualifies as being sick.

The next thing he did was share with me the results of the EKG and echocardiogram tests that were performed last week. Now before I reveal the results, I want to remind everyone that when I had this test performed (see several blog entries ago), the technician was so impressed with my heart pattern that he asked me if I was a runner. True to form, he tells me the echocardiogram revealed that I have "mitral valve prolapse". After I struggle to pronounce the words myself and write them down but still have a puzzled look on my face, he draws me a picture on the examination table's disposable paper pillow cover to show me that one of the valves in my heart doesn't completely close all the time due to a slightly floppy valve flap. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mitral-valve-prolapse/DS00504) After I wonder how I could have cycled more than 17,000 miles in the past 3 years without this being a problem, he finally tells me that I have only a very minor case that should not be a problem and requires no action. Gee thanks, Doc. Once again, bad news first, then the good news. The EKG printout summary says: "Borderline Normal- unconfirmed analysis"

He then asked if I had met with or selected a surgeon. This told me that he had not been in contact with Dr. Stamos. Not good. I told him that I had met with Dr. Stamos who is the Chief Colorectal Surgeon at UCI and he was operating on me in the morning. He said that he'd never heard of Dr. Stamos. Swell. When I met with Dr. Stamos, he hadn't heard of my gastroenterologist, either. Its rather surprising that two specialists in very similar fields who've practiced so close to each other for years have never heard of each other. I was disappointed and a bit worried that he had not been contacted by Dr. Stamos. So was he. He asked whether I'd had a chest x-ray, which I had. He asked whether I'd had a cardiac stress test and received a cardiac clearance for major surgery. The answer to both questions was no. I told him that I remember Dr. Stamos saying that he didn't think I needed a stress test. I didn't say it, but I was thinking that my Triple Crown jersey (http://www.caltriplecrown.com) was all the proof I need that my heart works under stress just fine, thank you very much.

The doctor gave me copies of the reports that my surgeon might need to look at and even gave me his cell phone number and said that even though he rarely uses it, he would keep it on for me tomorrow morning in case Dr. Stamos chooses to call him.

Both Kim and I are grateful that our good friend Doctor Steve Johnson has agreed to wait with Kim in the waiting room tomorrow morning and help to interpret all the doctor speak. :)

Thanks again for all your support of me and my family. With all this help, how can I not come through this experience with flying colors? It's also very reassuring to remember that I've been promised by a servant of God that I am in God's hands and I know that he will help me. See you all soon.

Pre-surgery preparations

Today is the day before I am scheduled for major surgery, and as such, I am trying to complete those remaining items on my to-do list which are in the MUST DO category. Among these is again cleaning out the ol' digestive track. I'm getting to be quite familiar with this procedure. First, no eating of any solid food since Tuesday evening. Today I'm only allowed to drink clear liquids. Apple juice and vegetable broth. Yum. Yeah, real fun. However, I *do* get a special liquid dessert, known as Phospho-soda. Its a very salty laxative drink. Even though the maximum recommend dosage on the packaging for the oral saline laxative is 3 tablespoons in 24 hours, I have consumed(on doctor's orders) two bottles (3 fluid ounces) in 4 hours. Guess what *I'm* going to be doing for the rest of the day?!

Then I'm suppose to take a bath or shower tonight *and* another one in the morning using special antibacterial soap to help reduce the amount of germs on my person that might get into the surgical incisions. I was thinking that rather than make some nurse shave my abdomen prior to surgery, I was considering doing it myself while showering. Then I got around to reading ALL of the paperwork I was given and found the last sentence on the last page which reads, "Do not shave or use air remover on the surgery area". Gulp, I almost goofed!

Another equally "fun" activity is filling out the California Healthcare Association's form 3-1, otherwise known as the Advance Health Care Directive of the California Probate Code, section 4701. This document requires the future patient to make such decisions designating a healthcare power of attorney agent and two alternates who are responsible for making health care decisions for me in the event that I am unable to do so myself. Another head scratcher is making decisions about the degree of effort that should be made to sustain or extend one's life and provide pain relief in the event of incurable and irreversible conditions. Another multiple choice and essay question pertains to what, if any, organs or body parts are to be made available for transplant, therapy, research, or education in the event that I no longer need them. The future patient's signature of this document must be witnessed either by a Notary Public or two persons who admit knowing me (somewhat hard to find), verify that I am of sound mind (this one's even harder...notice they don't add sound body), not named as an agent, and not a health care provider. Oh, you also get to name an alternate doctor, I guess in case your primary doctor gets sick or runner over by a truck and you're not conscious to name a successor. This "form" seems like a last will and testament. :(

In between trips to the Men's Room this afternoon, I also have a final follow-up appointment (think billable services) with my gastroenterologist, who will summarize all the tests and will probably tell me that I have colon cancer and need surgery. Gee, thanks. How bout tomorrow morning?

