• LEUKO LOGBOOK 5 : Blood and Prayer

• VIEWFINDER: Parthenon Pathways

• TRAILMIX: Easy Breakfast Casserole

The previous four installments of my Logbook are collected here. Thanks for your interest in this challenging journey!

Warning: This episode contains a graphic description that might offend some readers.

The human tongue is an amazing organ. Packed into this 3-inch-long organ are eight intertwined muscles. These muscles enable the tongue to move in varied shapes for vocalizing speech, chewing, and swallowing. Adult tongues have as many as 10,000 taste buds that can distinguish hundreds of flavors. Such a busy organ requires lots of blood to operate. Three major branches of arteries and veins supply the flow. This includes the “Deep Lingual Artery” running along the lower portion of the sides.

I found out more than I've ever wanted to know about the Deep Lingual Artery ten days after my partial glossectomy that removed the pre-cancer cells and about 20% of my tongue. The evening of February 17, 2024, the artery hemorrhaged, creating severe bleeding that would not stop. Jan and I were in Austin visiting our daughter, Lauren. She was not home at the time, and the preschool-aged grandchildren had just gone to bed. As I continued to spit bright red blood into the sink, Jan called Lauren home. Lauren and a friend drove me to an independent emergency care clinic.

I walked in with a bucket of blood and an active wound bleeding more by the minute.

The doctor was able to use a surgical seal to rapidly close the wound that had damaged the lingual artery. The bleeding stopped! I could go home. But… I had lost and swallowed so much blood that I vomited a terrible bloody mess in the reception area and passed out. The nursing staff rushed me back to the treatment room. With all this happening, it was time for an ambulance ride to St. David's emergency room. With Jan and Lauren by my side I settled comfortably (?) for a long night of nursing observation. The concern was about dangerous blood loss—about 40% of my total volume. The overnight stay at St. David's stabilized me but extended the recovery process by many days while the hemorrhage—and the emotions of my caring family—returned to normal.

Here's a Lesson for everyone I’ll share at no extra charge: in an emergency just call an ambulance and go to the hospital ER!

Returning my blood volume to the proper level took several weeks of restricted activity and supplements. I learned to live with a tongue that worked differently, slurring some consonants. Lucy, a friend who is a retired speech therapist, gave some good lessons for me to work on. I had the most trouble with the "S" sounds. To rebuild my speech, I used a phrase multiple times each day: "I share a song of sapphire seashells shining and sloshing in the surf of sunny, southern Sicily."

Lots of people were praying for me throughout the episode. In my theology, God is continually active in influencing all entities of the universe, even as all things in turn affect God and others. This makes prayer critically important. In petitionary prayer, God inspires empathy and gives vision for the impact the prayerful energy can create. We do not pray to convince God to do something but to join God at work. God has not determined what will happen, which would make our petitions irrelevant. Instead, we are co-creators of the future in prayer. The words of theologian Bruce Epperly help us. “When we pray, we align ourselves with God’s vision for us and experience greater divine energy. Our prayers, in an interdependent universe, create a field of force that enables God to be more active in our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray. Our prayers create new possibilities for divine and human activities and may influence the nonhuman world in amazing ways.” ^[1] You, God, and many other factors are linked in a matrix of interaction. This makes prayer vital. Every prayer is a thrilling collaboration with God to actualize a better world.

As the weeks of 2024 went by, the surgeon felt that my tender tongue needed help. He recommended improving the alignment of my teeth to give a wider space with less friction for the tongue. I started Invisalign treatment in July. It's something I should have done many years ago, as that might have prevented the leukoplakia getting started. Honestly, the trays were inconvenient and got in the way of my speech and eating. Over the next months though, I was pleased with the results on my bite and even my appearance.

However, all was not well on my tongue. The summer months brought an ominous development. The surgery wound healed but the painful, red leukoplakia lesions appeared in new places, just like they had before. Every bite and sometimes the words I spoke were painful. I endured for months, hoping the sores would disappear and seeing the doctor several times. Finally, in January 2025, the ENT surgeon said, "I don't know what to do for you."

That left me with the sobering reality: I had to find some answers to this leukoplakia nemesis on my own or risk the development of oral cancer….

 ^[1] Bruce Epperly, Praying with Process Theology. RiverLake Press, 2017. P. 7.

This recipe is delicious and very convenient when you have overnight company or need to take brunch for a social gathering. —JanMaree

Ingredients:

Bread slices, 1 lb sausage, 12 eggs, 8 oz sour cream, green chilis, sharp cheddar cheese

Preparation

Layer 11x14 inch baking dish with buttered bread.

Add 1 lb. cooked, drained sausage (one half lb. regular and one-half lb. hot).

Combine 12 eggs, 8 oz. sour cream, small can of greens chilies, and 1 c. (or more) grated, sharp cheddar cheese. 

Allow to sit overnight and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Serve to smiling folks!

Jan and I visited Athens and toured the Acropolis. Dominating the towering hill is the Parthenon. It was built in 438 BCE to honor Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). A huge gold and ivory statue to the goddess was featured inside. It stood intact for nearly 1000 years, then successive powers converted it into a Byzantine Church, a Roman Catholic church, and finally a mosque. In 1687 it was nearly demolished by war. Today the magnificent statues are in museums around the world. An extensive renovation effort is now underway (note the scaffolding in the picture) to bring the exterior back to the original.

It was inspiring to visit this monument of diverse faith and God’s redeeming work without equal in the world. The Apostle Paul perhaps walked around all the great buildings that stood in the first century CE. The city was an intellectual and spiritual center. A short distance from the Acropolis was the Areopagus, the legislative center. Paul talked about Agnostos Theos, the Unknown God, with a wonderful message: “God was in Christ!” Even today we can’t grasp all that means. But we can listen to what God is doing in every heart and every city on the planet. The ancient temples on the Parthenon are ruins, but the Christ Spirit is very alive and well!

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