Some of you will be happy to know that I'm finally beginning to act my age.

Journal Entry for July 4, 2008

My world is fundamentally different today than it has been up to this point. I turned one of the unknown number of remaining pages in my book of life and started a new chapter today. I knew this day would eventually come and I have actually looked forward to it in some respects. I believe that most fathers look forward to the day that their sons' gradually increasing strength and abilities finally reaches and exceeds the aging father’s gradually declining strength and abilities because it signals that those sons are becoming men and preparing to successfully assume the responsibilities and rigors of adulthood.

I remember Indian leg wrestling with my father when I was as a child of 8 or 9. Occasionally he would intentionally let me win by flipping himself over backwards when our legs would come together on the count of three. I knew that I was probably not really beating him, but it was fun anyway. We both knew that the balance had shifted when, upon his return from Vietnam, we got to wrestling and as a teenage of 17 I was able to pick most of his body off the floor and hold him upside down by his ankles.

I use to wrestle with our four boys when they were younger. They loved to play Pile-on-Daddy and gang up on me. As they grew into their teen years they tried very hard to pin me in a one-on-one contest. Sometimes the action got wild. Kim disliked this and usually left the room. I decided to call a halt to this practice when it was no longer a friendly rivalry and frustration turned to anger and people were getting hurt and the Spirit left our home.

After Judd returned from his mission, he worked hard to increase his upper body strength by doing push-ups. He worked until he was able to do more push-ups than I could. Then he challenged me to an arm wrestling contest. He was able to beat me left handed because that is his dominant hand, but I was still able to beat him right handed. Never the less, that was a milestone, a right of passage for him to be able to beat his father at a feat of strength.

Both Judd and Clayton are much smarter and intellectually gifted than their father. They are both in the process of combining these gifts with hard work to pursue and achieve goals that I could never attain. Katie is a hard worker and pays attention to details. Jayson also takes pride in working hard and has a good sense of humor. Zachary is very gifted artistically, much like his mother. I love each of our children and am proud of their accomplishments.

A tradition and right of passage for the males in our family has been climbing 14,500 foot Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental United States, located in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Judd climbed it with me the first time I climbed it when he was in his early teens. When Clayton was old enough to go, he and Judd and I tackled the mountain again. Clayton achieved his goal of standing on the summit. Jayson accomplished this feat and then some when he and a group of youth and leaders from our ward (church congregation) climbed halfway up, then came down due to a member of the group becoming temporarily separated from the group, then climbed to the top and back the following day- a very impressive accomplishment. Zachary made the trek to the top of Whitney in the summer of 2007 with a group of youth and leaders who hiked for a week through the southern Sierras and then hiked up the backside of Whitney to the summit and then down the traditional Whitney Portal trail. This was very difficult for Zach and he got sick several times, but I believe that this was a turning point for Zach that gave him confidence that he could do anything he put his mind to.

Our Stake (group of church congregations) has a tradition of sponsoring an Independence Day flag raising ceremony and patriotic program, preceded by an early morning 5K (a little more than 3 miles) run. I’ve been participating in the run for several years. Occasionally I am able to talk one of the boys into also participating, but its usually like pulling teeth. My finish times have gradually improved until last year I was able to finish in a very respectable time of 22:05 and finished 7th overall and 1st in the 50+ age category. I knew that I was not in as good of shape this year, partially because last year I trained for and completed three double century bike rides, plus a week-long 500 mile ride just before the 5K, and partially because of the strength I lost due to the cancer surgery and recovery towards the end of last year. My goal for this year was to finish around 25 minutes. Earlier this week I asked Zachary if he was going to run with me this year in the 4th of July 5K and he said “no because he was performing in the program”. I knew that he could do both, but am slowly learning to not push back against such decisions. Therefore, I was surprised when Zach announced last night that he was planning on participating in the 5K. He has occasionally run on the treadmill at the gym, but certainly has not been training for the race, and neither have I. His dancing and improving eating choices have gotten him into good shape. I could tell during the first few hundred yards of the race that I was not going to be able to maintain the same pace as last year. During the first half of the race, I struggled to catch and stay with two able runners, one of whom is a High School athlete and that other was a runner in his upper 40’s whom I had beaten by several minutes the year before. At the midpoint, I started to fade and could not keep up with them. I was tired, breathing hard, and had to really focus to keep from stopping. I forced myself to just put one foot in front of the other. After rounding the final corner and heading down the home stretch, I was really struggling. My legs were very weak and wobbly and I was bending over at the waist with each step nearly falling over because my legs would no longer hold me up. With only 200 yards to go, I had to stop and sit on the curb to keep from falling on my face. Several runners kindly asked if I was OK. I assured them that I was, even though I now realize that I was on the verge of complete exhaustion. After several minutes of rest, several individuals helped me get back up onto my aching legs and I struggled to continue. It was then that I noticed a group of people gathered around a car. Someone said something about the car having hit a girl. I wondered if I should stop to render aid, but quickly decided that I was in no shape to help anyone and there were plenty of people already there to help. I didn’t see who had been hit and do not recall recognizing anyone helping. I staggered towards the finish line one painful step at a time, but I was so “out of it” that I stopped short of the finish line on the lawn of the church. After a minute or so I realized my mistake and limped the few remaining yards across the finish line and received a piece of paper containing the number of my order of finish. I didn’t even bother to look at it, but headed for the nearest shade, where I crashed for the next 10 minutes or so. When I finally looked at the number, I was disgusted that it said 64 or some number close to it. I used that number to check my time and found that my time was in excess of 32 minutes, which was much worse than I anticipated. I reluctantly accepted a 3rd place ribbon for my age group, which I was awarded only because there were so few runners in the age group. Notwithstanding all my problems, I apparently still finished ahead of the guy in his 70’s! (who deserved his own age bracket!) Even though Zachary's legs are sore, he is not still limping with every step like his father.

In talking to Zachary later I found out some very interesting information. Even though he had needed to stop and power walk several times during the race, he passed me while I was sitting on the curb. He admitted feeling exhilaration at passing me and decided not to stop to help since others were already doing so and he also “knew I was OK because nothing ever hurts Dad”. Moments after passing me, both Zachary and the close friend he was running with (and who was directly in front of him) were both hit by the elderly driver (who turned out to be a member of our ward on her way to the patriotic program!). Her side view mirror brushed Zach’s arm and then the front of the car hit and knocked down his friend, who was very fortunate to not have been run over. Paramedics were called just to be on the safe side. She was strapped to a backboard with an uncomfortable neck brace and taken to the emergency room for a check, but is now back home bruised and sore, but apparently OK.