Just for the record, surgery is scheduled for 8:30am Thursday morning (I have to be there 2 hours early), November 29th at UCI (University of California-Irvine) Medical Center in Orange. (http://www.ucihealth.com/mc.asp) Its located just east of The Block mall and just south of the 5 freeway off The City Drive. The main phone number is (714)456-7890.If you want to visit, I might be lucid by Saturday or Sunday. The parking structure is accessed via Dawn Way, one block south of the main entrance on UCI Medical Center Drive. (http://tinyurl.com/36moc2) In order to help keep visits short, they only validate parking for one hour at the front desk. After that, you're on your own. In order to duck the outstanding warrants for my arrest (the courthouse and jail are just south of the hospital), I'll be registered under the name "John Doe", but will be in the wing for people having tummy tucks. ;)

Thanks to everyone for all your love, care, concern, well wishes, and prayers. I really does help and I very much appreciate it. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks. ;)

Thanksgiving Day 2007

We enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving Day with local family members on Thursday. Larry and Katie and their daughter Kaylee joined Kim, Jayson, Zach, and myself for a noon time meal. We were grateful to have Judd also join us; however, he came solo, as Michelle was busy helping her mother prepare their own meal scheduled for later in the day. Clayton and his family are living in Hershey, Pennsylvania while he attends medical school at Penn State. Fortunately, they didn't have to spend the holiday alone and were able to join members of Katie May's family for a couple of days in New Jersey, with a first time side trip visit for Clayton to New York City. With some help from other family members, Kim again prepared a sumptuous feast. Following a reading of the 100th Psalm (the Thanksgiving Psalm) and a prayer of thanksgiving, we enjoyed delicious turkey with stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, glazed baby carrots, a sweet potato and cranberry dish, a large tossed salad, deviled eggs, sectional rolls, scrumptious orange sweet rolls donated by a thoughtful friend, sparkling cranberry punch, and homemade pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream for dessert. We're still enjoying the tasty leftovers. I will be thinking about this good food when a week from now I am limited to consuming an IV saline drip and Jello.

Now that I've got your mouths watering, allow me to abruptly change the subject to sewage. :) Each Thanksgiving, it has become a tradition in our family to try harder than the previous year to avoid clogging the drain pipes in whatever place we find ourselves living. Sometimes we are successful; often we are not. Since it has only been a few weeks since I had to rent a drain rooter to clean out a clog under our house, I had hoped that the pipes would be wide open and not give us any problem this year. We have learned the hard way from multiple experiences that garbage disposals are designed to handle a small amount of residual food that cannot easily be scraped from used dishes into the garbage can and that they are definitely not to be used for large amounts of uneaten food left on plates or for disposal of large amounts of unwanted food from pots and pans, especially foods like rice that does such a good job of packing itself tightly into plumbing curves in inconvenient places or stringy foods like celery that do such a fine job of strangling garbage disposals or anything hard like small bones or uncooked rice that loves to jam the garbage disposal. (I'll spare you my oft ignored diatribe on my pet peeve of the simple preventative steps that keep silverware and other small washables out of the garbage disposal) I have had to rent and transport heavy electrically powered sewer rooters so many times that I've been tempted to buy one of my own until I saw the sticker price for even a consumer-grade model at the hardware store. After the kitchen was all cleaned up and the final load of dishes was in the dishwasher (which we didn't have last year and for which Kim has been very thankful all year) and a load of laundry was in the washing machine and family members were settling down to an evening of watching TV watching and eating leftovers, I was thinking to myself that we had successfully avoided the dreaded drain demon this year and the holiday rate$ of the roto-rooter services. Then I heard the phrase that sends a shiver down the spine of every man of the house. "Eewww, there's gross water coming out of the shower drain." Doh! Sure enough, water was also rising from the bathtub drain. Despite our best efforts to practice good drain etiquette all day, that sneaky sewer servant had struck again. Fortunately, an enforced ban on further contributions to the sewer system allowed the once rising flood waters to slowly abate without anything overflowing onto the floor and allowed me to postpone more proactive countermeasures until the following morning. When Zach and I removed the caps to the drain clean out in our front yard early the next morning, I was surprised to feel a whoosh of air and see liquid nearly to the top of the drain clean out. (Good thing I hadn't taken the caps off the clean outs the night before when the water level was high or we would have had a black water geyser!) This was a sure sign that the clog was downstream from the house in the pipe under the front yard rather than upstream under the house as it usually is. We were able to use a recently purchased encased flat metal sewer rod declogging tool (http://tinyurl.com/2ekt6u) to descend down the main drain pipe a dozen or so feet until I felt resistance. After several thrusts into the area of resistance, I was pleasantly surprised that the clog was cleared and the sewage backup resolved with relative ease...unlike most other instances. I'm pretty sure we've got some roots from the tree in our front yard growing into the drain pipe and that I'll have to eventually rent a power drain rooter again in the future. But for the near future, I think that Zach could unclog the drain if it should clog again while I am unable to do so myself. It's a nice feeling to have a Plan B in case you're not available to personally fix something yourself.

