And now for an update...

Here is what I posted to Facebook yesterday. Apparently it took me another day to remember I also had a cancer blog. That's good news, right?

"I just finished my penultimate check up with my medical oncologist. I couldn't count how many appointments I've had over the last several years during my cancer adventure, but I know how many I have left. One! We are talking five years cancer free (that's NED, as in "no evidence of disease") come this December. What an awesome Christmas present. Of course, there's the final CT scan, blood tests, and yet another colonoscopy between now and then, but those don't count. See you in six months, doc!"

My love and thoughts to my cancer buddies.

Because of Him

Happy Easter to all of my friends and loved ones.

The Meaning of Easter

Jesus Christ was my strength through cancer.

He is the first one I asked for help.

Because of Him I received excellent medical care.

Because of Him I endured all of my treatment.

Because of Him I met amazing people.

Because of Him I survived cancer.

Because of Him I am happy.

Wishing you all the best this Easter season. Easter means a lot to me.

Father and Son

I ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this last Saturday with my son, Michael. We had a great time. It was definitely a neat experience. Even in the rain.

We signed up to run the race with the Huntsman Hometown Heros. Each runner in the program agrees to raise money for cancer research in order to get to the starting line on race day. The money goes to the Huntsman Cancer Institute where I was treated for my cancer. They are a research hospital that is part of the University of Utah hospital system.

After the race we were so excited we looked up more half marathons to run over the summer. For me, it was nice to be out running again. For my son, it was his first race ever, at any distance. I am very proud of him, and honored that he would run this race with me as we gave back to the cancer community.

On the back of my race number bib, I wrote the names of friends and loved ones who have had cancer. I included all of my cancer blogging buddies as well. A few, like me, are still here. (Hi, Fiona and Ang.)

I wanted to remember and pay tribute to some of the finest people I know.

Each Life That Touches Ours for Good

Each life that touches ours for good

Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;

Thou sendest blessings from above

Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow

What greater goodness can we know

Than Christlike friends, whose gentle ways

Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

When such a friend from us departs,

We hold forever in our hearts

A sweet and hallowed memory,

Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim

Devotion to the Savior's name,

Who bless our days with peace and love,

We praise thy goodness, Lord, above.

- Karen Lynn Davidson

Alice Pyne

Thank you, Alice, for touching so very many lives for good, including mine. Well done.

Our thoughts and prayers are with your family at this time. May the legacy you created together bring peace to their hearts this day and always.

Love,
The Chamberlins

It's Lego Time

If your name is Mason or Nolan and your mom has been using the word cyberknife lately, then this is for you.

No, I didn't build this one, but I'll bet you two could. A Lego cyberknife is definitely cool.

We think your mom is pretty cool too.

Sending smiles and prayers for your whole family,

Steve and Carla

Pomp and Circumstance

Westminster College, Class of 2012

The graduate and his awesome family

Steven Curtis Chamberlin

Bachelor of Science

Computer Science
Summa Cum Laude

On June 2, 2012 I graduated from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Yes, sir. I finally figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

I'm the one in the black gown

On the very left of the stage about to receive my diploma

Saying goodbye to one of my professors

Afterwards with my parents

And my sister

And my favorite niece and her husband

And my best friend, Mark

Not to forget the really cool bag pipes

Thank you to all who supported me along the way!

Carole's Service

Please read this post by Shents for a beautiful and touching account of Carole's service.

For Our Favorite Pencil Sharpener

Hi Ang. We are sending you calm and peaceful thoughts as you start back on chemo today.

And something else to keep in mind...

You have our prayers as well.
Much luv, Steve and Carla

A Stitch in Time

So I am going to bed shortly because I get to wake up at 4:30 tomorrow morning. That's because I will be checking into the hospital at 6:00 a.m. for a 7:20 surgery. Remember that incisional hernia I mentioned a few weeks back? It's fix it time.