So, my youngest child has now beaten his father at something that I felt I used to be pretty good at. Even though he did not officially finish the race due to his stopping to render aid to his friend, since he passed me so close to the finish line while I was unable to continue, he is awarded a technical win over his old man. To show you just how much of a consummate professional Zach is, even after witnessing his close friend be hit by a car and staying by her side until aid arrived, he was able to proceed and do a wonderful job performing the song “I’m Proud to Be an American” during the patriotic program AND when the microphone went berserk a few sentences into the song and caused a sustained, ear splitting noise that required him to start over. He calmly walked to a different microphone, waited until the CD was restarted and started over and performed expertly as if nothing at all had happened that morning that might have ruffled his feathers.

Todd Richard Hess

My cousin Todd Richard Hess died on June 26, 2008 at the relatively young age of 47 from a sudden stroke and related injuries. His unexpected death was a shock to his large family and many friends. I was grateful to be able to attend his funeral last Wednesday. The service was inspiring and well attended, with all rows of the chapel, overflow, and cultural hall filled to capacity. I have resolved to try to be more like him. He was universally praised as an exceptionally hard worker, a loving and devoted father, and as a kind, thoughtful, well-liked person. He is the first of the grandchildren of Newell and Alta Hess to end his mortal sojourn. He will be missed by all who knew him. Here is a photo of his obituary (click to enlarge) and a link to some photos I took at the funeral.



http://picasaweb.google.com/CameronHess/20080702ToddRichardHessFuneral?authkey=YDOKHSAznzY

The Sweetest Place on Earth

Disneyland, located near where we live in Southern California, claims to be "The Happiest Place on Earth". I'm not going to debate their claim, but I will say that I have stayed away for about a decade, give or take a few years. Whatever you do, NEVER go there on the 4th of July!

After spending most of Friday stuck at O'Hare Airport in Chicago due to multiple United Airlines flight delays and gate changes, I finally arrived at the Harrisburg, PA airport to visit Clayton and Katie May and their family in Hershey, Pennsylvania where he is attending medical school at Penn State. Yesterday their family and I visited the Hershey company sponsored "Chocolate World", whose motto is "The Sweetest Place on Earth". As good as Hershey's chocolate is (and I definitely consume my share), I think that spending time with Clayton and his family will definitely be the sweetest part of this special long weekend. I am proud of Clayton for his success with his family, his hard work and perseverance in his career preparation, and the compassion and caring he demonstrates through giving service to others. Here are a few of the photos I've taken so far.

I have enjoyed two different light shows. First, on the flight from Chicago to Harrisburg we flew above and around some lightning storms that were very entertaining. Here is actual video of that flight.

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=9975A40C3BF811DDBC35000423CF4092

Secondly, I was pleased to once again see some fireflies around Clayton's home. We enjoyed chasing and trying to catch fireflies as kids when we lived in Michigan and Ohio. If was fun to see them again. It brought back pleasant memories. I wanted to videotape them, but there weren't enough. Here is a link to somebody else's firefly video:

http://www.fireflymagic.com/fireflies/firefly_magic_fireflies_video.htm

On Monday, Clayton and I drove to Gettysburg to tour the National Military Park there. We got an early start and after a drive of less than an hour we arrived shortly after it opened. Their new Visitors Center has been opened only about 2 months and it was very, nice. Lots of displays and several videos. The museum is composed of 3 sections: the first about the causes of the war and the part of the war prior to the battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Gettysburg itself, and the part of the war after Gettysburg and the post war era. We completely or partially skipped numerous exhibits and still spent four hours in the museum. Then we drove around and stopped at various parts of the battlefield while reading about them from a Visitors Guide brochure. We gave ourselves a 2-1/2 hour limit to view the battlefield and had to skip some sites and hurry at the rest. We returned back home by 4pm and enjoyed some dinner with Katie May and her girls.

Here are some photos I took during out trip to the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
http://picasaweb.google.com/CameronHess/June2008GettysburgTrip

OCMCO

A friend who sings in the relatively new Orange County Mormon Chorale Organization (OCMCO) (http://www.ocmco.org/) gave Kim and I tickets to attend their 1st annual patriotic concert (Land that We Love) held last Wednesday night at the relatively new and fabulously beautiful Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Complex. This concert hall is the kind of venue I would expect in New York or Vienna. It is amazing. It has four wavy balconies and a very high ceiling from which are suspended 3 sets of adjustable acoustic baffles that look like giant curved xylophone keys. Even the lobby is a work of art. I have included a few of my own low fidelity cell phone camera photos, but be sure to checkout the photo gallery on this webpage: http://www.ocpac.org/home/Content/ContentDisplay.aspx?NavID=546#
The concert was first rate. One of the co-conductors, Dr. Brett Stewart, supervised the Newport Beach Temple dedication choirs 3 years ago when Kim was asked to direct one of the choirs. He has established choirs for different age groups, with the youngest being young Primary-age children. All the choirs performed during the concert. The other co-conductor, Brandon Stewart (brother) is completing a Masters of Music from Julliard School of Music and is a world class pianist. Accompanied by the Orange County Mormon Orchestra, he thrilled the audience with a wonderful rendition of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". Kim and I enjoyed a wonderful evening of world class music in an world class venue.

OCHSA Class of 2008

Its official. Kim and I are now "middle age". Our youngest child has graduated from High School. Gulp. With Fathers Day a little more than a week away, I'll probably be receiving gift certificates and two-for-one discount coupons for the Old Folks home...or maybe a layaway plan for a cemetery plot.

Tonight we attended the graduation ceremonies for the Orange County High School of the Arts- Class of 2008. When was the last time YOU attended a High School graduation where members of the faculty played guitars and sang?! The school meets a converted 7-story bank building. Many of the Conservatories rehearse across the street in a converted church. Only at OCHSA!

Here is a clip from Zach's graduation.



P.S. CMD stands for Commercial Dance, the Conservatory he's been a member of during his junior and senior high school years at OCHSA.