GEEK ALERT! The rest of this posting is about computer talk that non-techies may find boring. You are free to discontinue reading, if you like.
I have been working sporadically for months to migrate our home computing services from an aging Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional installation running (walking is more like it) on a 233 MHz Gateway PC I bought surplus from work years ago to an instance of open source (free and modifiable) Ubuntu Linux running on a less ancient no-name brand 1.2 GHz AMD powered PC I also bought surplus from work a year ago or so. While I have been very impressed with the quality, capability, and broad range of open source application software available to run on Linux, I still have a few legacy applications that, to the best of my knowledge, only run on Windows. Therefore, for the time being, I needed to maintain a platform on which to run them, not having had the time to experiment with programs that allow Windows applications or Windows environments to run on top of Linux. I was making slow, but steady progress up until the hard drive on the less old computer began to show signs of dying. In order to shorten an already long explanation, I'll just say that this unexpected event "complicated" things to the point that after adding a new hard drive, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a full copy of Windows XP Professional. My revised short term goal has been to get that environment up and running in stable fashion with the most used applications working well, with data files organized and appropriately accessible to family members, and automatic scheduled backups running prior to my upcoming stay in the hospital. My goal is to have a stable computing platform that family members can reliably use while I am in the hospital and that both they and I can use after my return and during my convalescing period at home. It will also give me peace of mind that at least my computer affairs will be somewhat in order in the unlikely event that I will be unable to do any further maintenance. Until I am feeling well enough to get out of bed and sit in the nice padded swivel chair Katie gave me last Father's Day (or was it my birthday?) for the computer desk, I hope to be able to use a borrowed laptop computer from work while in bed to connect via wireless connection to our home computer network to enable me to do essential work for my employer from home, as well as do some family history work that has been on the back burner for too long. Working towards achieving this goal has, and will continue to, occupy much of my time this weekend.

Giving Thanks in 2007

I am grateful for life and the opportunities of each new day.
I am grateful for more than half a century of exceptionally good health.
I appreciate that I live at a time of unprecedented knowledge, opportunities, communication, mobility, modern health care, and comfort.
I'm most thankful for the land of freedom which I live and those who have sacrificed to obtain and defend that freedom.
I am thankful that everyday of my life, I have had a doorknob on my side of the door to allow me to go out into the world and experience life.
I consider myself most blessed to have the companionship of a devoted wife and help meet who loves me dearly, and five healthy, diversely talented children who love and honor their parents.
My life is given meaning by the priceless blessing of a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and by the atonement of the Savior.
I'm grateful for more than 24 years of steady employment and the opportunity to work daily with good people.
I cherish my brother and sisters and their steadfast support.
I'm thankful for many family members and dear friends whose love and support in times of trial makes life a joy.
I'm appreciative that I can re-experience and savor sweet memories over and over again.
I'm thankful for plenty to eat.
I've grateful for clean drinking water, a blessing that eludes many in this life.
I am blessed with the irreplaceable gift of music in my life.
I'm grateful that I feel contentment and peace in my life.
I'm thankful for the God-given gifts of agency, repentance, and forgiveness.
I'm grateful for faith in the eternal nature of the soul and the promise of resurrection and eternal life with God and loved ones.
I'm thankful for the blessings of the Sealing Power of the Holy Priesthood and our eternal family relationships.
I'm thankful for the blessing of gratitude and how it makes everything in life that much better.
I appreciate the opportunity to periodically pause, ponder, and to try to count my many blessings.

