good start to 2015

Mili pratele,

Dear friends,

Zdravim Vas vsechny, kteri nas dodnes tak verne a trpelive doprovazite.  Moc Vam dekujeme ze jste stali po nasem boku a  podporili nas v dobe, kdy  jsme to nejvic potrebovali a pokracujete I ted, kdy uz doufame, ze jsme na ceste z udoli leukemie.

Greetings to all of you, who are still so patiently and faithfully walking with us. I can’t thank you enough for being a community that surrounded me and my family when we needed it the most and you continue to walk with us on what we hope and believe is the walk out of the valley of Leukemia.

V listopadovem blogu jsem zminil me pretrvavajici bolesti zad. Prvni ortoped mi moc nepomohl, ale doporucil me ke specialistovi, ktery je nejen ortoped, ale zaroven I neurolog. Prijde mi to jako dalsi ukazka Bozi starostlivosti o detaily v mem zivote, kdy bez protekce a znamosti, jsem skoncil v ordinaci doktora, ktery by mi mohl pomoci. Byl jsem nemile prekvapen, ze prvni volny termin byl az v lednu 2015, tedy o dva a pul mesice pozdeji nez bych si pral, protoze me zada opravdu bolela!

Back in November, I mentioned my back pain. The first doctor didn’t help much, but thankfully and I see this as God’s provision, he recommended me to another specialist, a neurologist, who is also an orthopedic doctor. I was pretty upset that the first opening with this doctor was January 5^th, 2015. We are talking months later, while my back hurts!

Nejen ze bolesti zad nepolevily, ale asi jsem tomu moc nepomohl, ze jsem pres vanoce ucil holky bruslit a sam u toho stal na bruslich. Sofia a Mia dostaly na vanoce prvni brusle a protoze mely dobry zaklad z koleckovych brusli, rychle se osvojily techniku brusleni na lede a chteli abychom denne sli bruslit na zimni stadion. Denne to nebylo, ale I tak jsem byl rad, kdyz vanocni prazdniny skoncili, protoze uz mi zacaly dochazet prasky na bolest..

Well, the back pain didn’t go away and I didn’t really help it over Christmas when our family fun became ice skating. The girls got their first skates, and since they had some experience with rollerblading, skating  was immediately on our daily schedule. (Well, almost daily.) My back was hurting, but to see Sofia and Mia go around and learn a new skill that gets them moving and outside in the cold!! I couldn’t just sit there and watch! Thankfully the Christmas break wasn’t too long and I had a good stack of the painkillers.

V lednu jsem pak nemohl verit vlastnim ocim, kdyz jsem s bolavymi zady prisel za timto dalsim doktorem. Posadil si me, a jeho prvni otazka po precteni me zdravotni dokumentace byla, “Jak jste prijal tu zpravu o leukemii?” To byl pro me sok. Vubec jsem necekal, ze by se ptal na uplny zacatek toho, jak jsem se vlastne dostal az k nemu. Prohledl me, vyzkousel co vydrzim a pak mi vyrazil dech po druhe: “Vypadate docela dobre na to co mate za sebou, co jste ze sebou delal?” Doktor se pta me, at mu dam doporuceni co fungovalo?

So in January, when I saw this doctor, it literally seems to be too good to be true. This guy welcomes me in his office after reading my medical history of 3 years, sits me down and asks: “How was it when you first heard the news?”  I was blown away, that he would pick that as the starting point of our conversation. He sat down and was genuinely interested in my story. After examination of my back and some testing, he surprised me the second time – “You look good for what you have been thru, what do you recommend?” This is a doctor asking me what I recommend?

Nezmohl jsem se hned na odpoved a tak mi zacal napovidat – zmena stravovani, motivace rodiny a deti, nebo vira?? Rekl jsem mu, ze jsem uz dvacet let krestanem a tak urcite to byla vyhoda, ze jsem se nebal smrti. Bojim se umirani, ale nebojim se smrti. Navic jsem pred nedavnem cetl vyborny citat od jedne reholnice, ktera v tom mela jasno – “pro me si neprijde smrt, ale Buh. “ Nemuzu nez s ni souhlasit a tesit se na to setkani s zivym Bohem!!

He helped me to catch my breath from the surprise by suggesting a few words like change of diet, kids, family, faith.. I told him that for over 20 years I was a Christian and that my advantage was that I was not afraid of death. I am afraid of the pain that comes before dying, but not the death itself. Recently I have read a quote that even more encouraged me to really shake of any fear of death that was left – this sister from centuries ago said, It will not be death that will get me, it will be God.” I agree with her and can’t wait for that meeting with God !!!!!