Noteable Hess Family Events

Thursday night we were contacted by student body leaders at Saddleback High School, where Judd has been teaching English and serving as the yearbook adviser for several years, to invite his family to surprise him by attending a school assembly the following day at which it would be publicly announced that "Mr. Hess" had been selected "Teacher of the Year" for 2008 by the students. Kim and I and Katie and Michele and her Mom were able to attend, and Zach would very much have liked to attended had his school commitments so permitted. This was a "Renaissance Assembly" with a Harry Potter theme with lots of Harry Potter characters depicted on wall posters. The student body leaders said that the idea was to help the students feel that it is "cool" to be smart and to learn...kind of a learning renaissance theme. Reportedly, admittance to this assembly had originally been danged as a carrot only for those students with a 2008 GPA of 2.5 or higher, but then administrators changed their mind and let everyone in, probably to the chagrin of those who had worked hard to make the cut. School assemblies are sure different than when I went to High School. Back then the teachers had to try to corral the kids to make sure they attended. Now they have security at the doors to check for wristbands to make sure that no non-student trouble makers get in. They had a very loud sound system, coupled with a programmable, rotating spotlight system, topped off with a laser light system that definitely kept you awake, even with the house lights dimmed. It was very evident that a lot of planning and work had gone into the preparation for this assembly. After several cheerleader and pep squad dance numbers, Judd was called up out of the audience to play a game of "Are you smarter than a Twelfth Grader?". With infrequent assistance from a student 'helper', I think he answered all the questions correctly. After the top ten students from the Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes were introduced, Judd was called back out of the audience and announced as teacher of the year and we were led out from behind a projection screen to greet him at center court of the gym. He was pleased and very surprised that we were there to share this honor with him. We're all proud of him and glad that he's been able to find satisfaction in applying his talents to help others. We're grateful that he is being recognized by others for the talents and abilities and potential that his family has known about all his life. In addition, he is nearly finished with his Masters degree. We love Judd and are grateful and pleased with his professional success. It was wonderful to see him so happy. Here are photos of Judd with family and students.




Thursday and Friday night the Commercial Dance Conservatory (CMD) of the Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA) performed their year-end Student Choreography Concert at the Pavilion Theater in Santa Ana. Zachary's choreographed dance was one of those selected to be performed. He and another student also recorded lyrics that were played while the Senior CMD students performed their senior dance number at the end of the concert. Here are some photos from the event. The photo on the left is of Zachary and another student both receiving "Triple Threat" awards, due their abilities to dance and sing and act, where as most of the other CMD students just dance. Each of the graduating CMD seniors were asked to prepare a short biography and photo to post on a display board in the theater hallway. The other photo is Zach's entry. The video is a 30-second snippet of the CMD seniors performing their "senior dance" which they all choreographed and performed themselves. I am told that even though the video is large in size (57MB), that it should be playable by everyone since it does not need to be downloaded to your local computer.


Even though Zachary has many good friends at OCHSA that he will miss and even though it has been an environment where for 6 years it has been safe for him to be himself and develop his talents without the ridicule and teasing from other students (and pressure from teachers for this square peg to fit into their round hole) that he experienced while attending "regular" public schools, and even though CMD has been successful in helping him enhance his dancing skills and abilities, his parents are looking forward to Zach attending Brigham Young University where he can take his talents to a whole new level as he learns even more than he already knows the importance of developing and sharing his talents in a Gospel standards environment to uplift and entertain for the betterment of both performers and audience alike.

Speaking of Whirlwinds...

We had some wild weather in Southern California this past week. Because the weather.com website had forecast just a 10% chance of rain for our area on Thursday, I rode my bicycle to work, as usual. The forecast for the entire week had been for 10-20% chance of scattered showers with highs in the upper 60's and lower 70's. By mid-morning on Thursday, it was very obvious that the weather forecast was dead wrong, all due to a strong cut-off low circulating over the region. Various parts of Southern California experienced snow, hail, heavy rain with flooding and accompanying mud and debris slides in areas affected by wildfires last fall, as well as several tornadoes which overturned semi-trucks and even trains! It was surreal to recheck the current weather forecast on the Internet in the middle of all this wild weather and still see only a 10% chance of rain continuing to be predicted for the rest of the day, even though the same website was posting Flash Flood Warnings (current or imminent flooding). Check out these newspaper articles and photographs on the weather and its effects.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/across-2050232
http://www.ocregister.com/community/mud-slams-into-2049428-canyon-homes

Even though the most severe part of the storm was over by quitting time, I made arrangements to get a ride home from work. We continue to have cool, unsettled weather as we head into the Memorial Day weekend, when we usually have weather appropriate for pool parties. Not this year!

Another whirlwind trip to Utah

This past week Kim and Zach and I and Katie, Larry, Amarah, and Kaylee drove up to northern Utah for an extended Hess family wedding and a Riggs family reunion. My brother's oldest son Matthew got married. See my niece Emily's flicker website for photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/readyformycloseupmrdemille/with/2464702454/

Kim's side of the family also held a family reunion for all descendants of her parents. See her brother Rob's blog for more details. http://robintrish.blogspot.com/
Click on the following link to see some photos I took at the reunion.
http://picasaweb.google.com/CameronHess/2008RiggsFamilyReunion?authkey=2FTKV9bFqfI

Prince Zachary, the charming?

Zach is on a roll!

Last month he participated in a "mock" audition held by Disney at Zach's school for the purpose of giving the attendees experience in the audition process. Perhaps as a result of that audition, and the resume and photo Zach provided, he was invited to attend a real audition last Thursday and was asked to tryout for the role of Prince Charming in Disneyland's Electric Light Parade. There were so many people trying out for various jobs that Zach did not get home until 1:30 in the morning. What was odd, is that he was not asked to sing or dance. The judges made their decision only by looking at the contestants and had them try on a fancy white jacket with red shoulder epaulets. He thinks he has the job, but is waiting for more details.

As for myself, for the past year or so my employment with Parker Hannifin has been focused almost exclusively on working to help implement a product lifecycle management and collaborative development software tool called Enovia MatrixOne. This has required, and will continue to require, my traveling more than usual, which I do not relish.
http://www.3ds.com/products/enovia/products/enovia-matrixone/products/

Proud parents announce that Zachary makes BYU Young Ambassadors!