Cameron Hess

Surgery: who, what, when, where, how, why

Kim and I have been worried about finding a doctor to perform my surgery. We independently verified that the doctor that was recommended by my gastroenterologist has a good reputation, but his specialty is vascular surgery. I was finding little help for identifying excellent local specialists from either insurance company or employer resources, because I couldn't find anyone with detailed knowledge of local doctors. The outgoing (retires the end of December) vice president of our Information Technology team found out about my diagnoses and kindly asked to speak to me. He is somewhat familiar with colon cancer because his mother-in-law had surgery for the same ailment last Friday. He also is aware from personal experience what a major hassle it is without employer provided health care coordinators to try and negotiate the Bermuda Triangle between patients, insurance companies, and health care providers. He contacted a few friends with ties to the medical profession and got a referral to a surgeon who specializes in colon and rectal surgery at UCI (University of California at Irvine) Medical Center (which is actually located in the City of Orange 20 or so miles northeast of the UCI campus). What was even more amazing is that I was able to get in to see him only hours after I called his office. He is also an in-network provider with my insurance company. His name is Michael Stamos. He is certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (http://fascrs.org) AND is the Chief of Colorectal Surgery at UCI. I found several articles on the Internet that referred to him. Here is is UCI bio webpage. (http://www.ucihealth.com/findadoctor/bio.aspx?hsid=99026867)

I had a lengthy discussion with him on Monday and found him to be very knowledgeable and easy to talk with. His answers were reassuring. Based upon the tests he has seen so far, he is not convinced that my cancer is as advanced as stage 3, but will be treated so until proven otherwise. He wants to get his hands on the actual pathology slides (not just the written report) so that they can test for the specific type of cancer cells to know whether it is heredity related. He operates laparoscopically, unless an unusual need arises during surgery, as he feels it is best for doctors and patients. He and a pathologist plan to remove all lymph nodes associated with the section of the sigmoid colon to be removed. He estimates the operation will last about 2-1/2 hours, that I will be in the hospital for 5 days and 4 nights (if all goes well) and will recover and hopefully be able to return to work in as little as 2 weeks. He felt optimistic about my prognosis. I felt good about working with Dr. Stamos and we have set a surgery date for the morning of Thursday, November 29th, much sooner than he thought he could fit me into his schedule (due to another patient needing more radiation prior to surgery). Talk about everything falling into place!

Dr. Stamos had me get a chest x-ray and more blood tests before leaving the UCI Medical complex. The medical center is a huge complex of buildings (not unlike a compact college campus), with lots of construction taking place. Due to limited parking, I followed the recommendation to use the valet parking ($2 with validation, $5 w/o). I can count on one hand with fingers to spare how many times I've used valet parking in my life. I have to mention that I got lost while trying to find his office. While trying to follow the directions I was given I unintentionally ended up walking into the unmarked and open back door of the surgery department, past a "sterile" storage room and ended up walking by the open doors of operating rooms with patients. Yikes! I asked for and received a guided tour to the elusive office. Needless to say, I had overlooked a door the first time through that was obvious the second time around. Someone also later moved a large plant into the middle of the walkway I took to drop a hint that it was the wrong way to go.

After I got home, UCI Labs called to sheepishly admit that they had not taken enough of my blood to perform all of the requested tests (an obvious goof) and that they needed me to come back in. So, I'm headed back this morning for another poke. Then I have an EKG test this morning before going to work.

Wow! What a day.

As I said in my last blog, Sunday promised to be a special day, and it was. The support and love our family felt from people at church was amazing. People were so kind and concerned and wanting to know what they could do to help. Many people fasted and prayed for us- ward and stake members, friends from other churches, family far and near. It was a very humbling experience. Its hard to be on the receiving end of this much attention when we are use to being the ones trying to help others.

I attended leadership meetings from 6-9am, where I was among close friends whom I love. Afterwards we attended our regular block of church meetings, then choir practice, which Kim directs. Just before we broke our fasts with a family dinner, a group of close friends and priesthood holders came to our home and gave me a blessing in accordance with the pattern taught in James 5: 14-15. Our son Jayson anointed me with oil and President Goodman, our stake president, sealed the anointing and pronounced a beautiful and reassuring blessing. We all felt the Lord's peace and were reassured that I am in his hands. His will be done. It felt so good to have so much priesthood power in the room and to have them lay their hands on my head and bless me.

After a nice dinner which Kim and Katie prepared, I was able to attend Stake Priesthood meeting with three of my four sons (Clayton is in med school at Penn State) *and* my wife. How many guys can make *that* claim?! Kim accompanied the shepherds quintet from the recent Savior of the World play as they sang the 23rd psalm as a special musical number, with Zach singing the solos. It was very beautiful. It was wonderful to have Judd join us for all our meetings on Sunday. What a day!

The power of fasting and prayer

Family members and many friends are praying for myself and my family. Some are also fasting today, not just for us, both also for others in our ward who have already been dealing with similar health issues for months and years. Our names have been added to the prayer rolls in the temple and even on the prayer lists of other churches. We are so grateful for, and are in humble awe of, the many, many messages of love and support. It is has been incredible. We are very appreciative. I am scheduled to receive a priesthood blessing this evening. This sabbath day promises to be a special one full of the Spirit of God and of good friends.

If you only had 1 more day...what would you do?

