My impressions of Cleveland

We have been home now for one week and are so happy to be here.  The most exciting thing to report is that Dr. Kalady called a couple of days ago.  He told me my P.E.T. scan was completely clean….no cancer.  Praise God for his blessings.  He also told us that my surgery has been scheduled for January 24th.  This is what we have hoped and prayed for.
The other exciting news is that the procedure the orthopedic surgeon had performed on me has been an unqualified success to this point.  My hip pain quickly eased up and has been completely gone now for over a week.  This is like a vacation for me.  I am now able to get up and around and am able to leave the house for a little bit.  This has really been good for me.  My fistula continues to flow at a fairly high volume which means that I cannot bandage it nor can the experts come up with any kind of ostomy bag that will adhere to my abdomen.  I keep tea towels on top of the fistula with several other towels covering the entire abdomen area with several layers of cloth in order to keep most of the fluids soaked up.  I generally have to change these towels about every 3 to 4 hours.  During the day it can be ever hour or two.  Knowing I have the surgery in my future keeps me on top of the situation!
Now for a little report on our time in Cleveland.
The best news is that Joe Dan, Anne and Amelia Dell live only 140 miles from Cleveland.  They are finally the ones to live close to my treatment center./

We have just spent  little over a week in Cleveland, Ohio.Jerita and I have flown through here a few times and have spent a few nights in town…on our way to see the kids in Fredonia (140 miles) to see the kids.  We even watched the 4th of July fireworks a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.
I received a call from Dr. Kalady, my surgeon, a couple of days ago.  He told me my P.E.T. scan was clean….no cancer!  He also told us that my surgery has been scheduled for January 24th.  This is what we have hoped and prayed for.  Thanks to God for his continued blessings.
This was our first time to explore Cleveland to any extent. We have both been pleasantly surprised by several things.
We discovered Cleveland to be a very interesting city.  I have always had at somewhat…slightly negative idea about this place.  All I have ever really known for sure was that Cleveland has always been an industrial city.  In my mind I pictured a gloomyplace with lots of tall smokestacks and lots of smog.  I had also believed that gloomy miserable weather pretty much ruled !
These writings are part of a larger work that I have been working on for several years.As Jerita and I have made our way through the mountains and the valleys I have done my best to keep a journal of our exciting lives.  I have been asked many times by family and friends who have “lived” and shared these years with us to put them into some kind of book.  I decided several years ago to do this and I have managed to put together quite a lots of words…and manuscripts which detail my feelings and reactions to a virtual Pandoras’s  box of highlights and even a few of the lowlights.
This book is all about as many of the memories that I have…..throughout my entire life.My earliest childhood memories are of special…and some not so special…..times thatmade an impression on my young life and helped make me the person I am today.
I will be interjecting “little stories” as they come to mind as I tell my big story.   These blogs and all the stories that have filled our lives for the past 28 years will be built around the overall theme of how taking God’s hand and letting him lead us has been the driving force behind our journeys that have led us from the bottomless pit to the lofty and exhilarating heights of happiness.
Our deepest despair has constantly been the ultimate source of true happiness in our lives.  Without our faith in God’s gentle hand in our lives I could not have, in and of myself and my human frailty, won the great victories over the shadow of death that followed me time and time again.  God is great…..All praise to him.
I will now continue giving my impressions of Cleveland….helped along by some childhood memories.
About the only other knowledge I had of Cleveland was the Cleveland Browns and the Cleveland Indians.    The baseball Indians first made an impression on me because of the great Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller.  I believe that he, Walter Johnson and Nolan Ryan were the greatest fastball pitchers of all time.  Bob Feller was a prodigy, being recruited when he was only 17 years old. He was signed to a contract for $1 and an autographed baseball.  He was brought up to the Major League team without a single day of minor league baseball and played his entire 20  year career with the Indians.  He was the first pitcher to win 20 games before he was 21.  He also spent four years in the prime of his career in the Armed Forces.  He was the first baseball player to enlist after Pearl Harbor.  Bob Feller was one of my first  sports heroes.
Please excuse for”chasing a few rabbits every now and then….
