Here we go again
Good Morning America hosted a Doctor of a fertility clinic which is screening embryos (8-celled) for the gene which causes inherited breast cancer. The couple must pay for the expensive procedure, and the unused embryos are used for stem cell research.
We are not far removed from gene discrimination for all types of genetic disorders, like autism, Down's Syndrome, Asperger's Syndrome, etc. For now, the researchers say that couples are making wise decisions about which diseases to screen. However, we may some day see choices made for general characteristics. This doctor stated that we haven't mapped or understand completely those genes which produce eye color, hair color, etc. The research seems to be concentrated on inherited diseases.
This still doesn't eliminate all diseases, for he stated only about 20% of cancers are inherited. I know that my pancreatic cancer wasn't inherited, for there is no family history at all as far back as I can research it.
This all brings up ethical discussions about how much manipulation humans should do in the reproductive process. Each couple is going to have to settle their own faith and the consequences of dabbling in what most believers is God's domain. He stated that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the womb by His choice. There may be reasons He has allowed for humans to have some inherited problems. We all know that disabilities alone don't stop the creative process of individual humans. Some very respected and well-known people in our day had inherited diseases, but they overcame and became quite successful, e.g. Helen Keller, Ludwig von Beethoven, Bill Gates, etc.

Lance took our pictures while we were visiting and this is the one I like the best of Wanda and I. There were so many good ones from which to choose. My personal photo selection has been updated on My Profile. We had a wonderful two-week vacation, but were glad to get home. Now we are catching up on mail and checks received and bills received. Recovering from different types of foods that were eaten over the space of two weeks may take a little longer, but I working on that today as well. It seems that my cancer has caused some digestion problems and a strong pain killer may be my only answer to the constant dull ache. Otherwise, I am doing physically quite well; I think I even many have gained some weight on this vacation, which is a change from the constant weight loss. I see why cancer has been called the "wasting disease" and with poor indigestion, I may not be getting the caloric value from my foods. Is that a blessing in disquise, if I can now eat more ice cream and chocolate? I am taking it that way as I had a chocolate ice cream snack on the drive home and am substituting grape soda for a dearth of grape juice in my refrigerator.

Suggestions for Anger Song
Lance, I couldn't send a comment on your blog about country songs about anger. The Johnstons' computer wouldn't allow the comment. I want to offer "A Boy Named Sue" sung by Johnny Cash as a song in which a boy hated his name and the father who gave it to him, but had learned to deal with it, until he saw his father in person and all that anger welled up inside of him.

We are leaving Raleigh-Durham airport at 12:00 today and should arrive in Wichita, KS, at 4:45 p.m. unless we have a cancelation like we did on the trip down here. Our visit to Carolina has been great. Linda and Ron have been wonderful hosts and made by every desire come to pass. Linda may have beaten me in match play yesterday, but I birdied the 18th hole, so we took some pictures of my putting on that green and some general family pictures with the wonderful natural scenery of the Chapel Hill Country Club.

North Carolina is beautiful!
We have spent the past 5 days visiting with my middle sister, Linda and her husband, Ron Johnston, in North Carolina. The nature in the state is beautiful and full of variety. They have a great condominium home with a forested back yard overlooked by a deck. The local birds which frequent the feeder are a wonderful blend of colorful species: goldfinch, cardinal, eastern blue bird, nuthatch, red-bellied woodpecker, Carolina wren, Carolina chickadee, for example. It has been great fun to whistle or make mouth sounds trying to imitate the various bird calls.

We have been treated royally. Our connecting flight coming into Raleigh-Durham was canceled, so we just rebooked into Richmond, VA, spent the night and met Ron & Linda on their way to visit with their son, Ron Jr. in Ashland. We got to spend some good time there.

We have played golf on their country club course, which makes you feel really spoiled. The amenities are tremendous and the course is kept immaculate. The greens putt fast and make for good scoring opportunities. Linda & I have a championship match play on Wednesday. I won on Sunday afternoon (when she gave me 1 stroke per hole) and she won yesterday (2 and 1).

We have enjoyed meeting their grandkids, who have taught us how to play Wii on the game console. Wanda & I now have our Mii's and have enjoyed both golf and bowling. It is weird how the scores match how we play in real life with Wanda beating most of the time in bowling. It is moderate exercise which makes it ideal for nursing homes or assisted living environments.

We have taught them 10-point pitch and played some bridge last night. All in all the days have been great fun. I wish we had done all this earlier rather than waiting for a tragedy to occur to bring us closer. I couldn't be more spoiled by my family!

Lance is really into photographic studio lighting.
Last night, Lance wanted to take some studio pictures of Wanda and/or I. He spent lots of time setting up flash lighting, with some color to a background screen and reflectors for side lighting, etc. The results were amazing, but not because of the subjects. He said I was the hardest model he has had. I would rather be on the other side of the camera. The resulting pictures are online at Walgreens.com under a Friends Album, using Ray Cummins as the title. Take a look at Lance's quality photos.

Lance suggested an idea and I agreed that we would make a video, produced by New Spring Church allowing me to share some final thoughts. When it is edited it will be available for those who want a copy of the entire interview (disclaimer: topics may be extremely personal!). I want to alert everyone in advance that a greatly edited version is planned to be shown at my funeral service for the general public. What a blessing to know when my time on earth is short; it has given me impetus to do some things I would have put off till later. The thoughts were quite random, but totally from my heart. Sometimes in real life, we put off saying the serious things to avoid the uncomfortable silent responses.

Unbelievably, we had time yesterday afternoon to play 9 holes at the Cedar Pines Golf Course in Andover, KS. I played well except for one disaster hole where I tried to cut a dogleg and got into a hazard. If I add the two rounds at this course, I would have shot an 88, but realize that par is 66. Lance did shoot a 40 yesterday. He is driving about 270 yards regularly.