Through seven very wonderful, but busy months of preparing for Savior of the World, I have been looking forward to the weeks following its completion and the fulfillment of my Scouting for Food responsibilities in anticipation of a season of rest, renewal, and enjoying the holidays with family and friends. Instead, the events of the last four days have turned our lives upside down and have felt like a month long ordeal. How quickly life can change.

Earlier this year I was successful in achieving my goal of completing three double century (200 miles in one day) bike rides in order to qualify for the California Triple Crown of cycling. I now suddenly and unexpectedly find myself facing an even greater challenge in which I am literally fighting for my life. Its just that my opponent has already won several rounds while I wasn't looking. At the moment, the bell has not yet rung so I cannot begin fighting, just preparing and enlisting assistance and support.

Most of us have probably heard the soul searching question asking what we would choose to do if we knew we only had one day left to live. This morning I faced a somewhat related, yet less ominous question, which was: Since today may be the last Saturday in some time that I will be physically able to do as I wish, which of the many items on my to-do list should I attempt to tackle? After thinking about it, I enlisted the help of two of my sons and together we were able to complete or make substantial progress on several tasks. I was also able to go for a leisurely bike ride with a friend who rides a hand powered trike. I had no doctor visits today. It was a good day.

Avoid my fate! Get annual FOBT tests and a timely colonoscopy as recommended

If you haven't had a colonoscopy and are over 50, or over 40 (my doctor said 35) with a family history of colon cancer, please schedule yourself for this procedure ASAP. Get retested at recommend intervals. It may help you avoid my fate. If I had gotten a colonoscopy promptly when I turned 50 nineteen months ago, the tumor would probably still have existed, but would definitely have been smaller, easier to treat, and perhaps not spread to lymph nodes.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cancer/CO99999/PAGE=CO00004

Also, be sure to get an annual physical exam that includes a Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) which can detect unseen blood in the stool. I had an FOBT test (which was negative) for my age 50 exam in 2006, but was tardy in getting an exam in 2007, which might have detected a problem 7 months ago. I'd still have the tumor, but it would have been smaller and might not have spread.

http://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/fecal-occult-blood-test-fobt

Gosh, what was that gauze looking thing anyway?

In response to my puzzled question, the doctor clarified that the "gauze looking thing" in the colonoscopy photos really was a piece of gauze. The picture was taken AFTER the polyp was removed from the colon and turned over on a piece of donut hole gauze to demonstrate that the part of the polyp that was formerly attached to the colon matched the pattern of the polyp crater in the adjacent photo and to show that this one was not cancerous. Mystery solved!

Overwhelming support!

Both Kim and I are taken aback by the tidal wave of emails, phone calls, cards, well-wishes, love, support, prayers, fasting, and offers to help that we have received from friends, family, and coworkers, from both near and far. It is truly humbling and a great source of strength and peace. Thank you so much to everyone. We can feel the power of your prayers in our behalf.

Talking to cancer survivors has given me a taste of the rough road ahead, but I hope my long distance cycling experience, my competitive drive, and my will to stay here in mortality with my family as long as possible will aid me in hanging in there when the going gets tough. That said, the bottom line is, all flesh is in His hands, as the Savior of the World production reminded us.

I had the Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (abbreviated to EGD) procedure today. It was just like my Dad said about his EGD, they sprayed my throat with a numbing spray, placed the tube inside my throat, asked me to generate a swallow reflex to get the tube into the esophagus, then injected the anesthesia into the IV and thats all I remember until waking up in recovery. The doc says I have several superficial stomach ulcers (cat scratches he called them- we joked that they were from the CATscan) which he is treating with esomeprazole (Nexium). The after effects of the anesthesia seemed to last longer this time than on Tuesday with the colonoscopy. Kim said that nurse said to not drive till Monday! We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I've got things to get done before dealing with weeks of surgical recovery and months of chemo. Here are the photos taken during the EGD.

I rode my bike to work this morning, perhaps for the last time in a long while. I took the scenic route through the hills of North Tustin and along Portola Blvd. Even though it was foggy, it was nice. The fog obscured most of the visual damage caused by the Santiago fire, but I could sure smell the nearby charred foothills. I'm really going to miss that time cycling alone in the outdoors, enjoying the exercise and the endorphins. I'm already grieving the loss.

What are my chances?

Today Kim and I met with Doctor Ardalan Babaknia, my gastroenterologist. He told us that two of the three polyps (8-12mm) removed were benign and one was cancerous. One of the benign polyps was way up where the transverse and ascending colon (large intestines) meet and all the rest of the polyps (as well as the tumor) were in the area of the sigmoid colon, the curved part of the colon right above the rectum (the last 6" of colon before the anus). Checkout the diagram. He said that the tumor had breached the outer wall of the colon and that the CATscan seems to indicate an enlargement of lymph nodes in the area (I didn't know there were lymph nodes down there, either) , which means that the cancer may have spread into the lymph nodes. He said there was no sign of spreading to the liver and did not mention any other organs. He categorized my cancer as stage three. I was hoping for two or two plus.