The Cleveland Browns were my team long before the Dallas Cowboys.  The legendary. Jim Brown came out of Syracuse University  as a two time consensus All American and then rushed for over 12,000 yards in only 9 seasons….retiring at the peak of his career. He charged into the NFL  with his Superman-like abilities and as a rookie made the grizzled professionals all around the NFL look like school boys.  I can just see the highlight reels in my mind’s eye.  Brown would either thunder through a open hole made by his lineman or…he would explode through a mass of humanity and leave bodies in his wake.  He had great speed and with his massive size and Goliath like strength he was a near impossible man to bring down in the open field.  I have clear images of would be tacklers jumping on his back, grabbing a leg or an arm…..and holding on for dear life…..hoping for more team mates to help bring the freight train down.    If you are reading this and didn’t ever see him play you should find some old NFL Films and treat yourself.  Go to You Tube and type in Jim Brown if you want to watch THE  far and away  (in my opinion) greatest running back in history.  Jim Brown made the Cleveland Browns a household name.
Cleveland is a relatively small city of a out 400,000 people and is located at the southeast shore of Lake Erie.  Interstate 90 runs parallel to the eastern shore of the lake starting on the north end…at Buffalo, N.Y.  Cleveland peaked in population in the 50′s with a little over 900,000 people.  They have been in a slow decline since then.  Just since 2000 the numbers have dropped from 425,000 to 396,000.  This is the general trend in the area.  Detroit has lost greater numbers in the same time period.  Jobs are the overwhelming reason for people leaving.  3 states, Florida, North Carolina and Texas are the recipients of the most of the Ohioans who have left.
Every day as we drove around the city we were very impressed with the wide diversity in the architecture.  We saw several old churches with European Gothic design.  I always think it quite astonishing that these buildings we’re built with none of the great methods, tools and technology of our world.  There are also a great many buildings that   are completely modern and some seem years ahead off their time.  I have done lots of walking and exploring in a great number of places I have visited.  What you see when walking is a completely different world than…from a car.  Unfortunately, this trip did not include any walking and exploring.  Directly adjacent to the heart of the city sit Quicken arena,  home of the Cleveland Cavalier NBA basketball team and across the street from the arena is Jacob’s Field which  is home to the Cleveland Indians MLB team.  Two very beautiful complexes. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is on the shore of Lake Erie.  This is a huge building, much of which is housed in a magnificent glass and steel frame  pyramid.  Just a gorgeous site next to the lake.  Nest door to the H of F is he home of the Cleveland Browns.  Another fairly new and impressive building.
We spent the vast majority of our time at the massive (142 acre) main campus of the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic.  In addition to the approximately 40 major buildings there are another 10 Cleveland Clinic hospitals around the area of Cleveland.  Each of them has some health care specialty they treat and study along with regular hospital services as well.
Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 and has been in a state of constant construction since then.  This is one of the most well known medical facilities in the U.S, and…the world.  Doctors from everywhere know that patients with seemingly untreatable problems can be sent there with at least the hope that something might be done.  They think “outside the box” and are not to afraid to step out and do something that has never been done before.  That’s exactly the reason I am here.
The first thing we did Monday morning was give my complete health history (they only THINK they got my full history) along with insurance I.D.’s, group numbers and any other pertinent information about me such as my entire immediate families health history.  They also had to know the medications I am currently taking.
This is all vital information for the doctors to coax out of my little mind and I’m always happy to comply.  My most aggravating and seemingly senseless pet peeve is having to repeat all of that Information over and over during the stay in the hospital.  What a great waste of everyone’s time.  Of course, the hospitals systems are just not set up to do it any other way.
Not so at theCleveland Clinic…….
They have every single one of their computers synced up.  Very impressive I would say.     There are likely 10,000 computers at the main campus alone.  What an amazing thing!That’s not even the most impressive thing I can say about the Clinic…..  The employees all seem to be great people who have been trained extremely well in manners,  common courtesy and professionalism.  These people lifted my spirits every time I passed one of them.   Nothing but smiles going on at the Cleveland Clinic.  I’m thinking many of you expect that I’m exaggerating a bit. Trust me…..it is all true.
This hospital has gained a world wide reputation because of it’s ability and willingness to  attack and solve severe problems,   People who have been sent home to live out their remaining days….such as myself….are most willing to assume the risk involved in with the treatment which in many cases are ground breaking.  I love this place!
I praise God for bringing Jerita and I here and ask for your continued prayers as we prepare for our return trip to the Cleveland Clinic.

