Karl Krass Updates

No News is Good News, As News Goes

2010-08-04T07:45:00.001-07:00

I haven't updated the blog in awhile and I apologize for that but we have officially entered into the (as the title of this blog indicates) "no news is good news" state. Karl is still going through chemotherapy cycles and will still have a periodic MRI/checkup but by and large he is healthy. The chemotherapy still fatigues him but that is obviously a minor issue compared to what Karl has gone threw over the past half year.

So again, we will use this blog to post any updates but if you don't hear from us be praising God that Karl is doing well!

One more thing, I'm throwing around the idea of interviewing Karl for this blog. I'll post it when it's done.

Psalm 139:14

2010-04-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Every single Krass child (possibly with the exception of Alan, I can't remember) had this wonderful 3rd grade teacher by the name of Mrs. Jackson. Mrs. Jackson is and was a legend. Not only was it a MUST to select her with the first overall pick in recess kickball (Her OPS had to be near .989) she was also rather liberal with her skittle distribution. But in addition to all this, Mrs. Jackson had her classes memorize and recite particular biblical passages each year. For whatever reason (insert the Lord) one of these passages popped into my head this morning.

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; you works are wonderful, I know that full well."

-Psalm 139:14

We memorized the entirety of Psalm 139 and if I were offered enough skittles I could probably remember the hand motions and voice inflections. My favorite part of the chapter was this verse. We would say each word very slowly, with added exaggeration on the words "praise", "fearfully" and "wonderfully".

I am not intelligent or theologically savvy enough to speculate on what it means to be fearfully made so allow me to take a shot on the wonderfully made part.

We are wonderfully made. We are wonderfully and intentionally made. To me that suggests that the garbage that we inherit: the depression, the lack of self-esteem, the cancer doesn't minimize the fact that God looks at us and says, "Yup, I pretty much hit this one out of the park. I'm very pleased with how I created Karl Krass. Keith Krass, Alan Krass, Jennie Krass, Kevin Krass, Trish Krass, Kari Zawada, Shannon Zawada, Logan Zawada, E-Force Zawada (Ethan) Mrs. Jackson, Wilt Chamberlin are pleasing to me."

I'm not saying that God is somehow responsible for "giving" people terrible diseases. That issue is a book not a blog. What I am saying is that despite the diseases and stuff, God thinks we are wonderful. He didn't slip up in creating you and me.

Sometimes I have to remind myself this. Often times I have to remind myself this.

Awhile back I included a link to the song "desert song" by Hillsong. This morning I was also thinking about the last four lines in the song:

"This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow."

Karl has received some pretty good news over the last month or so. Which is awesome. But the refrain of this song is "I will bring praise, I will bring praise, no weapon forged against me shall remain. I will rejoice, I will declare, God is my victory and he is here."

I'm just trying to remind myself to praise him in every season, both good and bad...

Ps To Mrs Jackson: you are an amazing woman. Thank you for making me learn those verses as a 3rd grader. They do matter and they still do. I'm am literally eternally grateful.

Back to school, back to school

2010-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Although Karl's return to school is significantly dissimilar to the fictional Billy Madison, I couldn't let the opportunity to include a picture and reference from a truly wonderful achievement in film just fall by the wayside. I may need to look this up, but I'm pretty sure Billy Madison won like 97 Academy Awards. Anyways, that is neither here, nor there*. If you are unsure what the "star" is doing following the "there" of that sentence, I haven't blogged in awhile so I'm feeling very spunky. The "*" is an indication that there is a footnote at the bottom of this blog. That's right. I take a little sabbatical from blog writing and I return with a new bag of tricks. I compare it to Jordan returning with a fade-away jumper. But that is neither here nor there...

But back to Billy Madison. Last week Karl returned to ZBTHS (Zion-Benton Township High School for those that are non-regional) to finish up his student teaching. As of right now he is just doing observations but will be teaching lessons soon enough. Karl is still getting fatigued and his legs will get tired from standing around all day but overall his health is very good. His stitches are now out from his past surgery as well. Below is a picture of Karl after his latest surgery.

Just kidding Karl...