According to one website http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4022, approximately 25% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed at stage 3 and 30-60% of those will still be alive after 5 years. This is so surreal to be talking about a 40-70% chance of dying in the next 5 years when I seem fit as a fiddle, except for occasional blood in my stool in recent months.

Here is another website that discusses survival rates of colon cancer patients. It would appear that statistically speaking, my changes are about 60%.
http://coloncancer.about.com/od/stagesandsurvivalrate1/a/ColonCancerSurv.htm

The doctor moved up my EGD (upper G.I.) exam from next Tuesday to tomorrow afternoon.This is similar to a colonoscopy except it is done via the esophagus to check on the condition of the digestive track as far down as the beginning of the small intestines.

tinyurl.com/2wk6n6

I'm now scheduled for an echo EKG on Tuesday morning. The doc says he needs to know the condition of my heart prior to a potential multi-hour surgery. He also wants to do a stress test.

Thinking that a heart stress test might be like a treadmill test and that I might need to bring gym clothes and running shoes, I asked her if it involved exercise. She said no. Since I'm not a doctor, I don't know how you can do a heart "stress" test without exercise.

http://www.heartsite.com/html/echocardiogram.html

http://www.heartsite.com/html/echo_stress.html

The gastroenterologist told me to call the recommended surgeon ASAP to schedule surgery. I called and found out that I have schedule a consultation with the doctor so he can do a rectal exam before scheduling surgery. I asked the receptionist why the doctor would need to perform a limited rectal exam when I just had a very thorough exam of the my entire colon via colonoscopy?! Apparently its "procedure". Argh! Even though the doctor's receptionist seemed unsure, my initial research shows that this doctor is not an in-network doctor with my insurance company, United Healthcare or UHC. I have a call in to ask if he'll accept what my insurance will pay, whatever THAT is. In just the past week, I can tell you that BY FAR the biggest hassle and stress (even more than the potential that this could be fatal) has been trying to negotiate the Bermuda Triangle between health care providers, insurance companies, and myself. I could write a VERY long blog about my bad experiences just THIS far, and will probably ending up doing so in the future since I doubt it will get any easier. The company I work for (Parker Hannifin) http://www.parker.com/ use to have health care coordinator nurses at my location and at our corporate offices to help employees deal with just such issues and to act as health care customer advocates. They were layed off several years ago to save money. :( The good news is that Parker stock split a few months ago and is at or near record high levels. That may be comforting news if I survive to retirement or Kim collects my company stock matching savings plan prematurely.

CAT Scan

I had my first CAT scan yesterday. Pretty amazing piece of machinery.
(http://health.howstuffworks.com/cat-scan2.htm)

The scan results should help my gastroenterologist identify whether my colon cancer has spread to adjacent organs. I should know more after my doctor appointment this afternoon. Today should prove to be a pivotal day as far as acquiring information about what the future holds. I received a voice mail message from my family doctor stating that she had been notified of the results of the colonoscopy and biopsy. I'll be calling her back this morning.

AFTER the CAT scan was complete, I find out that it wasn't necessary for me to continue my liquid diet that I was on for the colonoscopy. NOW they tell me. It was nice to eat solid food again, but my innards are not responding smoothly to my on and off again eating routine.

Thank you very much for all the well wishes and prayers. I'm feeling peaceful, but anxious. Last night Kim and I reviewed my symptom history and discussed possible future outcomes and eventualities. Late yesterday afternoon I felt like I was coming down with the flu (chills, fever, achy, etc), but I am feeling mostly better this morning. I don't know whether all those x-rays would have such an effect.

Colon cancer!

I had my first colonoscopy yesterday. The doctor found colon cancer. It seems surreal. Before they sedated me via an intravenous anesthesia, the nurses and anesthesiologist were trying to figure out how to compensate for my too low resting heart rate of 37 (due to all the cycling, I suppose...and maybe also the nice, warm blanket the nurses had covered me with) and then when I wake up a few minutes later, I find some not so good looking photos (see below) on the cart beside me and my wife Kim coming into the recovery room (even though there is a sign stating that family members are not allowed) wiping tears from her eyes.

Some of these photos are of the three polyps the doctor found and removed. The larger orange mass is the tumor. I have no idea what the gauze looking thing is. Maybe some kind of surgical instrument.