Take my hand….and I will lead you….

Friday,  December 2, 2011.

Twenty-eight years ago I was I thirty-six years old.  Jerita and lived in Lamesa, Texas. We had 4 children…ages 13, 11, 7 and 2.  I was blessed, in my opinion, a very charmed life. I had been very very blessed indeed to marry the only real love of my life.  She would be the mother of our 4 amazing children.

I was blessed with leadership abilities that would have me chosen as presidents of several local organizations in Lamesa and Midland….mostly youth organizations which our children were involved.  Things always seemed to come easier for me than for others.
Jerita and I were totally involved with our church.  My mother gets the credit for my strong faith in God.  We simply never missed church!  Church was first and foremost in our lives.
I have always been blessed with a happy, bold and adventurous spirit.  Fear has never been in my mind.  My faith in God has indeed fed the flames that have continually kept me strong in the face of many really difficult situations. My doctors have told myself and my family I would not live to see another day on countless occasions.  Just wasn’t in Gods plan.  Did you ever wonder what God thinks about the plans we (all of us) make for ourselves!  He tells us to “take his hand”.  We must do that and do so with an unflinching rock-solid faith in his love for us…knowing that whatever happens in our lives is truly part of the plan.

I would now begin a new journey that would take me to depths of despair that I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams.  As Christians we should never be surprised at Gods grace, love and blessings in our lives.  The next 28 years have seen my life….and my families lives blessed over and over and over.  He has turned every pain into a comfort….every fear into unwavering courage and every tear into heartwarming joy.

Our lives and the lives of many, many people have been blessed by his work in my life’s

My sweet Dad is the only absolute hero I have ever had or needed in my life.  I have spent my life, with some small degree of success, trying to emulate my Dad.
He taught me a couple of vital life lessons when I was still a very small boy.  I took those two lessons and put them to work that very day.  I didn’t get his entire point…..the true meaning….but I got enough that my life was enriched from that moment on.  I have praised God for Dad and the amazing inspiration he has been throughout my entire life.
Here is the story of how he helped me chart my life.  Any success I have had I give all credit to Dad and our God who is in control of our lives.
I walked into my Dads bathroom one morning.  He had just finished shaving and was standing in front of the mirror with biggest most wonderful smile (that is how my Dad has always smiled….and he still does today) you will ever see.  He was smiling at himself…turning his head from side to side….checking the smile out from every angle.  I said….”what in the world are you doing Dad?”He told me “son, I am just getting my smile all loosened up for the great day ahead.”
I said “How do you know its going to be a great day Dad?He said “Every day is a great day…and I’m going to do my part to make sure it truly is great by having a smile on my face for everyone to see.  A smile is a very contagious thing.  First thing you notice is that the people around begin pitting their smiles on and….happy people make life and work much more fun.  You will find that If you keep that smile out there for people to see you will make lots of friends.  People enjoy being around happy people!”
I liked the sound of more friends and although I didn’t have a complete picture of what he was trying to teach me…I got the gist of it.  Just a few years later his point came into focus when I realized he was trying to tell me that :
HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE IN OUR LIVES!    :)

Wehave a choice every single day of our lives to put on a happy face….facing adversity head on and quickly moving on.  Happiness truly is a very contagious emotion and I try to spread as much of it as I possibly can. We are a very blessed people and if we let little bumps……or for that matter…big bumps be stumbling blocks for us we will spend waaaay too much time in the ditch complaining, blaming others for our problems and becoming a not so happy person which is not what God wants his children to be.