So overall Karl is doing very well. He will still have regular check ups and despite the fact that they didn't see any cancer in his last scans, he will still have chemo treatments. They want to make sure that they get all of it.

One more thing, 99% of the population was peeved when Duke beat Butler to win the National Championship. Karl is part of the 1% that was excited about this. I have to admit, although I wanted Butler to win I'm happy for Karl. Karl is a HUGE Duke fan. I think he deserves for life to throw him a bone...

*Other expressions that I have no idea what they mean, "Have your cake and eat it too", "Well...yes and no", "It is really apples and oranges", "Don't put all your eggs in one basket".

Bored...

2010-03-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

Karl is now home (which is pretty cool to write). This week is going to be real boring, even more so than the past few weeks. If you think of it, it would be great if you could send him an email (karlw44@aol.com) or better yet a card (40233 Adelphi, Beach Park, IL 60099) or even better yet stop by and see him (same address).

I know he would really appreciate it.

Trance

2010-03-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

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You know when you're watching a baseball game and an outfielder drops a routine fly ball, how he immediately puzzledly (I just made up that word) looks at his glove like it's his gloves fault. You can almost see him mouth the words, "Is this glove regulation or what?" There is no way HE made a mistake. For lack of a better word, he looks like he is in a trance.

That is how I feel right now. Honestly, it is hard for me to believe the news. I mean, how can they not see the cancer? After 4.5 months of praying, worrying (sometimes the two blend) it is almost shocking that what everyone has been praying for ACTUALLY came true.

I've thought about this quite a bit the last two days (naturally). I should be having a mini worship service and celebrating like we just won the world series (I apologize for all the baseball allusions but the Cubs are going to win the world series this year and I am starting to get excited).

But instead, I have just felt a peace. I think we always wait for God to call down to us in a deep, verbose, 4x4 voice and say "I AM GOD!!!!!!!!!!" But instead, I've just felt a steady, calm and peaceful "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4) God has just reinforced over and over again in my head that He is great, He is with us and he is mighty to save (Zephaniah 3:17).

What God has really put on my heart is that He (and I'm just going to be real honest here) wants people to see him through this. It's very easy to say that this was a medical miracle, or to use reason and logic to explain away why the doctors can't find any of the tumor. I agree that there has been significant advances in medicine and I am grateful for those but I know for a fact that there was "something" else at work during this whole process.

I don't really understand prayer. I don't, I'll admit it. I don't know how or why 3,000 people's prayers or any more "important" than one person's; and perhaps they aren't. But what I will say is that I am grateful for everyone that has been lifting Karl up in prayer. I am so grateful.

Colossians 3:15-19 says,
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over al creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether thing on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Here's the thing. God does have supremacy over EVERYTHING and I believe that he is using Karl's situation to bring people to Him. Now this may sound too "Christiany", and I may be wrong. But I don't think I am.

God has been with Karl, God has delighted in Karl and God is mighty to save.

Ps Karl is being released from the hospital today.

Miracle

2010-03-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

I have two observations on faith, well perhaps more specifically on prayer: 1) we pray and then are shocked when what we pray for actually happens and 2) we pray then when we asked for happens we assume there was a medical "miracle" or just a fortunate situation.

I think in doing so we minimize God. Allow me to explain.

Put plainly a miracle happened today. Now before I really get into this I should add this caveat, nothing is "official" at this point. Think of watching CNN's tracking of the presidential election, the CNN talking heads have a pretty good indication of who is going to win before they can officially call it. This is kinda like that.

Ok, here's a rundown of what happened. First, an individual from the neurological team evaluated Karl's MRI and it revealed tow things. 1) The area where they were supposed to place the plate was infected or damaged (or at least they thought). This was really discouraging. It was going to be an additional 8 weeks before Karl could then have the surgery to put the plate it. 2) The neurologist wasn't able to find any of the tumor. The neurologist wasn't able to find any of the tumor. Seriously.

Miracle. God miracle.

So they started the surgery and wouldn't you know it the spot they thought was damaged was actually just scar tissue. So they were able to put the plate in today.

Miracle. God miracle.