Two weeks ago Zachary auditioned for the BYU Young Ambassadors (premiere singing-dancing performance group) and for the BYU Dancer's Company (premiere modern dance performing group). Hundreds of current and incoming students tried out for these groups and any of them would be thrilled to make either of these premiere groups by the time they are Seniors. Zach has been invited to join both groups as an incoming Freshman, a rare accomplishment. Not too shabby! He will only be able to join one or the other. I think its a pretty safe bet that he will chose Young Ambassadors.

http://pam.byu.edu/similarpage.asp?title=Young%20Ambassadors
http://pam.byu.edu/similarpage.asp?title=Dancers

"One, Three, Two"

Back on January 28th of this year while I was still recovering from colon cancer surgery, my son Clayton thoughtfully wrote a poem that combined a story about his daughter learning to count and his feelings when he learned that my November colonoscopy had found colon cancer, which was originally diagnosed at stage 3, then reduced to stage 2 following successful surgery. Clayton called me today to share that he submitted the poem to his Humanities class and it won 1st prize and is being published in the annual issue of the Penn State Medical School magazine.

"One, Three, Two"

"Not polyps," son, "Stage one, at least."
Dad's telephone-voice silenced our feast,
Haunting what-if's tormented me.
And next I heard, "one" became "three."

My daughter, learning to count to five,
Will she know "Gampah," will he survive?
"One…" Yes, child, what's next? She says, "Thwee"
No, darling, what lies in between?

Mom's elated call interrupts us:
News? What corrected diagnosis?

"Of course I know, Grandpa I do,
What comes next?"

Her answer back: "two."

-Clayton Hess

BYU Young Ambassadors tryouts

Zach and his vocal coach (Kim) and our granddaughter Kaylee drove up to Provo last Wednesday so that Zachary could tryout for BYU's premiere singing/dance touring group, The Young Ambassadors. http://music.byu.edu/ya/

We've been told that it is rare for freshmen to make the group. Zach was the best male dancer in his audition group and also sang well. If he doesn't make it this year, it will be because of his youth (he'll be a 17 year old freshman), not his talent. He also tried out for, and made the callback cut for, the premiere modern dance group at the Y, but the callback audition time overlapped with the Y.A. call back times. So, we'll have to see what happens if both groups want him. He was also able to do some vocal recording with a musically talented former member of the Orange Stake who now lives in Utah Valley. Kaylee *loved* playing with their live bunny. We are assuming that Zachary will find out about Young Ambassadors in the next few weeks after the Y.A. Directors analyze the audition videos and pray about their decision. One of the things we all like about the group is that their values and objectives are gospel-centered.

I spent most of last week in Fort Worth, Texas on business. I was awoken early Thursday morning in my hotel room by *wild* weather (severe thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes, high winds, etc.). What a show! Reminded me of the news network feeds of the rain and winds as Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans.

I started the day thinking that I was safe from the American Airlines flight cancellation nightmare at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport because my AA return flight was on a Boeing 737, not an MD-80. WRONG! I received a text message that my Thursday night American Airlines flight to SLC was canceled! I was able to escape the disaster by cutting short a training class and taking an earlier Delta flight to SLC where I joined the family in SLC on Thursday evening to spend a long weekend with them and extended family members. I ended up sitting by a very sharp missionary returning from Brazil, Elder Norris, who studied 2 years at the Air Force Academy prior to serving a mission. As it turns out, he was traveling with a sister missionary who was also returning from Brazil. I didn't realize it until I saw them greeting their families at the airport, but the sister missionary was my sister-in-law Lori's niece!

Kim and I were able to see Jayson and Celeste's nearly empty apartment (anybody in the SLC area have any furniture they wanna donate?) and take them out for breakfast. We drove back late Sunday and Monday morning. We managed to miss the record breaking, near 100 degree temperatures on Sunday in Southern California. Quite a contrast from the light snow I experienced on the east bench of Bountiful last Thursday evening.

And...most important of all......(drum roll please).....I finally got my taxes done...with a whole day to mail em.

If you're a music lover, you'll love this website!

http://www.pandora.com/

Thanks to Emily for the tip.
http://readyformycloseupmrdemille.blogspot.com/2008/04/pandoras-box.html

L.A.Times article about Mormons and Muslims

Checkout this interesting article about Mormons and Muslims.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-morlims2apr02,1,2488142.story

marriage of Jayson Hess and Celeste Diaz

Jayson Hess and Celeste Diaz were married in a 10:30am sealing ceremony in the Newport Beach LDS Temple. It was a wonderful experience and the words of counsel by Sealer LeMar Baron were very appropriate and insightful. Photos and videos were taken of the bride and groom and assembled guests afterwards. I do not yet have access to those, just the photos I took with my cell phone camera. We assembled at the El Torito restaurant in Tustin for lunch. There was an evening reception at the Newport Boulevard church building. It was even more beautiful than anticipated, due to some last minute work by friends. Considering that the event conflicted with a Stake Spring Youth Activity at the Stake Center, the attendance was pretty good, but we still had lots of wedding cake, pasta, sauce, and breadsticks left over. Due to the assistance of kinds friends and family, the cleanup went much faster than I anticipated. The newlyweds stayed local for a few days and then flew to Texas for another reception hosted by the Diaz family. Jayson and Celeste are driving back to Southern California and will then rent a trailer to haul furniture and gifts to Salt Lake city, where they plan to live with Celeste's brother and his family until they both get jobs and can into their own place.

I have uploaded to my Picasa Web Album the best of the few photos from the time surrounding the wedding that I currently have access to.

http://tinyurl.com/2xcxs5

I hear that growing older is better than the alternative

I hear that aches and pains are just part of the aging process, so I try to ignore them. However, the ache in my hip is getting harder to ignore. So I decided to give my legs a few days rest by not biking to work Thursday and today(Friday), totaling 4 days rest with the weekend. If this helps, I'll have to consider a Mon,Wed,Fri riding schedule rather than Mon-Fri. Last year at this time I was completing 2 double centuries just 2 weeks apart. This year I feel like I'm continuing the physical decline that began with the cancer diagnosis last fall. Its ironic that I'm writing this while waiting in the doctor's office for a post-surgery follow-up appointment. (BTW, I ended up waiting 2 hours and 10 minutes for my turn with the doctor. I finally gave up and went back to work)

On a more upbeat note, the wedding and reception were nice and I will be posting photos and stories as soon as I have a breather from the hectic schedule. Things are noticeably quieter and the food bill noticeably less since Jayson left.

pre-marriage festivities

Since Clayton and his family are in town for Jayson's wedding this weekend, we've enjoyed some family activities together. Last Saturday the boys and I went ATV riding at Windy Point near Palm Springs, after enjoying breakfast at a local restaurant. We brought back plenty of sand in our hair and clothes, managed to avoid getting sunburned for the afternoon family photo shoot, a sample of which photos should eventually find its way onto this blog.