My belief in that thought has been a driving force in my life.  I thank my very insightful Dad and a loving God for blessing me with the wisdom and then the faith to make it a defining presence in my life.I had an almost overwhelming moment today as I was having a consultation with my plastic surgeon, Dr. Lucas.  He will work alongside my colon surgeons Dr. Kalady. More about the surgery later in this post. He told me that he had spent a good deal of time yesterday reading my medical history.  He said to me “it is obvious that you have had seemingly endless succession of bad luck for the past 25 or so years of your life!”   God had given me another glorious “sharing” moment.  In the blink of an eye I wa pouring my heart out to this Doctor… telling of the absolutely endless series of blessingsThat have filled my life….and would not have been possible had it not been for that fateful car accident in Salt Lake City back in 1983.  This. accident happened when my preacher in Lamesa and I were on our way to a little town in Southwest Wyoming to check on the progress of an outreach mission we were involved in.  We were continuing the work of planting a church there.
It has been said many times over the years that God works in mysterious ways. This seemed to be one of those very mysterious ways but it was just a short time before the glory of God began revealing itself to me and all those around us.  He began a work in my life that has never ceased. The physical effects to my body continue to manifest themselves in ways that have baffled my doctors at almost every turn.  It sees there is never a clear cut answer to either what is wrong with me or how to treat the problem.
As the doctors have seen the obvious faith we have always spoken of and demonstrated..even in the most severely testing moments for us…several have asked me how my faith could be so steadfast in spite of the many near death setbacks that have faced us.  My answer was always the same to them.  With God….all things are possible!  One of my cancer doctors is of the Hindu religion.  Three days after my surgery in August of 2009…three days after the post surgery report from my surgeon warned my family that I had a slim chance of surviving…God continued his work in my life.  I was on my feet walking around the room and my bowels had already begun working.  The doctors were just ecstatic with my progress.  The Hindu doctor looked at me and looked to the heavens above with both arms outstretched.  He said “it is obvious someone up there thinks a lot of you!” Quite a statement from this man. Somehow…some way…my God touched his heart.
God has been my constant companion and with his blessing I have repeatedly bounced back from many adversities.
Many of you who have read my blog are people who have never known me…..only know of Gods blessings in my ordeal with cancer.
To the glory of God I want to share just a few of the things God has enabled me and my family to endure and overcome:
45 major surgeries including 6 perforated bowel issues….each of which put me in great danger. I have now spent more than 2,400 days in hospitals an have had over 60 blood transfusions. I have had more than 50 CAT Scans. I have had over 20 central lines.  This is an I.V. that is inserted into a major vein near your heart.  This is a necessity in order to feed you’re body intravenously and is very important if a person is to have multiple surgeries.