Plan A is to go in laparoscopically, patch things up, examine the rest of my incision from the inside, maybe have the surgeon tattoo mine and Carla's initials on the back side of my naval and then send me home tomorrow afternoon. I am feeling bloated already.

Here's to a restful weekend.

Forwarded Update on Carole

From Carole's Facebook page:

"Update on Carole. Since being taken into hospital by ambulance early hours Thursday morning, my lovely sister Carole is loosing the flight. She will be moved from the hospital into the hospice when a bed is available where they will care for her on her final journey which I wish to be kind and peaceful for her"

From the UK Cancer Chat forum:

Hi everyone, my name is Sarah. I am Carole's little sister. Carole has given me permission to use her account and I just wanted to thank you all soooo much for all the support you have given to my sister over the last 2 years. I believe, that just by having somewhere to come and vent and also be able to support others has somehow made this illness easier to bear. Although, I can't imagine what my sister has had to go through or any of you for that case, it gave me hope that my sister had such good cyber friends and that you all take the time to pick one another up, even if its with just a few words.

No one should be alone through times of illness, worry, stress and confusion. I see there are many people on here that were not as lucky as my sis and not having the love of family or friends around them. This is something I would dread in my life and am grateful for this forum that you all can find yourself grabbing some sane moments from others that actually care online.

Anyway, I'm not great at writing, my sis to me always wrote beautifully. Those of you that read her blog may agree. She encouraged me to "blog" my way through living in Greece the last 2 years, but I was useless. Now however, I wish I did as there are many moments that I would have liked to re read as life seems to go to quickly. However, I did blog about her visit to see me in Rhodes last March so it will be lovely to have that clear memory in writing and photos.

So guys, Update on my lovely sis,

"Carole was moved into the hospice today where she can rest for her final journey. Her wish is to NOT have visitors outside of our immediate family. I'm sure you can understand that. She has no energy at all now and cannot do much for herself apart from sipping a drink. She still has much pain but I believe my sister will be at peace very soon. Anytime will be too soon for me selfishly but I want her to have her wish and die peacefully and with dignity. I sat with her yesterday for 4 hours and held her hand. She told me how much she loves me and I told her how much I love her. We have been best friends since she was expecting her baby James, 31 years ago. I was 11 years old and she was just 19. I will miss her terribly, but for now I will stay strong as it is not me that is dying. I will visit her tomorrow and will come back to update you all."

Love and peace to you all.

Sarah (lit sis) xx

Sarah and Carole in Rhodes

We love you, Carole!

You have a gift of making people feel like they are your best friend and that they are special. No one feels so alone in your love. You genuinely care for others. Thank you for your support, your friendship, and your love.

We are with you on your final journey.

All our love, thoughts and prayers,
Steve, Carla and Family

Sweet Sixteen

Each Sunday morning since Christmas I have weighed myself on our bathroom scale.

In six weeks I have lost 16 pounds.

For Christmas I gave my wife 50 pounds of sugar and a 10 gallon fish tank for storing the sugar. She looked at me quizzically until I explained.

My present to her was a promise to loose 50 pounds by my 50th birthday five months away. The sugar represents the weight I have to loose and the junk food I am giving up to loose the weight.

For each pound I loose, I remove one pound of sugar from the fish tank. We can all see the sugar level going down.

So far I have given my wife 31% of her Christmas present. She is very happy about that.

I made my sweet sixteen!

Done and Dusted

I have been following four cancer blogs since just after my own diagnosis.

Fiona's blog, Onwards and Upwards, is the only one of those that was not about colorectal cancer. She was diagnosed with liver cancer.

She was also diagnosed with hepatitis and cirrhosis. Her poor liver took a triple hit.

The real conundrum is how did she get hepatitis and how did it go undiscovered and untreated for some 25 years, especially considering her consistently heathy and active lifestyle.

It took cancer to expose the hepatitis and the years of liver damage left in its wake.