After the surgery my brother talked to our doctor that performed the surgery and he likewise didn't see any of the tumor. We are going to play this one conservative and not say that Karl is completely cancer-free but worst case scenario is that the cancer hasn't grown since his previous surgery. Best case scenario is that the cancer is no longer there.

Obviously, either way this is good news.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surgery

2010-03-12T05:46:00.001-08:00

Karl is having surgery today, or perhaps better stated, is probably having surgery right now. The surgery is to graft a plastic plate unto the portion of his skull that was removed due to the infection that occurred after Karl's previous surgery. Our understanding is that as skull/head surgeries go this is very much a "cosmetic surgery". Obviously any time you cut open someone's head and attach things to someone's skull it is relatively complicated. Please pray that the surgery will go well and that Karl's recovery time will be as painless as possible. I will update this blog again later today with the results of the surgery.

Psalm 42:7

March 12

2010-02-22T07:11:00.001-08:00

You know when you see someone that you dated in high school, but haven't seen in two or three years and the first exchange usually consists of a real awkward "side" hug and both people saying "how are you?" at the same time and both people saying "good" at the same time? Well, that is kind of how I feel right now with this blog. Although karlkrassupdates.blogspot.com and I never had any romantic chemistry we were pretty committed to each other for awhile but we haven't spoken lately.

Unlike the high school relationships, I am optimistic we can work this one out.

Karl is scheduled to have his next surgery on March 12. This is the surgery to replace the section of his skull that became infected during the second surgery. A month or so ago, I wrote about how the doctors could either create a new "bone" or simply attach a plastic "plate" to the existing skull. Below is the plate they are planning to use.

Although the Mario plate option does run a higher risk of infection (especially since Karl has already had one he's not real pumped about this option) they doctors feel this would be the best thing for him. The other scenario would require the doctors to take two non-consecutive ribs from Karl's side, take two inches off the rib, split the rib in half, take some of his skull and essentially create a new skull. I think even the doctors are confused by this option. There is likewise a risk of infection with this procedure so the plate just makes a little more sense.

Karl will have an MRI prior to this surgery to see the status of the tumor and to determine exactly what's going on up there. The best part about the surgery though? The doctor told Karl he could play contact sports four weeks after the surgery. Seriously.

The Longest Post Ever

2010-02-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

As I briefly mentioned in yesterday's blog, today is the twelve year anniversary of my father passing away from colon cancer. As you can probably imagine I have a ton of thoughts. Instead of writing a new blog entry, I decided I would just cut and paste something I wrote about my dad about three weeks ago. I've started writing more and more since my brother became sick and this is one of the entries. I apologize for the length.

Frankly, writing this entry is the last thing I want to do. In a lot of ways, this journal is actually an excuse for me to write this chapter because it’s something I have always needed to do. Ok, I’m beating around the bush. This chapter is about Kevin William Krass. Kevin was my father and as I have alluded to in prior chapter, he passed away when I was twelve years old.

I’ve thought for a while, about how I would tell my dad’s story. I’ve contemplated researching his upbringing in East Point, MI, how he met my mom, how he became a pastor, his diagnosis with cancer and so on. What I’m realizing though, even as I write this, is that those things are just facts and information. Facts are just the outlines of an object in a painting-the color is what brings the image to life. I don’t want to paint the outline because my dad’s story has already been told. Millions of people have died from colon cancer. I want to add color to the image; to make the image dance. By the way, my dad was a Baptist pastor so when I say “dance” you have to understand that there was a greater chance of him flying solo to the moon on a Radio Flier than him dancing. No, when I say I dance I immediately think of the Bonnie Brook Baptist Soccer Camp. Allow me to explain.

Every summer my dad would run a soccer camp for the youth of the neighborhoods surrounding the church. Even though he played and coached basketball his entire life he chose soccer because 1) it was cheap 2) we could do it right in the fields at church 3) the communities around the church were by and large Hispanic and as I understand it Hispanics really, really like soccer. At the beginning of each day my dad would lead the campers through a stretching and warm-up routine. The calisthenics always concluded with my dad’s favorite stretch, the ballerina stretch. This particular move consisted of each camper placing his hands over his head (envision 100 kids making the “A” like in the hand motions for the Village People’s “YMCA”), standing on their tiptoes and spinning in circles.