On Monday night, Jayson's sibs put on an entertaining and humorous Nearlywed Game for Jayson and Celeste. They also gave them a bag of gifts that they might need to make it through the first few weeks of marriage while they are driving to/from the reception in Texas and up to Utah. The whole extended family attended. It was great to watch the cousins play together.



Sorry about the big size of this relatively short video. I'm still learning how to setup the camera to take lower quality (and smaller size) videos.

nonpolypoid colorectal neoplasms

I include this interesting New York Times article about difficult to spot, but more dangerous, low profile colon lesions- nonpolypoid colorectal neoplasms(NP-CRNs)- for the benefit of those who might be reading my blog to learn more about colon cancer.

http://tinyurl.com/yrm45s
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/299/9/1027

THE Decision

After a great deal of research, thoughtful consideration, and prayer, I've made the decision to decline my oncologist's soft recommendation to receive post-surgical chemotherapy. To the best of my doctors' knowledge, there is no evidence of any remaining cancer. I'm choosing to not undergo an invasive and expensive six month cycle of treatments which doctors indirectly admit has a 97% chance of being either unnecessary or ineffective in preventing a recurrence within 5 years. I will continue to have periodic follow-up appointments for physical exams, blood work, CATScans, colonoscopies, and discussion of any potential symptoms to enable the docs to discover any potential recurrence as early as possible.

Thank you for your ongoing love, support, and prayers.

MDT at BYU for Z-A-K!

A follow up phone call this morning seems to confirm the letter Zachary received yesterday from BYU informing him that he has been accepted into Brigham Young University's Music Dance Theatre (MDT) Department for next year. We're all pretty excited. I was told (no, they didn't wait for Dad to get home before opening the letter) that there was some very loud hootin' and hollerin' when the letter was read. This has been Zach's dream for some time now. MDT is part of Theatre and Media Arts in the Y's College of Fine Arts and Communication. http://music.byu.edu/ya/MDT/


He plans to return in April to audition for their elite Young Ambassadors touring performance group.
http://music.byu.edu/ya/

my new gadget

Even though I work in computer support, I'm not as much of a geek as you might think. In fact, my PCs run on old, obsolete hardware that I buy from work which they would otherwise sell by the pound to computer junk dealers. I am seldom one of the first to get the latest electronic gadget. This time may be an exception. This smartphone was announced less than 5 months ago, so its not quite obsolete, yet.

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-smartphones/?tag=dir
http://tinyurl.com/ypsrmq
http://blip.tv/file/427772

The doctor has given me 1 week...

Back on January 2nd, I wrote about my initial thoughts regarding chemotherapy.

http://camswebpage.blogspot.com/2008/01/to-chemo-or-not-to-chemo-that-is.html

Today I had my first official office visit with my oncologist (Dr. Holcomb) to discuss adjuvant (post operative) chemotherapy. It seemed fitting that it was a cold, grey, drizzly morning, because its how I was feeling inside. I met with Dr. Holcomb briefly in the hospital while recuperating from surgery. He's been Chief of Hematology/Oncology at UC Irvine Hospital for 11 years and was recently appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Research. Basically, he is their #1 cancer guy. Here are a couple of reference webpages about him.

http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/som/deptmed/?p=80

http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/cancer/all_pdf_files/appointment%20of%20holcombe.pdf

We reviewed my case and he pretty much reiterated what he told me before. Since there is no detectable evidence of any remaining cancer (cancer free margins on the colon resection, negative lymph node involvement, normal tumor marker blood tests), statistically speaking a stage 2 colon cancer patient like myself has about an 80% chance of cancer not reoccurring or metastasizing to other organs (ie. liver and/or lungs) for 5 years, during which time I would be in "remission" and after which time I would be classified as "cured". Oddly enough, this does not include the chance of additional polyps (cancerous or otherwise) forming again in the colon. So, there is about a 20% chance of recurrence in other "distant" organs within 5 years.

The doctor lightly recommended that I receive chemotherapy, but isn't going to twist my arm. He told me that if I were his son, he would recommend chemo. He said that I'm "young" and now is the time to do it soon after surgery. If I consent to chemotherapy, my chances for non-recurrence within 5 years increase to about 83%. Another way to look at it is that even with chemo, the changes of recurrence (~17%) are nearly 6 times greater than the chances of the chemo having any positive effect. Hmm.

Other Factors To Consider

The doc is recommending FOLFOX, which is a cocktail of three different drugs.

FOL– Folinic acid (leucovorin) - sometimes called FA

F – Fluorouracil 5FU

OX – oxaliplatin

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=15970

The drugs would be administered every 2 weeks for 6 months. The drugs are given via a device called a Port-a-Cath that is surgically implanted just under the skin in the upper chest.

This website says the cost of this procedure alone is about $5,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-a-Cath

Day 1 of each 2-week cycle begins with FOLFOX being administered at their "Infusion Center" for 3-4 hours, after which you go home with a small, portable injection pump still attached to the Port-a-Cath. Patients return to the facility on day 3 to have the needle and injection pump removed. Patients recover from the drugs on days 4-14 before repeating the cycle. Common side effects include fatigue, numbness or tingling in fingers and toes, nausea, and increased risk of infection or illness due to decreased bone marrow.

I figured that chemo was not cheap, but I didn't realize just how expensive it is until I asked. The doctor said that chemo costs about $20,000/month, or in other words, about $10,000 per 2-week cycle. Wow! The doctor said most of the cost is for the medicine itself. Pharmaceutical companies making that stuff must be doing quite well. And we think that a gallon of gasoline is expensive! We would probably exceed our health insurance yearly deductible and out of pocket maximum expense just having the Port-A-Cath installed.

Doctor Holcombe wants me to tell him my decision on whether I will receive chemo by next Friday, which just happens to be leap day, February 29th.

Interestingly enough, I completed my first double century bike ride one year ago this week.

http://camswebpage.blogspot.com/2007/02/2007-butterfield-double-century.html

Sorry about the long paragraphs.

For some reason the spaces between paragraphs are repeatedly being removed from this post.

