Restart

I started this blog in 2007 when we were building our house because we wanted to share the building process with our kids and their families. At that time three of our four children were living overseas. The most activity on this blog was during my proton therapy treatment for prostate cancer at the University of Florida hospital in Jacksonville during 2012. 

Once again I am dealing with cancer, and the Lord has led me to do a restart with this blog to keep family and friends posted on what’s going on with the cancer treatment. 

A nodule developed under my left mandible last summer. I went to urgent care for an ear infection in June and pointed the nodule out to the PA, and she said that was due to the ear infection.

The nodule became bigger, but I did not worry about it. My dad fell the first week of August and resulting injuries and complications confined him to the hospital and nursing home until he passed away on September 8. I was in Mississippi for a great deal of the month of August, and once while sitting with my brother I mentioned the nodule, and he said, “Look, I have had one under my ear for the past 15 years.” He went on to say that his doctor told him long ago not to worry about it, so I just decided not to worry about the knot in my neck.

During my annual physical in October I told my doctor about it and after a quick exam, he said that he was sending me to get a head scan right after my visit with him. That was when things started moving fast—needle biopsy on the salivary gland showed poorly differentiated carcinoma; CT scan of chest showed no metastasizing in the chest; surgery on November 15 to remove the left submandibular salivary gland and tumor; pathology report revealed mucoepidermoid carcinoma; another needle biopsy on right thyroid because a scan showed a spot on the gland; neck dissection surgery on December 6 to remove 19 lymph nodes and then post-surgery problems with a buildup of serum in the neck above the incision resulting in reopening of the incision two times to drain serum.

I will begin 6-7 weeks of proton therapy treatment at Emory Proton Center in midtown Atlanta on Thursday. Treatments will be every day Monday – Friday. Those who have tackled Atlanta traffic know those experiences can produce a lot of emotional stress, and at my age I want to avoid as much emotional stress as possible. Therefore, I will be staying overnight for much of my time in Atlanta so that I can be more productive with my work.

Many of you will remember that I had proton therapy treatment in Florida for my prostate cancer in 2012, and I was very pleased with that treatment and the minimal side effects. At that time there were only nine proton treatment centers in the USA, but now there are many more and Emory’s center opened a year ago. I am very pleased with my radiation oncologist at Emory. He is the head and neck professor at Emory. He gave me his mobile phone number and email address in our first consultation with him. How many doctors do that!? And, he answers texts within a few minutes of receiving them!

Cheryl and I have received a wealth of prayers and encouraging support from family and friends from all over the world. So many are continuing to ask for updates on my treatment, so I have decided to restart this blog and post periodic reports and stories during my 6-7 weeks of treatment. 

Thank you for your encouragement and prayer support during these days. I would be grateful to learn of prayer requests that you have, so Cheryl and I can intercede with you and for you. 

On the day before I learned that I had this cancer, I sent this verse to a friend who was having a difficult health challenge and the Lord has affirmed that I should claim Joshua 1:9 during this season: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Fifty One

I followed dozens of my classmates from high school to Mississippi State University where I quickly stopped walking with the Lord. Three months into that first semester the Lord really got my attention and made me realize that I did not have any real friends—only “party friends.” 

During that time I begin to pray and the Lord led me to transfer in the middle of my freshman year to Mississippi College. There I met Cheryl Keathley from Memphis, Tennessee. I joined a performing choir because they desperately needed tenors. Up until that time I could barely read music—much less know that I was a tenor! In choir rehearsals I could watch that beautiful young lady with strawberry blonde hair playing the piano from where I was seated as I looked at the conductor. She captured my attention, and we began to spend time together. 

We were attracted to each other because even though we were so different from each other in the way we grew up and some of the things that we liked to do, but after a few weeks we were in love and those differences faded. I had dated several girls in high school and in college before I met Cheryl, but not one of them won my heart like Cheryl did.

We met each other’s families during that first semester of dating. She planned to go to summer school that first summer after we met, and I wanted to be near her so badly, that I planned on going to summer school, also. During that time I was working at Borden’s Dairy on the cleanup crew in the ice cream factory, so I did not get back to the dorm until 11-12 pm each night. The dorm doors were closed at 11 pm during the week, but I could count on Cheryl looking our her dorm window watching for me to arrive at my dorm down the hill from her dorm. I would blink my bright lights up the hill to wish her a good night and to remind her that I loved her. 