I view every visit with family as a possible final visit, so this one rose to a level more than acceptable; it was a phenomenal time with Lance and Jenny and my 3 grandkids, Ellie, Micah, and Anna. I transferred my entire stamp collection to Ellie and helped her get started on it. I transferred my entire coin collection to Micah and helped him get it organized into storage books. I don't have anything to transfer to Anna, but my blessing on her life, if that means anything.

I don't recommend Auburn Hills Golf Course if...
...you don't hit your shots onto the fairway, or
...if you do hit your shots into hazards, because
...the 18 hole municipal course has 62 sand traps and 14 lakes which are all in play at all times.

If you have never seen a double dog leg par 5 hole, you need to rent a cart and drive around this course, but don't attempt to play it. I shot 63 yesterday just on the front 9. Mercifully, it started raining part of the way into the back 9 and we had to interrupt our play. The drive back to the club house in the pouring rain was tiring enough.

Now don't think that I was tired because I was swinging the club 63 times; many of those shots were penalty shots, because of hazards.

SkyCaddie 2.5 golf GPS
When I got one for my son, Lance's birthday at the Wichita Golf Headquarters, I decided might as well get one for myself. We got the account set up and downloaded the courses that we expect to play.
The rest was great. We used it get the yardage to the center of the greens at the Cedar Pines Golf Course in Andover, KS. It really kept me focused throughout the round on Sunday afternoon. For the first round ever, I never lost a golf ball and shot 42, which was 9 over par, or bogey golf. I tied with Lance for the first time in our adult lives.
Tomorrow we are supposed to play another harder course with Lance's preacher, Mark Hoover. I am excited about the chance to continue to work on my golf improvements.
The Sunday morning service at New Spring Church was really wonderful. The praise music was pointed and the last song had especially appropriate lyrics for my situation. "When my time on earth is over, I want my life to echo: Great Is The Lord!" I have requested that Lance sing it for my funeral later this year.
The six hours I spent with Ellie and Micah on Saturday were very productive. I transferred to them both my stamp collection and coin collection and helped them get started with some additions to them. They caught on very quickly and kept focused thoughout the afternoon and much of the evening. My sister in Africa has sent many communications throughout her missionary career from such places as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and now the Ivory Coast. The stamps have some of the African animals on them. If any of my readers have some cancelled stamps laying around that you haven't discarded while you are looking for someplace to put them to use, please send them to: Ellie Cummins, 12218 Laguna, Wichita, KS 67207, and help this 7-yr-old girl who is homeschooled to increase her knowledge of the world and the United States through the subjects depicted on the stamps. She would appreciate your explaining any of the subjects as to the history of the one being honored, or the reason why you think the US government authorized the stamp with the subject on it.

Today, the Cummins are Goins...
...on a final tour of part of the family tree to say last things to them.
...to Wichita, KS, to visit with Lance and my 3 grandchildren.
...to Chapel Hill, NC, to visit Linda, her two children, Ron and Heather, and their families (Linda's grandchildren).
...to play golf at each locale, for which I have been playing practice rounds.
...driving part of the way and flying on commercial airlines part of the way. The whole baggage check things is up in the air, but I got a plastic carrier for my golf clubs and put some of my clothing in there as well. Today, I will need to check its weight.

What Caused My Cancer?
After the therapies for treating the symptoms of pancreatic cancer were exhausted, namely the tumor is inoperable and unresponsive to chemo, the cause for my pancreatic cancer was explored. I found that I had no history in my family of any genetic reason for the disease. I found that I had no history of environmental risk factors. I also realized that I have never smoked or imbibed alcohol, so those couldn't have caused it. After eliminating the usual culprits and hearing my medical doctor say that all people have cancer many times throughout their lifetimes; this one just wasn't killed by the immune system, I began to think about my immune system deficiency. Seventeen years ago, after about with pneumonia, I explored ongoing treatment for asthma. The cause of my asthma was found to be an allergy to various things, which my immune system attacked with excess energy, leaving me with excess sinal fluid. One of the approaches to controlling my asthma was to suppress that overactive immune system with corticosteroids, like salmeterol and fluticasone. Since 1998, I have taken those daily and my asthma has been under control.

If those drugs suppressed my immune system, then when the cancer attacked my pancreas, my immune system wasn't able to kill off the rapidly growing tumor cells.

Using this theory, I have analyzed what common treatments are used to try to get rid of tumors and found that the one that kills the cancer cells also kills the immune system, which is the opposite of what I needed to attack the cancer cells...an active immune system. So, I have begun to boost my immune system and as the effects of the corticosteroids wear off over the next 3 months, I expect the increased immune system to attack at least the metastasis of this cancer and hopefully reduce the pancreatic tumor. However, I am expecting my asthma to worsen, but I will deal with that in a different way this time.

I am taking liquid vitamins and minerals, making sure I am getting 600-800 IU of vitamin D per day, 400 mcg of folate per day, and a multivitamin spread to improve overall health. I am exercising to increase oxygenation of my blood and getting sunlight as well. I am drinking grape juice and black cherry juice, and eating purple or dark red fruits, like grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, purple plums, etc. to increase resveratrol in my system. Two years ago, it was found that two glasses per day of wine would help cardiac function because of the presence of resveratrol, and now it is also being shown to sensitize tumors to other treatments. The level of alcohol in wine, however, is detrimental, especially to the liver, so I am using fruit juices without alcohol.

Hopefully, this will give a summary of what I am currently doing to recover from this stage 3 cancer.