Testimony page 2
I have had literally hundreds of x-rays….I likely glow a bit in the dark.  :)W
I believe it is impossible for a person to view what has happened in my life and not believe God has been the driving force behind my recoveries.  Several of my doctors know that despite their skilled work and valiant efforts I could not have survived without divine intervention.  Praise God for his absolute love for his creation!
I was declared cancer-free in February of 2010..almost two years ago. I had my 18 month P.E.T. scan. (cancer test) in August.  Everything was clear and good at that time.
Since I was released from the hospital in October of 2010 I have been just a tiny little inch from being totally back up to steam on several occasions.  I began walking and fairly swiftly returned to a good 4 mile walk each day. I did a great deal of training….continually pushing myself in the right direction. One of my goals for my return was to once again climb Guadalupe Peak.  I had hoped to do that sometime during the summer of 2010.  However I had a visit from my wonderful backpacking cousin Earl Owens and his wife Cathy in early April.  We decided, on the spur of the moment that we were going to go out and climb that mountain.  For those of you who kmight not be familiar with Guadalupe….It is highest peak in the great state of Texas at a height of 8,751 ft.  It rises more than 3,000 feet above  the arid floor of the Chihuahuan desert.  The fairly stony trail takes you over 4.2 miles to the summit of Guadalupe Peak.  The 4.2 miles backdown to the trailhead is a good bit quicker.   I would suggest this climb be on your list of “must do” things for any Texan or hikers from anywhere in the U.S.
Earl and Cathy had to help me along with my gear along the way but I did make it to the summit and back.  Praise God for blessing me with an amazing body that had once again overcome adversity.
My other little problem was the fistula in my abdomen that has come and gone about three times but has now come to stay it seems.  It has now been open and flowing digestive fluids out of my body for one year.  About 8 weeks ago it shifted into high gear becoming what my doctors now call a high volume fistula. High volume means that more fluids are being drained off than I can take in.  My absorption decreased dramatically; meaning that my body would become under nourished over a pretty short period of time.  I lost 18 lbs over a 5 week period.  This sent us back to Dallas hospital praying for some answers. My amazing surgeon Doctor Ronald Aranoff had previously repaired the fistula in a marathon (March of 2010) surgery. Unfortunately, it opened up again about 4 months later. He told me that he would not operate on the fistula again as the surgery would be very high risk.  He told us we needed to go to a bigger hospital…maybe a research and teaching hospital.  He said a “fresh set of eyes needed to see this.” I appreciated his honest and humble feeling about my condition.  He had consulted with a number of his colleagues and they agreed that the surgery was too high risk for any of them to want to pursue it.  He told me he would continue to seek help but encouraged us to become proactive in finding help.  One certainty was that in another few months I would be much too weak to undergo even minor surgery.  This fistula was literally killing me little by little each day.  Pretty sobering words to hear for me since I thought I was bulletproof the first 40 years of my life and remained undaunted by major health issues for the past 24 years due to my strong faith in my savior.    I began calling around and…as before….God placed a very promising possibility in our grasp.   I made a call to a doctor in Plano,associated with Baylor health systems in Dallas, who was listed as a fistula specialist.  I called and set an appointment for a couple of days later.  We faxed my surgery reports and cancer treatment reports to him.  When he walked into my examining room he had a big smile on his face and told us that he could not do the surgery but he did in fact know where a surgeon was who would at least consider the surgery.  The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland Ohio was where I needed to go.  He sent all my reports to doctor Kalady here in Cleveland. After reading my surgery notes and other reports he agreed to see us on the 28th of November.  He and his associate Doctor Deitreich do about 20 similar surgeries each year. Their patients range from all over the United States and anywhere in the world.
Their work is specifically performed on  people such as me who have severely compromised digestive systems. Many as a result of cancer or trauma of some kind. Because of the “short bowel syndrome” there is no room for error and on some occasions they are not able to repair the damage.  Both of my surgeons here told me up-front that the mortality rate on this surgery is 70%.  That got our attention…another of those clear cut faith testers. They both went on to say that many of these surgeries are performed on people who are 300 lbs. or more and the surgery is the last straw.  They were facings earth within days in all the cases.