What was so great about this little movement was that it was always my dad leading it, and it was always my dad’s favorite part of the day. My dad was a big guy. He was a 6’5”, 220lbs, mustached former college basketball player performing a rather impressive version of swan lake. And that was my dad. And that is what I miss and continue to miss.

Even as I’m writing now I’m fighting back tears because more than anything I just wish I could call him up and tell him that I’m writing this journal, that I’m really excited about this church I’m going to now (shameless plug: the-harbor.net). It’s funny because its not even though I long for him to say anything back, I just want to talk to him. In a way, it feels like nothing I have done in my life is of value because he hasn’t approved of it or validated it.

I think that’s the hard part about growing up without a dad, often times you are just guessing at what the right thing to do is. You remember ballerina stretches but you don’t remember him telling you how to tie a tie or throw a curveball or how to ask a girl out on a date. Even though you seek counsel and advice from other people it always feels like you’re doing business with the boss’ secretary without ever meeting person in charge face to face.

I understand that not everyone has a good father, but the ones that do spend a lot of their life striving to either make their father proud or even, more blatantly, trying to become who their father is or was. What makes situations like mine difficult is that because my dad passed away when I was so young, my entire life I have heard how wonderful my dad was. How beautifully he dealt with his disease, how strong a leader he was, how compassionate a pastor he was, etc. Even though my family tells me all the time how proud my dad would be of me, I simply can’t accept that. I get visions of my dad becoming one of those dead-beat alcoholic TV dads stumbling into my room and saying things like, “Why don’t you get a real job?” and “You’re not married yet, you must be gay.”

What’s crazy is that my dad loved me. I know this for a fact. But because he isn’t around, the reality of who he is gets twisted and perverted to the point that I can’t even remember who my dad actually was. I remember in high school thinking to myself that the only way I could be successful was to be diagnosed with a terminal disease like my dad and die with dignity and strength just like he did. I fully acknowledge that this doesn’t make any sense, but when you’re trying to color by numbers and about 400 numbers are missing your picture becomes a little distorted.

A few years ago Donald Miller wrote a book entitled To Own a Dragon. The book was mainly about Miller trying to find his identity without a father in his life. I highly recommend it to individuals that have lost their dad but also if you still haven’t. I think it is a great read. Miller says that to him, “A Father is nothing more than a character in a fairy tale” because he had never seen a real one. I can relate to this. In a lot of ways this book has and continues to be an experiment in finding myself. Finding myself spiritually, finding myself relationally, finding myself professionally, etc. What I’m realizing is that God set up certain road signs that were designed to make sure we grow up right. I believe this design includes having two loving parents, a nurturing church to attend, a family that supports you, etc.

But unfortunately because we live in a sinful and broken world this design has become nothing more than a fairytale for a lot of us. My dad died when I was twelve, the church he was pasturing closed its doors after he passed away, my brother was diagnosed with brain cancer, etc. And as I stated in the introduction, I’m not the only one. My story isn’t unique; in fact, I think it’s the norm.

Really I guess this is what this book is all about. By all accounts, humanities collective story is too similar to ignore. I realized this when Karl was diagnosed with cancer. I received 10 emails a day saying that so and so had a brother that had brain cancer and so and so’s son had brain cancer. When you actually stop to think about it, it’s quite remarkable.

Even though I will never be able to say that there is anything positive about cancer I am sure glad I have people that cry for me and people that pray for me and people that know what I’m going through. Without them, life would quite literally be impossible. Maybe this is God’s new system. Even though I think all parties involved would much prefer life without pain and suffering, for a reason I’ll never understand this is impossible. But maybe human race’s redemption is through each other-through crying for each other, through praying for each, through sending poems to each other.

In Randy Paush’s book The Last Lecture he talks about how he knew immediately how well his students would do on their final group project when the students would present their final project to the rest of the class simply by how the group was standing on stage. The students that were huddled together, smiling and laughing together almost always received an “A”. The students that were spread out across the stage and didn’t have much interactions usually did average or below average.

