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* Mom's surgery yesterday went quite well. Everything was on time. The surgeon removed two lymph nodes which were both free of cancer on frozen section (which is about 85% sensitive) as well as the tumor (which was less than 1cm). * Mom is famous for waking up poorly from anesthesia. This time, she woke up with only mild nausea. When I got to go in and see her, she was sitting up and in only moderate pain. We got home by 4pm. This is the best I've seen her post-operatively, probably ever. * Of course, I had a post-stress migraine today, but, with the new keto diet, the migraine resolved with medications and didn't last terribly long. * One of the most exciting things that has happened since

Good Friday. It doesn't feel very "Good". I'm in the hospital pre-op area with Mom. She was diagnosed a month ago with invasive ductal breast cancer. Mom and I have been together for the last three weeks, living with this knowledge about the cancer, but not being able to do anything about it. Mom called a month ago with the results of the biopsy. I fretted at home for a few days and finally just flew down here to the Atlanta area so I could be at Mom's surgeon's appointment with her. It's a small tumor so her prognosis is probably excellent. Mom is having a lumpectomy with lymph node biopsies followed by six weeks of radiation. She'll see an oncologist but probably won't need chemo. Surgery

I read today the phrase "As Christian America blessedly ends". Is our country Christian? Was it ever? Is it ending? What does it matter? Whether or not our country is "Christian" has been debated in evangelical circles for the last generation. I've been among conservatives who are convinced that God supernaturally planted the US to be practically a theocracy, a view spread loudly by David Barton (to whom I will not link). The vast majority of historians, though, teach that our country was founded by men who were generally Christians (see John Fea's Was America Founded As a Christian Nation? - great book that you really should read). You can also argue that we are a Christian nation because m

Psalm 118: 22-24 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. I'm not a Bible scholar, but sometimes sections of Scripture stand out to me and I want to learn a little more about them and riff on them here on my blog. Psalm 118 was one of the lexionary readings for today and it really stood out to me. This psalm is a hymn of thanksgiving probably from a king after a military victory (NIV Study Bible). There is speculation that this is the hymn that Jesus and his disciples sang after the Last Supper. In v.22, the psalmist talks about the stone that

* Mom has breast cancer. She called me about three weeks ago to tell me. I came down here to Georgia a few days later. I wanted to be here when she talked to the surgeon. She's having a lumpectomy next Friday followed by six weeks of radiation. At some point, she'll see an oncologist about adjunctive treatment. It doesn't appear right now that she needs chemotherapy. * As you can imagine, stress levels have been high. Actually, it was worse before the doctor's appointment when we just knew the cancer diagnosis, Once we had a plan I felt better, and I think Mom feels better. But, I know Mom is anxious and it's mostly because of the waiting. *Next week will be better because we have more sched

My daughter went to University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and my son is currently a student there. I have a vested interest in what happens there. Actually, as a resident of Wisconsin, I have a vested interest in what happens in our state university system. And there are things happening at UWSP. Budgets are tight at USWP, as at all universities. The university has proposed to eliminate a number of majors, including history, English, German, French, Spanish, political science, music literature, other humanities, and other majors. In addition, they have proposed adding majors such as chemical engineering, fire science, marketing, and more. What's the problem? They're just realigning for th

My carbohydrate days are over. Goodbye, sugar! Goodbye, potatoes! Goodbye, bread! Goodbye, cookies, cakes, and other goodies! I've been on a ketogenic diet since December 27 and I didn't need any migraine medication between January 1 and January 30. That's the longest I've gone without migraine meds in 10 years!!! February and March haven't been quite as spectacular, but they've still been much better than my previous 2-3 migraines per week with significant chronic daily headache. So, what's the ketogenic diet and why and I doing it? Let me answer the second question first. The ketogenic diet has been used since the 1920s and 30s to treat severe seizure disorders before medications were avai