Mluvili jsme o jidle a dietach, dobrych knizkach na tema rakoviny, cviceni a protahovani.. On sam si prosel svym a musel se vzdat postgradualniho studia, omezit aktivity na rodinu a 1 hobby a v ordinaci je jenom 2x v tydnu. Zazil , co to znamena radikalne zmenit zivot od zakladu a ovlivnilo to I jeho hodnotovy zebricek. Hodne jsem se toho od nej naucil za tak kratkou dobu. Netrvalo to ani 45 min a plan byl celkem jasny: magneticka resonance, dva mesice rehabilitace, denni cviceni a kontrola 19.unora!

We talked about food and diets, good books to read about cancer, exercising and he also shared little bit of his own story. He had to give up his PhD studies. Family and 1 hobby is all he is actively pursuing, He practices medicine at the clinic only 2 days a week. He had a medical condition that led him radically change his life and his priorities. I have learned a lot from him in the short period of time I knew this guy! After less than 45 min he prescribed the following:

MRI of my back, two months of physical therapy, daily exercise and a check up on February 19^th.

A to je dneska. Na magneticke resonanci nebylo nic, co by melo byt napraveno pomoci operace nebo jakehokoliv jineho zasahu zvnejsi. Takze to je skvela zprava!!! Pan doktor se me zeptal jak se subjektivne citim a tak jsem mu to rekl popravde:

90% bolesti je pryc. Dychaci cviceni a spravne drzeni tela a zvlaste pak spravne zvedani se z lehu se neda srovnat s tim nejvetsim objevem behem moji rehabilitace. Problem nebyl v trapezovych svalech a jejich zkraceni, jak se ocekavalo, ale problem je roky zazite zvedani ramen. Obecne se ma za to, ze jsou tri situace, kdy  je tato reakce bezna – stress, strach a zima. O tom jsem nemel nejmensi potuchy, ale kdyz mi sestra rekla at dam ramena dolu 3x za dve minuty, bylo jasne kde je zakopany pes. Takze si nekolikrat denne pripominam, ze si mam dat ramena dolu, musim cvicit a protahovat se. Verim tomu, ze zbyvajici bolest a omezeni pohybu zmizi diky pravidelnemu cviceni. Fyzicky se citim velice dobre, skoro bych I hadal, ze jsem v lepsim fyzickem stavu nez pred moji diagnozou. Nebyl by to vlastne tak trochu paradox? Dekuji Ti, Pane, za me zdravi!

So this brings us to today. The MRI didn’t reveal any major issues that would need surgical or other attention, which is a great news!!  My doctor asked me how I felt subjectively so I told him – 90% of the pain is gone!!! The breathing exercise and correction of my movements including basic things like sitting or getting up from laying down, don’t match up this one miracle discovery – it was not the trapeze muscles that were the problem, it was my habit of holding my shoulders in a uptight position. Apparently that is a reaction to stress, fear or when being cold. Not aware of this, the PT assistant told me three times in two minutes to put my shoulders down. After only a week of reminding myself twenty thousand times a day about this, the neck pain is gone. It helps that I have learned how to breathe better and how to stretch more effectively. I still have little bit of pain and stiffness to work on, but if I keep on exercising, I am convinced it will go away. I feel physically so much better today, that it might be possible that I am in a better shape now, than I was before the whole circus started. What a paradox! Thank you, Lord, for my health!

Moc bych si pral, aby to byl konec zprav o lekarskych navstevach. Ale neni. Pristi tyden mam pravidelnou kontrolu se stenalni punkci na odber kostni drene a pak nasledne me ceka dalsi kolo udrzovaci chemoterapie na 15 dni.  To zas budou dny, kdy mi dojde ze ta valka jeste neni vyhrana, jenom dilci, mesicni bitvy. Navrat do normalu trva par tydnu, ale vyhled na to, ze by tohle vsechno mohlo trvat jeste asi rok, me udrzuje v nadeji, ze to jednou skonci a neni to zas az za tak dlouho. .

As much as I wish that this would be the end of the medical things for now, next week I go in for another sternal puncture and shortly after that I will start another round of the maintenance chemo for 15 days. Those are the days, when the reminder that the war is not over yet, just the local “monthly” battles. It takes a couple of weeks to recover from that, but hopefully this will end in about a year so, so the end is a little bit closer..

Jsem vdecny Bohu za blizici se vyroci 14 mesicu v remisi! Kazdy den je nezaslouzeny dar. Jsem vdecny kazdemu z Vas za Vase modlitby, povzbuzeni a lasku! Brzo poslu dalsi zpravy.

With a grateful heart, I am heading to 14 months in remission!! Each day is an extra gift.  Thank you for your support of prayers, encouragement and love. Will keep you posted.

Martin