I don’t understand why God does a lot of the things he does, but I’m pretty sure that the best way to navigate this life is with people around you.

By the way, after my dad died and the church split, the leaders of the church voted and decided that the last act of the church would be to give the church building and all that was inside it to a multi-racial but largely Hispanic church that was renting the building. One of my dad’s biggest dreams was that Bonnie Brook Baptist Church would serve the Hispanic community in the area. That is why he started the soccer camps and the ballerina stretching in the first place.

Maybe God does know what he is doing after all…

Part II

2010-01-31T16:51:00.001-08:00

First and foremost I botched the last line of the previous entry. It was supposed to read, "Maybe God's love is the answer, we just don't understand the question". That really took the sales out of the the punch line. Dang it. Sorry.

Anyways, Karl emailed me today with some information from this past week.

Ok, here's what makes Junior Highers unique. Karl not only had to answer the, "Dude why are you wearing a helmet" question 500 times AND had a kid hit him in the head, by Wednesday they didn't care anymore. I can just hear the conversations in my head. One friend asks another one, "Hey what's the deal with Mr. Krass' head?" and the other responding, "Dude I don't care, that was like so two days ago."

Karl apparently taught the kids how to bump, set and serve on Thursday (impressive for a volleyball newby). The other activity he had them do was stand on an exercise mat and open it only using their feett and move it across the room. The picture below is the image I have in my head.

Karl has two more weeks of student teaching.

Now for the bad news, Karl has an appointment on February 17 but won't have the surgery to put the plate back on his skull until March 10. That means he will have to wear the helmet for awhile longer. Total bummer.

2 Part Sunday: Part 1

2010-01-31T16:08:00.000-08:00

I have quite a few thoughts I would like to put in this blog today so I would like to introduce the first ever two-part karlkrassupdates.blogspot.com entry. This first entry is a rather random observation that came to me during the church service this morning and the other is more of an actual Karl Krass update. They sorta both apply to Karl but I felt weird including them in the same blog (basically, it would be too long for people to read and they would lose interest. I'm tricking y'all by separating the posting into two different entries...)

So without further ado...

This morning at church we sang this song. There is a line in the chorus of the song that goes like this, "Your love heals every disease, your love is everything." Now just for a little history, I heard this song the first Sunday I was back in Boston after hearing about Karl's illness. My response to this song: I was 100%, completely and totally, royally PISSED! I mean, the melody of the song was great, the whole congregation was singing, it was for all intensive purposes "worship". The only problem, is that I don't think it's true. Now I'm not implying that God's love is incapable of curing all diseases. It certainly can. But the song seems to be suggesting that is "does". If this were the case, my dad wouldn't have died of cancer 12 years ago tomorrow (I'll blog more about that tomorrow). Believe me, we prayed for my dad, other people prayed for my dad, my dad prayed for my dad, etc. At the end of the day, God's love didn't cure his disease.

So about four months ago when I heard this song I, well...just left church. Not the building entirely; I just went outside into the loggia (by loggia I mean foyer but I told a friend today that he needs to start incorporating loggia into his every day vocabulary) and just sat there stewing for about 45 minutes. A friend came out and we talked for the entirety of the sermon. I felt a little bad after the service but I was just so doggon angry.

Fast forward four months. We sang that song again today, and for whatever reason I wasn't so pissed this time. I've been thinking about it all day and I've come to a somewhat profound realization. You see, this morning before church the Lord put it on my heart to read Mark 2: 1-5. I thought it had something to do with the small group I'm leading tomorrow but it actually was to prepare me for this song today.

If you're not familiar with the story, I'll briefly summarize. There was this dude, the bible doesn't give him a name so we will call him Lex Israel. Lex was paralyzed. Lex's friends heard that this guy named Jesus was going around healing the sick. Lex's friends were obviously pumped to take Lex to Jesus. Unfortunately there were so many people there that they couldn't make it to Jesus. There solution: climb on the roof and the lower Lex down to Jesus via a hole in the ceiling.

I wish I were that good of a friend.

