I survived my 12 hour surgery and am doing well, indeed!

Twelve long hours seemed like no time at all, at least to me! I'm sure 12 long hours seemed like 24 longer hours to Caroline and Burr and Cynthia who maintained a vigil for me in the waiting room here at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center! As long as I can keep giving myself shots of pain killer through my epidural every 10 minutes or so I'll be fine! Already, I've sat up in a chair twice and walked thrice around the nurses' station! I've already been blessed by many wonderful visitors, most especially Caroline and Burr and Cynthia! Dad's very kindly volunteered to spend the night with me, folding himself into the chair/cot in the room! Prayer continues to lift us all up, especially me! Praise God for the good outcome!

D-Day is Here and H-Hour is Almost Upon Us!

Less than an hour from now the alarm clock in my cell phone will go off, indicating that it is 4:00AM Central Daylight Time here in Houston, Texas. It will be time for me to wake up (assuming I ever get to sleep!) so that we can report to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for my long-awaited surgery for the metastatic appendiceal adenocarcinoma, the appendix cancer that has enjoyed the hospitality of my abdominal cavity far too long! Tumor or not tumor, that is the question, to which my emphatic answer and that of my wonderful surgical team led by Dr. Paul Mansfield is a resounding "Tumor no more!!!" I know I should be sleeping right now, but I'll get hopefully 10 hours or more of blissful "sleep" while anesthetized during my surgery which is due to commence sometime around 7:15AM today!

Thank you all so very much for all your myriad thoughts and prayers for me and for my wonderful loving wife Caroline and for my wonderful loving family! I really do feel lifted up, so all your kind thoughts and best wishes and prayers of any kind have been quite effective. I'm as calm and relaxed as anyone could be under the circumstances! I have complete and total confidence in my whole team, especially in my team leader, Dr. Abba Father God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, Ground of All Being, Power Set of the Set of All Sets (for all you mathematically inclined disciples), divinely revealed to us by the profound and ineffable humanity of His Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in Whom I live and move and have my being, Who is my true life, dwelling in me bodily with His Holy Spirit! This present illness is not unto death, but is for the greater glory of God! May God bless you all and guard you all, may He make His face shine upon you all and have compassion upon you all, and may He lift up His face upon you all and give you all peace!