Survivor

Except for starring in a reality show, no one asks to be a survivor. You hear the term applied to those who made it through holocausts and plane crashes, through wars and natural disasters. And of course, you hear said of people like me: cancer survivors.

How amazing that sounds right now! It still seems hard to believe. My blood looked normal, aboslutely normal. And my usually-cautious doctor said, “You’re cured!”

You’re cured! Could there ever be two more perfect words?

I still have to report to the cancer center for a blood test every six months for the next two-and-a-half years. But I can do so with a much lighter heart.

Best of all, my clean bill of health means I can travel to Kenya this summer. When I was at my sickest, in my bone marrow transplant isolation room, I decided not to pray for my healing but for what my healing could bring. Chief among those desires was being with my dear Kenyan friends again.

Let me add the caveat that I do not know why some are healed and others are not. But I am so grateful to be cured.

If you keep checking our blog, read on for where this healing takes all of us. It will be so nice to look ahead without constanly looking over my shoulder.

I’m a very blessed survivor. Thank you all for everything.

Asante Jesu kwakuwa,
Caren

Road Trip

I spent most of last week in the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. The California desert is a unique place with a great variety of different landscapes. I posted photographs from the trip to http://www.jonmccormack.com/latest/.

– Jon

Hold that thought

Due to a scheduling mix up, it looks like my test is next Wednesday, Day 540. (Can they really make me have a cancer test on April 1?)

Hold those fervent prayers until next Tuesday. Or better yet, just keep praying.

 

Caren

Recycling

We all know about recycling these days, the kind where we separate the soda cans and the milk jugs from the rest of the trash. But there’s another sense of the word. Recycle also means simply “to pass through a cycle again”. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This week I’ll cycle again through the check up and blood test ritual. I’ve already started with the nervous stomach and the fervent prayers. Then comes the semi-sleepless night before. There’s the catch in my throat as I walk into the cancer center once again. When I see the scarf-covered heads and pale faces, I remember the many treatments and surgeries in that building.

There’s the prick and vials of the blood test. It’s followed by the hour-long wait, where I drink bad coffee from the cafe and try to distract myself by working on my laptop.

A nurse at the door calls my name and ushers me into a bland room. It’s only after my very wonderful and very cheerful doctor arrives and logs into the computer that I get the results.

Please pray for me this week, as I go through all of this again. Though my odds staying in remission get better with every passing month, the cycle of holding my breath for results never seems to get easier. As I get healthier, there seems to be more at stake in getting sick again.

A good result on Wednesday means that my doc will clear me for a trip to Kenya this summer. It has been my prayer since my first stay in the hospital that I would get to be with my dear friends in Kilgoris again. (www.thekilgorisproject.com) My heart may just explode with joy and thanks when that happens.

 

Caren

My new title

Monday I made my first school appearance as a visiting author to a group of kindergartners to third graders. What a ball!

The quince dress, purchased to look like the one in the book, worked like a charm. When the kindergarten kids came into the library, their mouths dropped.

Kid 1: Are you a princess?

Kid 2: No, she’s an author.

Kid 3: I think she’s an author and a princess. 

The kids loved the book and asked hilarious questions. “Why doesn’t your dress fall off?” “How do you get your hair so curly?” “If you just made up the people in the book, how did you know their names?”

Now they’ve inspired me. I’m thinking of using Caren McNelly McCormack, Author/Princess on my business cards.

 

Caren

Postcard from Taipei

I’ve been in Taiwan all week – missing my girls and dodging rain showers. Taipei is as colorful as ever:

Looking forward to being home.

Jon

Monopolizing my girls!

Caren has been goofing of in Mexico for the last week, which means I’ve has my girls to myself. It has been awesome! When mommy is around, Emma and Caroline run to her with questions, problems, and boo boos. When it’s just dad, they get to find out that even dads can handle life’s little crises.

The highlight of the week was a trip to San Francisco for the Chinese New Year’s parade. The last time we tried to see it we ended up stuck in traffic about a mile away from Chinatown unable to even get close to the parade. This time we bought tickets to the seats along the route and arrived early. Being a dad, I forgot to pack warm enough jackets for an evening in San Francisco. Seemingly I wasn’t the only one to make this mistake – the tourist clothing stores along the route were doing a brisk business.

Lessons learned from the week are that yes, the kids can survive for a week with dad, and that I should encourage Caren to take more trips so I get more dad-only time with Caroline and Emma.

Caren gets back let tonight so I’m sure there will be a post about margaritas and guacamole soon. In the meantime, here are some pix from the parade.

Jon

The icing on the cake

As we were preparing my birthday dinner last night, UPS dropped an unexpected delivery – the first copies of my new book The Fiesta Dress. What a great birthday surprise!

I reviewed the first sketches for the book in October 2007, while I was in the hospital having my transplant. It has been so encourging to watch this book work its way through the publishing process as I have recovered. 

So here are my shameless self-promotional requests:

• Go buy the book. (It’s available for pre-order now at online bookstores and releases at retail bookstores March 1.)
• Buy copies for all the kids you know
• Tell other people to buy copies
• Talk about it on Facebook and your blogs
• Write online reviews
• Invite me to read the book at your school/library/local bookstore

 

La vida es una gran fiesta!

Caren

TGIF

When you’ve almost missed the opportunity to keep turning the calendar, having another birthday seems like a wonderful gift. So hold the black arms bands and the “Over the Hill” jokes today.

Thank God I’m Forty!

 

Caren

Our splash

Day 474

 

We call baptism a public marking of an inward change. Though I’ve been a Christian for 24 years, I had never been baptized. So when Caroline asked to participate, I decided to do it with her.

God has changed so much inside of me through my journey of leukemia and recovery. It seemed a fitting way to mark the events. And I was able to share such a precious ritual of our faith with one of my daughters.

Here’s our splash from this morning.

 

Caren