BOYCOTT BERKLEY!

http://www.boycottberkeley.org/

Dishonorary Hall of Shame members:
City of Berkley Mayor Tom Bates
City of Berkley District 3 Councilman Max Anderson
City of Berkley District 4 Councilwoman Dona Spring

If these city "leaders" attempt to leave the Berkley City limits and enter the United States, they should have their persons and vehicles searched prior to having their U. S. passports confiscated.

Old age & treachery will overcome youth & skill

My favorite character on the old M*A*S*H TV show from the 1970's and 80's was B.J. Honeycutt. He was the even keeled, seemingly regular guy who was responsible for most of the "anonymous" practical jokes whose humor helped keep everybody sane in a seemingly insane world.

Jayson and Zachary are always telling me that I have no sense of humor because I don't usually don't find their brand of humor amusing. Tonight I got them so good and showed them that their old man has a sneaky and delightful sense of humor.

I brought home a demo cell phone from work for testing to see if I want to upgrade. The boys even saw the phone and commented on how maybe now I might be able to text faster since the phone has a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Its been hard to text with my current phone because it won't let me send text messages to people in my cell phone voice address book, but requires a separate and redundant text message address book, which I didn't want to manually keep in sync. Another reason I have been slow when sending text messages is because I don't practice for hours everyday using a telephone keypad to send cryptic shorthand alphanumerical messages like some people I know.

Part way through the evening, I decided to send both Jayson and Zachary text messages on their cell phones. I thought for sure they'd know it was me because I said something to the effect, "How's THIS for fast texting?" and sent the message several times. I expected them to know it was me. They didn't, because they didn't recognize the cell phone number. They answered back and asked who I was. The hook was set. I had em! I spent the better part of an hour texting both of them and asking them questions and telling them things about themselves that only someone close to them would know. They became more and more annoyed and insisted that I tell them who I was. I gave them so many hints, which went right over their heads. I could hear them laughing and comparing text messages with each other. They kept getting frustrated and asking me to identify myself. They wanted to know how I knew both of them and how did I get their phone numbers. I repeatedly sent the message, "Who's your Daddy?". They didn't get the hint. Finally I made reference to the movie, "Dumb and Dumber", which had been a topic of discussion at a recent family meeting. They still didn't get the hint, but their smart mother, who was seated next to them, immediately recognized the hint and told them that it must be their father. The tumblers must have finally clicked because they both came running into the room where I was. They asked if I had been texting them. I kept a straight face, but eventually they found the new phone on the floor by the side of the desk where I had sort of hidden it. Even though we had a long, good laugh together, I think they were a little sad to have the mystery come to an end. They won't soon forget being the objects of their dear old Dad's practical joke. This one will be told and retold and enjoyed again and again.

Valentines Day

I took the day off work to try and make some progress on my personal to-do list, which includes working on wedding invitations, yard work, family history, and bishopric duties.

Kim and I and Jayson enjoyed a nice evening at the temple together, along with two other couples from our ward, where we had the opportunity to perform sealings, on Valentines Day no less. I took the opportunity to sneak a kiss across the altar, which I can't recall doing since Kim and I were married. Speaking of marriage, the sealer that evening, LaMar Baron, is the same man who will perform the marriage ceremony for Jayson and Celeste exactly one month later on March 14th.

We came home to enjoy some Marie Calendar pies Kim had bought ahead of time and unexpectedly found Zach and his date enjoying a candlelight dinner and a movie. Not wanting to intrude, we quickly made other plans and went to Marie Calendars for a late dinner and pie. A word of warning. The pie selection an hour from closing on Valentines Day is rather limited.

It must be Tuesday.

I can remember (and maybe so can some of you) that a hamburger addict in the old Popeye cartoons named Whimpy is always saying (with a slight British accent), "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today". Eventually we all have to settle with our creditors or those to whom we owe money for services.

The medical bills have been rolling in for services rendered in November and December. I do not know if all the medical professionals and facilities have already submitted invoices for all their services to the insurance company or if more are on the way. 21st Century medical procedures are pretty amazing, but so is the price tag. Wow! All I can say is, Clayton you're getting into the right racket...er I mean profession. My insurance company medical claim summary shows nearly 3 dozen claims in the past 3 months. The bill from my colorectal surgeon alone is...drum roll please...$73,116.00. I expected it to be about 1/10th that much. Since this doctor is associated with the hospital, I sure hope his bill includes the cost for the hospital itself. The total for all claims submitted is a whopping $109,213.70.

Now of course the insurance company talks the medical service providers into discounting their charges somewhat and the insurance company itself covers a good portion of the bill; however, medical services billing is still a black art that completely eludes me, and I suspect most other mortals. I keep asking myself why is medical care so extremely expensive. I know part of the reason is because the costs for all services provided by all health care providers is spread across those who have the ability to pay, including the costs of services for those who do not have insurance or the means to pay themselves. Another reason is that medical professionals (doctors in particular) must prepare for many years and at great expense to acquire the knowledge and expertise to be able to practice medicine in the 21st Century. They deserve fair compensation for their services and their investment in time and money. Another factor in high medical costs are malpractice lawsuits. I agree that medical professionals make mistakes or sometimes are downright negligent, with serious or even fatal consequences to their patients. But should juries award outrageous settlements that make malpractice insurance unaffordable, drives good doctors out of business, keeps many lawyers employed, and greatly increases the costs of medical services for the rest of us? In my own situation, I had to go back into the hospital for an extra week, at great additional cost, because my bowel sutures were not watertight. Should this be a sueable offense even if the doctor has done his best effort?

So, is the answer to more affordable health care costs the adoption of government administered universal health care or socialized medicine? I don't think so. I read where one of the Presidental candidates was talking about forcing everyone to buy health insurance and even garnishing their wages if they didn't do it voluntarily. No thank you! Should all patients, regardless of ability to pay, have unlimited access to all available health care resources? I tend to think not. Should everyone receive basic humanitarian care? Probably. But, if a limit has to be set, where should that line be drawn for people who can't afford to pay? Where is the line for families who can afford to pay or have insurance? To what extent should insurance companies be required to fund medical procedures to attempt to extend the live of of someone one year? One month? One week? Tough questions, I know...but I would enjoy learning what other family and friends think and feel about these financial and morality issues. You are welcome to respectfully share you opinions, even if they differ from my own.

reserve March 14th

The invitations are in process and hopefully will be done soon. But until they do arrive, reserve the evening of Friday, March 14th. Jayson is marrying Celeste Diaz of San Angelo, Texas and there will be a reception for them that evening at the LDS Church on Newport Avenue in Santa Ana from 6-8pm.