The fistula has backed us into a corner….making a decision to have this big surgery a no-decision.  I refuse to go home and whither away to nothing.  That would simply be a resignation to a certain premature death.  One day death will finally knock at my door, and when that time comes I will continue to thank God for the amazing and wonderful life he has blessed me with and at the same time thank him for his promise of eternal life in heaven.  This will be a win/win moment in the life of Johnnie Harper and I have no fears of that day coming.
The doctors told me that my whopping weight of 129 lbs is strongly in my favor.  They both told me also that my present condition, though weakened still spoke volumes about my attitude and fighting spirit and they both considered me a prime candidate for this difficult surgery.  I told them that God had led my charge into battle every step of the way and lots of wonderful doctors had done their part….with me bringing up the rear and doing my part.  I believe that desperately wanting and trying to get well…and believing you will are integral factors in recovering from serious…life threatening illnesses.    Take my hand and I will lead you…..
Our week here in Cleveland has been non-stop appointments…..all prepping me for the surgery.  They have told us that it will likely be done sometime in the month of January.  The surgery will be 1591 to 16 hours of very tedious work done by two surgeons and several assisting doctors and nurses.  It will be in January because a full day has to be blocked for one operating theatre and each of the two surgeons as well have to block out the entire day.  None of these things can be done this month.  So…we fly out to Midland on Tuesday if nothing changes.
I have had 3 abscesses in the past 2 weeks. Doctor Kalady told us that the fistula has deteriorated to the point that the infections will likely be with me until the surgery.  He has given me enough antibiotics to combat the infections until that time.One very interesting note about the surgery is that Doctor Kalady has a plastic surgeon working with him i this surgery every time he performs it.  Due to the 45 surgeries that have been performed on my abdomen the incision line has gradually widened and caused a separation of my abdominal muscles.  The plastic surgeon asked me to flex my abdominal muscles and then asked me to feel the center area of my stomach.  I have a good 3 inch gap between muscles on the left side and the ones on my right side.  This has left the center of my abdominal wall very thin and vulnerable to the formation of fistulas opening on the surface.  He will do a reconstruction of my abdominal wall which will involve some cutting and sliding of two big sections of muscle…sliding them to  the center…knitting them back together and giving me new much stronger abdominal wall. This is quite amazing.  The plastic surgeon will be side by side with Dr. Kalady all during the surgery.  He will likely have areas of the inner abdominal cavity to repair as they cut bits of muscle and also adhesions away from the wall.  Dr. Lucas…the plastic surgeon…said his work generally takes from 3 to 5 hours.  I stand amazed at the research…the great gathering of human wisdom and the high level of skill these men are able to attain through using the research results to hone their skills.
Dr. Kalady has moved my 24 month P.E.T. Scan up a month because he wants to make certain I remain cancer free.  If there were cancer cells returning to my body this surgery would necessitate the inclusion of my cancer doctor before any surgery could be performed. Monday after the scan is read and it shows no cancer cells a firm date will be set for the surgery.
This all seems very complicated but is in fact just one more phase in the life of a Christian who believes with all of his heart and soul that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that eternal life awaits all who have given their lives to him.
God is in control of my life and I hope you will continue to pray for healing and with the same steadfast conviction I will accept whatever Gods plan is for me.
I give all credit to God for the never ending blessings in my life….blessings that were hastened by the prayers of countless of friends and family including your family for Jerita and I.
Jerita, of course, has been far and away my greatest supporter, encourager, nurse maid and the one person who has always taken the critical moment to tell me I was wrong about something when it was needed.  I don’t think I ever failed to get upset and never failed to argue my case.  Yet, in most of those cases her judgement was right and I usually….not every time….but usually made the change she had wanted.  Her love for me in thick and thin and in sickness and in health has made the day I asked her to marry me the greatest day of my life. Her love has always been what completed me and has been a major factor in keeping my emotional spirit and drive at the high level that I needed to be able to “do my part” in these battles over the years.  She was an amazing teacher, a loving Mother and a perfect Grandmother.   What a lady!!!I love her so……
I will send out a post the first of the week when we determine if and when we will have the surgery.
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I pray Gods blessings for you and your family.  Jerita and I once again send our heart felt thanks to you for your love, concern and prayers on our behalf throughout my illnesses.  Your prayers have sustained us.
We would also like to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new Year!Love to all,
Johnnie