I am scheduled for a cat scan this morning, so I have to drink this thick, metallic tasting, "berry flavored" barium sulfate "smoothie", which I guess helps my innards glow in the dark during the scan. I have an appointment on Thursday afternoon to talk to the doctor after he sees the scan results to discuss surgery options. He said that I definitely need immediate surgery to remove the cancerous section of large intestine and then sew the two healthy ends back together.

Kim called a family council last night so that we could tell the kids. She ordered pizza to ensure they would come. Before I knew about the council, I emailed the news to family and some other people. So, Katie (who is very electronically connected) found out first and then told Judd before the meeting. Kim called Clayton, who is in med school at Penn State. Jayson and Zach found out when they showed up for the meeting. In true teenager mode, Zach's response when Kim told him was "that sucks". Jayson's delayed response was, "No, wait. Can you die from this?" The answer, unfortunately is yes. Hopefully it has been caught early enough that it can be successfully treated. I think I read that colon cancer is the 3rd most lethal form of cancer. I'm trying to stay positive, maybe too positive some family members imply. Hey, what can I say? I anticipate that I will need plenty of humor to grease the skids of life these next few weeks and months.

I've been on a liquid diet since Sunday night and am hankering for some real food. On the positive side, I may get closer to that elusive ideal weight the charts tell me I should be at. Those impossible charts say I "only" need to loose 50 pounds to be at the "ideal" weight for someone my height who can overlap thumb and middle finger around my wrist. Kim says I'm already too thin.

Stay tuned for further news. It would appear that I'll have plenty to write about. I just hope that I can make time to post. I'm also having computer problems. I bought a new hard disk and scanner yesterday and am trying to effect repairs in the midst of everything else that's going on.

Your well wishes and prayers are very much appreciated. As the line from Savior of the World says, "All flesh is in his hands".

2007 Scouting for Food

As one of my five Boy Scout Adult Leader Woodbadge training tickets (http://www.woodbadge.org/), I volunteered to serve as our district's collection site coordinator for Scouting for Food (http://www.tinyurl.com/2kzl3p). This year I served as the Canyons District Scouting for Food Chairperson. Working with Lane Calvert and Ned Bradley at the Orange County Council level, and with the help of many adult leaders and scouts from many units, during the week of November 5-10, our district was able to collect 12,855 pounds, which was a slight improvement over last year and put us in 3rd place within the council. The council as a whole collected 110,039 pounds of food that was donated to Second Harvest Food Bank (http://www.secondharvest.org/). This amount was slightly down from last year, probably because there were more food drives held this year by Second Harvest and other food banks, and also perhaps because of so many families being adversely affected by the recent wild fires. Congratulations and thanks to all those who worked hard to help ensure another successful Scouting for Food drive. Here are some photos from our SFF collection efforts.

Savior of the World- it is finished

The Orange California Stake's production of Savior of the World is complete. Wow! What an experience. It was long, hard, and required the total commitment of cast, crew, and supporting people for nearly 7 months. But it was worth it. I will remember this forever! I believe that preparing this production and working with cast and crew was the closest I've ever come to achieving a Zion-like society, with a sprinkling of Zion's Camp thrown in for good measure.


The following is an entry I submitted to be included in the Savior of the World Book of Remembrance.

"I wanted to share some of these thoughts with all of you in person at the post-production cast party, but time did not permit. So, I will do so now in written form.

After Kim was first called to serve as the Director of Savior of the World, and even though I had never seen or heard of the play, I knew that a long and challenging road lay ahead. It was my intention to be a supportive spouse and to hold down the fort at home while she did her thing. I had every intention of limiting my involvement to setting up and taking down chairs and passing out programs at the door. Then Kim twisted my arm and "persuaded me" to come to tryouts and audition for the chorus. Reluctantly, I consented. I selected and sang a hymn for the audition committee, hoping that I would be excluded due to my mediocre singing voice.

The next thing I knew, I was being asked to "help" with role auditions by participating in group readings from the script. Before I knew what hit me, and even though I had no previous acting experience whatsoever, I found myself as a member of the chorus AND cast as Malachi in Act I AND Peter in Act II. Yikes!!

It was difficult for me to learn the variations of the repetitious chorus music, memorize all the lines for my roles, and to receive and adapt to instructions that helped create a wonderful production, but which at time they were given changed a time or two and which sometimes didn't make sense to my way of thinking. It was good for me to have a lesson in being obedient to a script and instructions which I did not always agree with.

Like most everyone else, being in Savior of the World required a consecration of my time and talents that necessitated the sacrifice of not being able to participate in other events and activities that were really hard to give up.