I'm back in...the saddle...again

I'm pretty sure it's not quite what Gene Autry had in mind when he was singing those lyrics, but it's appropriate for this blog posting.

I got up early and repaired a broken spoke on the front wheel of my bike and then rode my bicycle today for the first time since my surgery 10 weeks ago today. The neon temperature sign read 34 degrees as I rode the 12.2 miles to work on this beautiful, clear morning. I think that sign has a history of being a couple of degrees too low, but it was still cold enough to need plastic bags inside of two pair of socks, leggings, a wind breaker over my riding jersey, ear band, and ski gloves. I could definitely tell that I've lost a lot of conditioning and leg strength, but at least I made it. No flats, either! The ride home was much warmer and noticeably easier. My legs are a bit sore, but I'll be OK. I plan to ride again tomorrow, weather permitting. A good friend asked me last night how I was doing and I told him that I'm feeling old and that it would be real easy to just coast...coast through my 50's, into a Lazy-Boy recliner and a larger size of clothes as I wait to qualify for a senior citizen discount at all the restaurants. I don't want to go there.

Kiss Hershey back

I'm pleased and proud of Clayton for his participation in this grass roots community improvement undertaking.

http://kisshersheyback.blogspot.com/

Gordon B. Hinckley

President Gordon Bitner Hinckley, the President and Prophet, Seer, and Revelator of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away tonight (1/27/08) around 7pm MST in his Salt Lake City apartment surrounded by family. He died of causes incident to age at the age of 97. He was a very active and dedicated servant of the Lord right until the end. Though short in stature, he was a giant among men and even among other Church leaders. He will go down in history as one of the greatest of the modern day prophets. His amazing temple building program (http://tinyurl.com/of8ve) and the Proclamation on the Family (http://tinyurl.com/3dxjsk) are just two of the many accomplishments for which he will be remembered and revered. He has more than earned the long awaited reunion with his beloved Marjorie which he is now enjoying.

Members of the Orange California Stake were grateful to have heard him speak one last time after last October General Conference during a satellite broadcast for our Stake Conference two weeks ago on January 13th. Here are the somewhat cryptic notes I took during his talk:

Need for love, caring, trust in marriage; abuse & dictatorship is sinful; repent and live gospel with greater devotion; expect and withstand adversity. Four steps for strengthening marriages and families:
1- Mutual respect; cherish differences; overlook weaknesses; focus on virtues; live worth of being respected
2- Give a soft answer; employ soft communication; still small voice of peace and love; be slow to anger
3- Financial honesty; limited extravagance; allow mutual freedom for limited, minor expenditures but discuss and agree upon major purchases
4- Family Prayer

Spotlight Award Master Class

As mentioned in a previous blog posting (http://camswebpage.blogspot.com/2007/12/lotsa-news.html),
Zachary qualified for the semi-final round of the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards. We received a letter stating that Zach was the only remaining competitor from Orange County. Last weekend he attended a master class where the musical theatre candidates from among the 15 semi-finalists in the non-classical voice competition received group and personal coaching from a professional. Here is a group picture taken at that event. The reason there are not 15 High School students in the photo is that apparently the competitors in other voice categories like Gospel or Jazz attended a different class. The semi-final competition is this weekend.

Zach: BYU Music Dance Theatre Department audition

Zach flew to SLC today for his audition tomorrow at Brigham Young University to seek acceptance into BYU's Music Dance Theatre Department

http://cfac.byu.edu/index.php?id=174

If he is accepted, he later plans to audition for acceptance into the elite BYU Young Ambassadors performing group.

http://pam.byu.edu/similarpage.asp?title=Young%20Ambassadors

Zach is schedule to fly back this evening. Hopefully his flight will arrive before the approaching storm.

Scientific breakthrough: turning lead into gold!

Well....almost. Time Magazine's top scientific discovery of 2007 is reportedly the biological equivalent of turning lead into gold. This amazing gene manipulation process converts normal skin cells into differentiateable (transformable into all other kinds of cells) stem cells without the need to harvest human embryos and aborted fetuses. I wonder why we haven't heard more about this stem cell breakthrough on the news?! Could it be possible that some parts of society actually want a convenient excuse to continue supporting non-medically necessary abortions?

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686252_1690920,00.html
http://www.wired.com/medtech/stemcells/news/2007/11/skin_cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell

carpe diem...sieze the day

BSA Wood Badge beading ceremony

At a Court of Honor on this very rainy evening, I received my Boy Scout Adult Leader Training Wood Badge beads, which completes a goal I set for myself back in the Autumn of 2006. Our Scoutmaster for Wood Badge WE4-39-2-06, Mark Guttenplan, conducted my beading ceremony. Rick Christensen, President Graham, and fellow Fox Patrol member David Price were pressed into service to assist.

The following webpages give a little insight into the process:
http://camswebpage.blogspot.com/2007/11/2007-scouting-for-food.html
http://www.woodbadge.org

sometimes kids (& grandkids) do the nicest things

http://claytonandkatiemay.blogspot.com/2008/01/happy-birthday-grandma.html
http://kthodges.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-mother.html

Mormon Helping Hands

Besides driving hundreds of thousands of people from their residences and destroying hundreds of homes, the severe November wildfires in Southern California left many steep hillsides devoid of the vegetation that helps hold the soil in place during rain storms. There is great concern about severe soil erosion and mudslides this winter in the areas affected by the fires. See the following article. (http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1955426.php)

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints frequently pitch in and help out when their neighbors need help, especially when a disaster strikes. Several local stakes (groups of congregations) of the Church having been helping with clean up and damage control efforts in the interim months. The volunteers wear yellow t-shirts with the caption "Mormon Helping Hands".

Our stake has had several such service projects scheduled, but today's was the first not cancelled due to poor weather or other issues. This morning about 40 members of our stake worked in the Modjeska and Williams Canyons areas (http://tinyurl.com/2qq2rw) filling sand bags, hauling straw bales, and placing them along drainage areas to control the runoff and steer it away from homes. The work was hard and we're going to be stiff and sore, but it felt good to help out the folks whose home are threatened. Here are a few of the photos I took. Click on the photos to see enlarged versions.

