We had some good news today. On Monday I had my 4th chemo treatment. This time they drew blood to check the tumor marker for my upper GI tract where we think the cancer is located. A normal tumor marker for the upper GI tract would be 30. When I first saw my oncologist after Thanksgiving, my upper GI tract tumor marker was 6,000. It was 9,000 by the time I started chemo. The latest test showed the tumor marker has reduced to 5,800 which means the chemo therapy is working. I have a CT scan on next Monday that they will compare to a CT scan I had just before beginning chemo. Hopefully that too will show a reduction in the cancer. This is the first good news we have had since before Thanksgiving, and we thank God for it.

Love,

Scott

Chaplain Jensen has a part time position as Visitation Pastor for, guess where, All Saints. He had spoken to the Bishop about such a position, and I guess Pastor Bonnie did also shortly thereafter. So we may see him from time to time, but will miss seeing his wife, Nona.

Tonight, a local PBS fund raising program included the Lawrence Welk orchestra playing a collection of big band themes and other songs those bands made popular. Mom watches the regular Welk show and appears to enjoy it. But she seemed to especially enjoy this program tonight. I know her brain still functions to some degree from the way she knows to do some routine things like lifting her feet to allow me to push her in the wheelchair and lifting one foot at a time to allow her socks and shoes to be put on. I wonder if there's a place still intact in the memory where once familiar music still lingers. The smile on her face at times tonight made me think there might be.

Here's some surprising news from Summit's Trace. Chaplain Jensen will be leaving at the end of the month. When Peregrine took over on April 1, 2009, it was agreed that the chaplaincy would be continued for two years. It will not be continued, at least not with Jim Jensen, beyond that. He doesn't know what the future may hold for Sunday worship services. He will be a visitation pastor on a part time basis for another church until his wife Nona, who works at the seminary, turns 65 and is eligible for full retirement. Then they plan to sell their home in New Albany and move to Tennessee, where they already own a lot in a senior community. There hasn't been any official communication with residents on this, so most of them will be surprised when they do learn about it. Some, I imagine will be very upset. Nelson sure was when I saw him in the hall today and told him. At a meeting announcing the Peregrine take over, there were pointed questions from residents and some relatives about the chaplaincy and Jensen and their importance. Some residents might move, or be moved by their families if the issue is that important to them. But many residents in the care center (nursing home) are on Medicaid. I have no idea how mobile they might be, as far as actually moving out is concerned. The same is true in assisted living where more and more are on the Assisted Living Waiver program where we are headed - Mom first and me as well in time. Not all facilities will accept such cases.

Here's another interesting story about the mysteries of Alzheimers. This is about Rose, the one I think I've told you about. She has said she's lucky to born in America, doesn't have any money but has food in her mouth and a roof over her head. That shows she still has more mental capability than any of the other women in 200. But something else is amazing to me. She knows the words to many songs from Broadway shows and others that were popular over the years. Once after dinner I told her I knew one song I bet she didn't know and started to sing what Eddie Cantor signed off his Sunday night radio show with. "I love to spend each Sunday with you . . . " She picked it up and sang the rest of it. That really floored me. I remember listening to that show in my teens - and she is nine years younger that I am. So she was just a little girl when she heard it. But she can't remember what she had for dinner ten minutes after eating. She has asked me my name often, but doesn't remember it, and doesn't know the names of anyone else, including the RA's who take care of her. I wonder, as the years pass, how long it will be before she forgets those songs. But some day she'll have "a brand new song to sing."

We had another fire alarm experience last night - actually at 3:00 AM this morning. It stayed on for two hours. I've heard a resident was popping corn (at that hour?), it overheated and the smoke set off the alarm. I don't know why it stayed on so long. The whole system is being upgraded - new alarms in every room. Apparently there wasn't anyone in the building who knew how to shut the alarm off after it was determined that there wasn't a fire. I would hope that situation is corrected and we don't have another similar incident.

We had a different kind of experience Sunday. Chaplain Jensen had just started his sermon when the fire alarm sounded. Everyone had to leave the chapel. Mom and I went to the activity room. Others went to the lobby and other places. I don't know why the activity room, the lobby etc. would be any "safer" than the chapel if there was a fire. Actually a pipe had sprung a leak and the pressure in the sprinkler pipes dropped. That set off the alarm. So I still don't know why we had to get out of the chapel. Anyway, the chaplain said this had never happened before. He went on with his sermon, and we finished the service. Something else interesting, he said he and his wife, Nona, would be in Iowa next Sunday. They will be celebrating Nona's parents' birthday. They were both born on the same day. That's really unusual. I'll have to ask Nona more about that. I wonder when they found out they were both born on the same day? One asking the other about his or her birthday isn't something you'd think would occur especially early in a relationship. They will be 90.