Like me, Fiona is on the other side of her cancer treatment. We both go in for quarterly checkups.

Fiona also monitors her hepatitis on a regular basis. She just posted her January clinic results.

Now I am not a nurse like she is, and I don't even try to write the type of technical posts she churns out. But it doesn't take a heppy doc (her affectionate term for hepatitis doctor) to realize that she just got some pretty descent news.

So this post is for you, Fiona.

Well done, my done and dusted friend!

Dreaming of Spring

This is my friend Tony dreaming of spring.

Winter and chemotherapy

are keeping him and his bike

inside right now.

Sweet dreams, my friend. Sweet dreams!

Incisional Hernia

It turns out that about 15% of abdominal surgery patients develop incisional hernias.

So NOW they tell me!

My rectal surgeon referred me to a hernia surgeon to get mine fixed. This will be surgery number three for me. Cancer certainly leaves its mark!

I saw my rectal surgeon yesterday for my three monthly check up. He put his nifty little camera up my bum again to see how things are healing inside. Carla was with me and got to watch the whole thing on the monitor. She said my insides looked pink and healthy. I thought she was pretty lucky to be there. Not everybody gets to see this side of me. My surgeon told me that my anastomosis was almost invisible in places and that I was a great healer.

From all reports I'd have to say I'm doing a good job keeping it together. :-)) Too bad I'm not doing so well keeping it all in...

Extra! Extra!

Read All About It!

If you thought the movie was great, now you can read the book!

That's all 12 months of my cancer blog

squished into 112 pages...

...including many of your comments,

plus never before seen photographs

from our Alaska Cruise at the end of treatment!

Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa (Shents). Carla and I presented each of our children with their own copy. That was the best part of the project. We realized that my blog was the only record of my journey through cancer.

I was able to make the book completely accessible on the publisher's web site if anyone is interested in viewing it online. Just click on this image.

Like Lisa, I have made it available for sale at cost. The idea was to preserve a tough year of my life for my posterity, not to make money on a book. When we purchased the books for our children, I went to Google and searched for "blurb coupon code". That got me 20% off our order!

We hope you enjoy the book. It was a lot of fun putting it together.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there lived a young man who loved his Father very much.

When the young man was diagnosed with cancer he did not ask his Father, "Why me?"

Instead, he asked his Father to "Pretty please (with sugar on top)" accompany him on the dark and scary journey that lay ahead.

And it came to pass that a very loving Heavenly Father heard the pleas of his son and granted his request.

From that very moment the tender mercies of the Lord began to pour forth upon the young cancer patient to the comfort of his soul and the blessing of he and his family.

In due course, four angelic emissaries from Cancerland emerged in his path. Their names were Carole of London, Fiona of Bollington, Angela of Kent, and Tony of Matlock.

The strength and support, the example and encouragement, the love and laughter of these four friends proved most effective in vanquishing the vicissitudes of cancer.

This is but one example of the team effort needed to fight cancer. Truly the young man was blessed in his journey.

Ever after he remembered with fondness these four fighting cancer warriors and the unbounded love of a Heavenly Father for each of His children.

May we all live happily ever after to the end of our days in the arms of our Father's love.

The End

“The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ.” ~David A. Bednar

Missing My Friends at Christmastime

I am sitting here missing all of my friends in the cancer community. Many of you have posted Christmas greetings on your blogs. Thanks, guys. For me, it is just what I needed to get back on here after a four month absence and wish you all the season's best as well.

Today has been nice and relaxing. Last year we stayed home for Christmas because I was just a few weeks out of surgery. This year we decided to repeat the experience (without the surgery) and spend the day at home with our children. We did all make it to church midday for a nice service, but that was it. Carla fixed us an awesome turkey dinner.

The best news of the day came this morning. We were visiting with my daughter from my first marriage and her husband using Skype. It was fun seeing each other on our computers over the internet. They watched us open a Christmas card they had mailed to us. Inside was an ultrasound picture of their baby announcing that Brittany is pregnant. That makes me a grandfather in six months. Cool!