Kaylee's birthday party

Some photos of Kaylee's party.
(click to enlarge)

Chutes and Ladders

My LEAST favorite board game is Chutes and Ladders. (http://www.boardgames.com/chutandlad.html) It is a child's game whose play and outcome is totally determined by the roll of the dice, with no skill or strategy whatsoever. Just when you think you are making progress towards the finish line, you land on a "chute" and slide back down several rows and spend the next few turns trying to get back to where you were.

Sometimes my to-do list is like that. Just when I begin to make some progress, something important that I have already completed breaks or requires attention again, causing me to have to reinsert unscheduled and previously completed tasks at the top of my to-do list. Very frustrating.

It was very windy last night. Our roof was rattling. I saw a distant power transformer blowup and light up the night sky. There have been sporadic wind related power outages.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/power-winds-road-1961163-santa-canyon
The power flickered off and on at our house long enough to reboot our home computer while I was working on it. Ever since that happened, our DSL Internet connection has not worked. I spent several hours troubleshooting it, but finally gave up and went to bed and woke up tired. Sometimes the twists and turns of life remind me of playing Chutes and Ladders. It's my least favorite game.

Kaylee has reached the BIG five dot oh

Our granddaughter Kaylee Faith Hodges turned five years old today. Some of her family members accompanied her to dinner tonight at El Torito (http://eltorito.com), where she enjoyed her favorite food...the complimentary chips and salsa. Grandma baked her a chocolate cake from scratch with pink frosting. Tomorrow night Kaylee has invited friends and family to join her at Hullaballos for a big birthday party. (http://hullabaloosclubhouse.com)

My first real attempt at trying to get back to "normal"

After being out of town on business for a few days, I took a day of vacation on Thursday. Jayson and I went jogging in the morning. Except for a few minutes on a stair stepper machine a few days earlier, this was my first real attempt at exercise since my surgery 6 weeks ago. We slowly jogged about 3 miles in 30 minutes. Except for tight leg muscles, which I assumed was due to the cool temperatures, I felt perfectly fine during and after the run...that is, until the next day, when I was quite surprised at how sore and stiff my leg muscles were. I haven't been back on the bike, yet, in part due to some repairs which I have yet to accomplish. I can see that its going to be important to resume activities gradually. No church basketball just yet.

Our ward participated in a stake temple day on Thursday. Since there was an overabundance of unreserved capacity in various service opportunities, I tried to make the most of the situation by attending 3 endowment sessions, two initiatory "sessions", and one sealing "session" during the afternoon and evening. I was grateful to have had the strength to enjoy the rare opportunity of spending most of the day in the House of the Lord.

Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?

We buy extra long butane lighters for use on our barbecue and our kitchen gas range whose auto-lighter no longer works. When it was time to replace our old lighter that was running out of fuel, Kim bought what was available and on sale, probably at Big Lots.

When I saw the new lighter, I was shocked that any company would produce such a product. The butane lighter was in the likeness of the old claymation cartoon character "Gumby" (http://www.gumby.com). I thought to myself, "Why would anyone want to be liable for making a potentially dangerous product like a butane lighter in the shape of a children's toy?" The advertising on the display box states that the lighter is "child resistant". The spring on the trigger lever is quite strong, but a determined child using both hands could probably activate it. The butane lighter is manufactured in China (isn't EVERYTHING?...don't get me started on THAT topic!) by Gibson Enterprises (http://www.gibsonent.com) for Prema Toy Company.

As a sidelight, even though Prema Toys doesn't have a website of their own, their claim to fame over the years has been suing a 12 year old boy nicknamed "Pokey" for trademark infringement because his father gave him a gift of a pokey.org website registered in the child's name. For those of you too young to remember, Pokey was the name of the horse who was Gumby's sidekick.
(http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1998/04/11846)

My 1st attempt at posting a video

I finally bit the bullet and bought an analog video capture board so that I can transfer home movies onto DVDs. Here is my first attempt at capturing 8mm videos and uploading them to my blog. This was taken while the family was picking up Jayson from the airport. The last second of the uploaded video is cut off for some reason. What I was jokingly trying to say to Katie was, "What if we point cameras at each other? Will they break?"

To chemo or not to chemo- that is the question.

Following the surgery to remove the tumor, my cancer was reclassified as Stage IIA (T3N0MX) due to 35 of 35 removed colon related lymph nodes testing negative for carcinoma and no evidence of metastasis to other organs. (Yea!)

The chances of a stage II colon cancer survivor remaining cancer free for 5 years without chemotherapy is in the 75-85% range, depending on the source of the information. In talking to an oncologist when I was in the hospital, and in doing my own research on the Internet, it appears that the benefits, if any, of post-surgical chemotherapy might increase those chances by 3-5%. Some studies say that there is no statistically significant increased prognosis for Stage II people who opt for chemo, so it is not recommended for patients who are not at a high risk of recurrence. Other studies seem to suggest that there might be a benefit for some patients, so it should remain an option. I'm still undecided, but am leaning away from chemo at the moment. Here are some websites that discuss the issue of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage 2 colon cancer.

http://www.guideline.gov/summary/summary.aspx?ss=15&doc_id=5298&nbr=3621#s23
http://tinyurl.com/32nz69
http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/types/article.cfm?c=5&s=11&ss=81&id=7336
http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/16/3408

If you try and access the following two Medscape & eMediciene articles directly, you will probably encounter a screen prompting you to complete a free registration to access the information.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/487981
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/508765_print

You should be able to access the articles by doing a Google search using the following search terms and then clicking on the resulting link.
medscape colon cancer chemo 487981
medscape colon cancer chemo 508765

Could chemo make things worse?
http://ezinearticles.com/?Stage-Two-Colorectal-Cancer-Turned-Terminal-After-Chemotherapy&id=556021

Here's an interesting chemo calculator. The answers to the questions are: none, T3, low, 50-59. http://mayoclinic.com/calcs/colon/index-ccacalc.cfm

Today I learned that 80% of colon cancer cases occur with people without a family history of the disease. Quoting an article, "A recognised hereditary link for colon cancer exists between 1st degree natural family members of people who have colon cancer. If there's a family history of colon cancer, the chance of getting it is 3 times greater than the risk for the population as a whole. Do not be complacent however. Just 20% of colorectal cancer occurs amongst persons who have family history of this disease. The majority of colon cancers, four out of five in fact, affect those without familial association to the disease."