TheBanyanTree: Off on a New Adventure

[Pam Lawley]

I just got my pom-poms out of mothballs - count me in as a (LOUD!)
cheerleader Chris!!!

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 11:30 AM, A. Christopher Hammon <chris at oates.org>wrote:

> I am off on a grand new adventure at the out set of this year and decade.
> It is not one I would choose, however, but it seems to be the one that I
> have drawn to be my next grand adventure.
>
> A microscopic trace of blood in my urine sample during a routine physical
> before Thanksgiving prompted an abdominal CT scan the beginning of December
> to check for any problems with kidney and bladder. That was an interesting
> experience and included my first ever experience with an IV. The last time I
> was in a hospital as a patient was for a tonsillectomy in 1957, when they
> still used ether...that was traumatic. As an aside, I had my second
> experience just before Christmas for a combination endoscopy and
> colinoscopy. I couldn't resist asking the IV nurse to be gentle, it was only
> my second time. To which she promptly shouted out for all to hear, "Hey,
> I've got almost a virgin here." Gotta have some fun with this stuff.
>
> The abdominal CT turned up no problems with the kidneys or bladder, but
> much to our surprise we discovered mucinous material secreting from a tumor
> on my appendix; apparently a rare condition known as pseudomyxoma peritonei.
> This is not good. The good news is that it is very treatable (you just have
> to recover from the treatment) and that it is typically benign. It is a
> "Trouble with Tribbles" story where cells we need on one side of the
> intestinal wall were reproducing on the wrong side of the intestinal wall
> ... where they had no place to go except to accumulate.
>
> The next stop for getting started on this grand adventure was to meet with
> my lead tour guide, the surgical oncologist in the area that specializes in
> the treatment for this. He is a great doc; a prof at the medical school with
> a rep for being really slick in the OR
>
> The most successful approach to this in current practice is to surgically
> debulk all of the mucinous material gathering in my abdomen, remove the
> appendix, gall bladder, areas of the colon where the mucinous cells have
> gathers (in my case, most likely the right half), and a lot of the omentum.
> Then as part of the surgical procedure to introduce a heated intraperitoneal
> chemotherapy that they slosh around in the abdominal area for a little over
> an hour. This generally gets it and life goes on once you recover from the
> surgery. My job, the big part of the adventure ahead, is to recover. And
> then they added that the big side effects of the surgery/chemo are that it
> zaps all of your energy and depletes your immune system. It will take time,
> patience, and perseverance, they say.
>
> So it is "game on" for this grand adventure; we have the surgery scheduled
> for January 13.
>
> The good news is that with the exception of this I am in very good health
> and should be able to get right on through this fine. I anticipate plenty of
> stories coming out of this and hopefully I will find the energy to write
> them down before they get away from me. I have loaded up my Kindle with fun
> reading while I recoup and my iPhone with plenty of music. I also have
> myself a stack of DVDs to entertain me. Most important to me, though, is
> that I am gathering the energy of friends and family as cheerleaders to help
> me sustain my energy through the journey. Family members have opened up a
> Facebook group where they will be posting updates, if anyone is interested
> (Updates on Chris Hammon).
>
> And now, like it or not, I am off on this grand new adventure to see where
> my journeys take me and to learn what I might learn along the way. In the
> meantime, I made my reservations for the week long bicycle tour of Indiana
> State Parks in September that includes bicycling all of those Brown County
> hills. I still plan to make that.
>
> Cheers and bon voyage,
> Chris
>
>
> /_________________________________________
> A. Christopher Hammon, D.Min.
> Director of Online Learning and Publication //
> Wayne E. Oates Institute
> Integrating Spirituality, Ethics, and Health
> http://www.oates.org/
>
> /Affiliate Faculty, Doctor of Ministry Program
> Drew University Theological School/
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