This month makes one year cancer free for me. I am also now six months out from chemo and my last surgery. All of my followup appointments have been mostly good news. There was a bit of a scare when my CEA count started climbing, but a PET scan showed that it was only inflammation. No sign of cancer. I had a colonoscopy this month as well. They removed a small polyp and said that everything else inside looked healthy.

My goal for 2012 is to get the weight off that I've put back on since treatment. Even before cancer I was getting heavy. It is time for Running Man to start running again. I currently weigh 225 pounds. My goal weight is 175 pounds. That is a 50 pound weight loss.

For Christmas today I gave Carla a ten gallon fish tank full of 50 pounds of sugar.  Each week I will weigh in and remove that much weight in sugar from the fish tank. When the fish tank is empty I will have lost 50 pounds. I will finish by my 50th birthday which is June 3, 2012. Carla's Christmas present is a healthier husband. She was definitely excited.

So there you go. I am still around and I am very much missing my cancer friends. Thank you all for being such wonderful people.

Love, hugs, and best wishes,

Steve

What's new...

Hi, this is Carla again.

Steve has thought about doing another post, but life has been so crazy lately, I decided I'd better step in. So here is an update.

The good news on Steve's health is that he finally had a painless bowel movement last week! That may sound like a funny thing to say, but since his reversal surgery, having anything go passing through his sphincter has not been fun. He had started to think that poop and pain were going to be the new norm. Now there is hope for the future.

The next piece of news is that Steve and I ran away on a week long cruise to Alaska with my parents and all but one of my siblings. (My brother's wife was due to have a baby and that is a really bad time to disappear for a week.) I am the oldest of seven children so it was quite the miracle to pull off. It was knowing the cruise was coming that kept Steve focused during the last few rounds of his chemo. If there had been any delays, he would have been unable to make the trip. It was wonderful to leave the heat of summer in Utah and go north where the highest temperatures were in the 60's. Alaska is an amazing and beautiful place to visit. Doing it on a cruise ship spoils you rotten.

After we got back from Alaska, school started up for Steve and the kids. Steve was down to his last year of school when he was diagnosed with cancer. It was really hard for him to put his education on hold while he dealt with his cancer. Fortunately, one of the classes he was required to take in order to graduate was available this fall. So he is in class every Tuesday and Thursday night. He has also been putting in overtime at work at the request of his employer. It brings in some extra money, but means we don't see a whole lot of him during the week.

What is nice to see is that his brain is fully functioning again and his stamina is increasing. Chemo took so much out of him! There is no way to explain how much it affects you and in so many different ways. I'm just glad he was willing to go through it all. Hopefully we will get to have him for years to come.

As for me, I'm taking the year off from working at the elementary school. This last year was the hardest year of my life to date. (I wouldn't mind keeping it that way.) This year is also the last year that I will probably have all my children at home together. Nathan is a senior in high school and will be leaving home next year. I want to enjoy this last year with my family all together. It is hard to do that if you still have all the washing, cleaning, shopping and cooking to do when your kids get home from school. Maybe, I can finally stop feeling tired all the time if my life is less complicated. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. You are in ours as well.

I Got Mugged

This is my mug shot.

Alice's mug finally got here from England. She designed it herself and it looks great. I really like mine.

Alice and Mabel

Alice Pyne is a 15 year old girl in England fighting cancer. After four years of treatment the cancer has spread throughout her body. There is nothing more the doctors can do. But Alice isn't done. She created a bucket list at the encouragement of her mother and posted it on a blog for her friends to see. Her blog went international almost over night. Wonderful people all over the world are rallying to encourage Alice and help her accomplish her bucket list. That's where the mug comes in. It's from her bucket list.

Alice's Bucket List

Alice's Mug

Alice is one amazing young lady. You'll like her, too, I think. It's completely understandable after meeting her how I got mugged.