As we made progress in getting "off book", the rehearsals began to take on a level of spirituality that after a while actually had me looking forward to Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. There was a special feeling at our practices that I grew to cherish. As the countdown until performance time decreased from months to just weeks, our shared experience with this production became very special, even sacred. I believe we truly did enjoy a taste of a Zion-like experience. When the struggles with lighting continued past our last tech rehearsal, we pulled together as a cast and crew and did everything in our power to fix the problems and then through prayer and faith and priesthood blessings, the Lord stepped in and helped make up the difference of what we were unable to do on our own.

I want to offer a special thank you to Brodie, with whom I had the privilege of working in several scenes. I suspect that there are very few, if any cast members, who have more acting experience then he, and I know there is no one who had less experience than did I. Never the less, he repeatedly encouraged me and gave me confidence that I could accomplish what had been asked of me. He was never condescending and was always kind and patient. His sense of humor also helped us maintain a sense of perspective and to lighten up at times. Thank you, Brodie.

I also want to publicly thank Blythe for setting aside her concerns and giving to all of us and the audience the gift of allowing her newborn son Christian to participate in the manger scene. Each time the lights would come up in that scene and I would see little Christian in Marie's arms from my vantage point on the colonnade, the Spirit bore powerful witness to me of the wonder and miracle and reality of the Savior's birth, that Jesus really was once a little child, a baby who came into the world under the most humble of circumstances. It was hard to sing with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, but I suspect the angelic choir that actually sang on that sacred occasion might have also had that same challenge.

The Cultural Hall and stage now have a special place in my heart, because it was where we shared laughs and tears and sacred moments together. In like manner to the way that Mosiah 18:30 describes how the otherwise ordinary waters and forests of Mormon were beautiful to those who there acquired a knowledge of their Redeemer, these otherwise ordinary rooms will forever bring back memories of the sacred moments we shared together. It has been a privilege and an honor to serve with each and all of you, the chorus, the cast, the technical crew, the orchestra, those assisting with costumes, makeup,
scenery, etc.

I want to publicly tell Kim that I love her dearly and am so pleased with her service as our Director. She amazed even those of us who were already aware of her many talents. As she has already shared with you, she prefers to be a private, behind-the-scenes kind of person and is not comfortable in leadership roles. Without any previous experience directing plays, she was able to help keep all of us moving forward through many obstacles and remain focused on our ultimate objective of presenting a quality production that testified through our stretched talents and abilities via the medium of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the World.

My testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ has been strengthened. I love each of you and appreciate the sacrifices that each of you made to enable the preparation and presentation of Savior of the World.

Cameron Hess"

You gave us quite a scare, Al.

Kim's 83 year old father became separated from his partner while elk hunting in the mountains above Manti, Utah and was unable to return to the rendezvous area due to near blizzard weather conditions. He spent the better parts of two days and one night in the mountains alone before being rescued late Sunday afternoon in answer to our collective prayers. We were all very worried about him after we heard that he was missing. Even though I was up in Utah with two sons to visit family and attend LDS General Conference, we felt helpless since the authorities would not permit amateur searchers to assist, probably due to concerns of rescuers needing rescue themselves due to high altitude, rugged country, and bad weather. So, family members were limited to waiting, fasting, and praying. We were very grateful to receive word late Sunday afternoon that he had been found alive and in relatively good condition.

Here are some URLs to media stories about his ordeal:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1933983

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4572465&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695216843,00.html

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7117822


P.S. Al, if you're going to continue to go out in the mountains you so dearly love, at least get yourself some better boots...wait for better weather, and stick closer to your hunting partners.

Returned with Honor

Elder Jayson Hess returned on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 from having served honorably for 2 years in the Louisville, Kentucky Spanish speaking mission. His release interview with our Stake President was full of mixed emotions. We are still getting use to having him back home and he is still getting use to being home. Sometimes it seems like a dream, but it sure is nice to come home and find him here or to call home and have him answer the telephone. Its interesting and delightsome to see his increased levels of emotional and spiritual maturity.

His new email address is JaysonHess@gmail.com.

Here are a few photos of his first day back home.


Note the size difference between the name placards the "professional" drivers are holding compared to ours.


self explanatory



All of the immediate Hess clan except for Clayton's family.


Welcome home poster.

Savior of the World

Our Stake (Orange California) is preparing to perform a Church production entitled "Savior of the World" the first weekend in November. Kim was called as the Director, a job which she had never done before. I was planning on just setting up chairs and handing out programs at the performances; however Kim talked me into trying out for the chorus. It was no surprise that Zachary was cast as the Thomas the Apostle, a part with singing solos. However, I was quite surprised that I was cast as the Apostle Peter. There is much music and dialogue to memorize. We've been holding twice/week rehearsals since May. Most of them have been spiritual experience that have been hard to get through without crying. This promises to be a life changing experience.

http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,7174-1,00.html