That was 53 years ago, and she still makes me blink my lights. Today is our 51^st wedding anniversary. It is difficult to imagine, but I love Cheryl so much more than I did 51 years ago. She has been the rudder that has guided our marriage to be a strong one. She has been the steady deliberate one who has kept me straight and sane during these years of living in seven different countries on three continents. If I have been successful in anything it is because she has been my hardest critic and my biggest cheerleader. 

My dear Cheryl, you bring out the very best in me and you are the perfect life soul mate for me. I am thankful to the Lord for giving me every moment of my life, and I am thankful to the Lord for giving you to me for you make every moment priceless. With all my love…

Libby

Cheryl and I welcomed our 12th grandchild today. Libby Kathleen arrived in Rome, Georgia, at 6:50 am weighing 8 lbs 6 oz and measuring 20.5 inches in length. Allison and Will are doing fine.

Three little phrases

Cheryl’s grandfather was not so good with some of his business practices, but he invented the machinery that made the world’s first fried apple pie that is sold all over the world today. He had the first patent on the fried pie (now baked!) in the early 1950s when a man named Ray Kroc (of McDonald’s fame) came to him and asked him to manufacture a 3 oz. pie. Mr. Keathley refused to do that and told Mr Kroc that if he wanted to buy pies from him that he would have to buy his 4 oz. pie. Mr. Keathley walked with the Lord all his life, and the Lord blessed him with several successful businesses. He never finished high school, but he was a brilliant man.

Cheryl’s father was also a very successful businessman in the baking industry and later in life as an entrepreneur. He did finish high school, and then he joined the army and served as an officer at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, and he had many great stories about the Nazi leaders who were tried at the famous trials after the second Great War. Maurice was wounded in the Korean War, and he retired from the military as a Lt. Colonel after years of reserve service. He was a life-long Optimist and once served as Vice President of Optimist International. During his entire successful business career he served as a part-time Minister of Music in several churches in the Memphis area.

Among these many very successful endeavors, I think that one of his greatest achievements was that he was recognized by his peers as a very intelligent man—even though he only had a high school education. He often walked among very famous scientists, academicians and businessmen, and they would usually come away from the conversation telling others what a bright man was this Maurice Keathley.

Maurice had a secret weapon and it was actually three very simple phrases. Whenever he was with someone who was much brighter than himself or when he was with a person or persons and he did not understand the topic of the conversation, here’s what he would do: he would listen closely and make sure that his body language indicated a high level of interest, and he would intersperse the conversation with these three short quips: “It could very well be.” “Yes, indeed.” “Among other things.”

I have tried using these three small phrases, and it works. Now you can easily over-use that “Yes, Indeed,” so you have to change your voice inflections and the way you say it so that you say it differently each time. Try it and you will see that it works. People will think you are very smart. Why? Because you agree with them!

Names

I have never been a fan of name tags. Wearing them has been a part of my uniform for the past 14 years, but I still don’t like them. I have been to some meetings where they have prepared the name tags for the participants ahead of time. When I go to the registration table to get my name tag and a packet of program materials, sometimes they have my name as “James Cox.” After all, that is my name—James is my first name. Anything official has my name as “James Cox.”

I don’t think my Mother and Father knew what a headache it would be to name their son and then use the middle name. I dreaded the first day of school for all 12 years because the teacher would call out, “James Cox,” and my friends would laugh out loud.

I guess the only pleasure that I get in not using my first name is when a wise-guy telemarketer calls at dinner time and asks to speak to James or Jim. We just say there is no one here by that name!

I have done a lot of thinking through the years about names, but I guess it is more on my mind now since Allison and Will kept us guessing the name of their expected first-born for several weeks—number 12 grandchild and number 10 granddaughter! We are blessed.

I have often said that the most important word to any person regardless of where in the world they live is their own name. It is the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

People love to hear their name. When I first meet someone, I try to call their name right after I meet them. That affirms the person, and oh by the way, it helps me remember their name.

As I think about how powerful a name can be my thoughts go to familiar scriptures:

"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:9-11

"Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1

Truett Cathy’s favorite Bible verse is Proverbs 22:1.

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”