Anyways, Jesus is SO moved by the love that Lex's friend's have for Lex that Jesus says to Lex, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Ok, here's what this is so significant. Jesus was uber impressed by these friends and more specifically the FAITH of these friends. To reward Lex, Jesus decides not to heal him but to forgive his sins. To Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is way more important than the ability to walk.

Maybe the point isn't actually that God can heal diseases. Maybe to God, healing someone is like Lance Armstrong riding his bike around the Vatican City (.17 square miles). It's just not that big of a deal. Believe me, I hope that God heals Karl and that even as I'm writing this I hope that tumor is nonexistent. But maybe we're missing something. Maybe there's this bigger picture that God is painting that we don't and never will understand. Actually, you know what, there has to be a bigger picture that God is painting that we don't understand.

Now I realize fully well that I'm not the one with cancer, and part of me thinks even as I'm writing this "Keith, you're full of crap. You are just trying to justify God's inaction." Maybe. But the more I think about illness and pain and suffering my soul just naturally looks for something deeper, something that actually does make sense amidst the crappiness of life. And for some reason, this whole praying for healing thing just feels like I'm skimming the surface and that there is something way deeper that I'm just not getting.

I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:12 where Paul says, "Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." I don't understand all this right now, but I think one day I will.

You want to know something pretty ironic, for all you savvy bible scholars out there 1 Corinthians is often referred to as "the love chapter." 1 Corinthians 12:8 says, "Your love never fails." Maybe the song actually is right. Maybe God's love is actually the question. We just don't understand the answer...

Part II coming shortly.

Volleyball

2010-01-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

Let's track Karl's first day of student teaching by the numbers:

150 - Times he answered "Why are you wearing a helmet?"
1 - Junior Higher that actually hit him in the helmet
1 - Junior Higher that almost lost his life for hitting Karl in the helmet
3 - Times Karl has played the game of volleyball is his entire life
4 - Classes that Karl is supposed to teach volleyball to
2 - Rules of volleyball that Karl knows

Talk about a tough draw. I will acknowledge that the Krass family isn't quite the Mannings in our athletic prowess

but I would like to think that we are pretty versatile in our knowledge of athletics. If you add up all the sports Krass kids played in high school, Kari = 2 + Karl = 3 + Alan =3 (Alan actually was on the golf team. Consult link below for example of Alan's Golf swing) + Keith = 4 you got a total of 12.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s50K65PNeBU

Three of us played at least one sport at the collegiate level etc etc. So is it too much to ask that Karl would get basketball, football, soccer, I'll even give you floor hockey but volleyball? In the words of Gob Bluth, "Come on!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTJpLBXGBkM

But anyways, Karl said that day one of student teaching wasn't too bad. He didn't do a ton of teaching, mostly observation, but he hopes to gain more responsibility as time progresses.

I was talking to someone today about the blog. She asked if I had updated the blog yet today. I hadn't. But one thing she did say is that since reading the blog she has started journaling a little bit more. I must admit, I hate journaling. It's boring and often its really hard to get motivated to write. However, if you are going through "something difficult" I highly, highly recommend it. Since Karl got sick I started writing more and more. I have 54 pages worth of "thoughts" in a word document right now. It has been wonderfully therapeutic.

Back to School

2010-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

Much like Adam Sandler in the academy-awarding film "Billy Madison" (I think it won the Oscar for cinematography) Karl returned to school today. Albeit, under slightly different circumstances. Because Karl apparently hasn't endured enough pain and suffering over the past few months, he has decided to continue the completion of his student teaching. To do this he must...gasp...spend eight hour a day with junior highers teaching gym class.

I mean seriously, how scary are these kids. I get the shivers...

In all seriousness, this is a pretty substantial undertaking for Karl so please be in prayer that he will have the strength to make it through the day.

Generally speaking, I don't want to speak for my entire family but just pray for a "resurgence of energy". Cancer can be such a difficult thing for an entire family because its just draining. OBVIOUSLY it's hard for Karl but I know its been hard on my family dealing with all the insurance and medical "issues" and for me its been hard being 1,000 miles away. To put it very plainly, it's just exhausting. In addition, February 1st is the 12 year anniversary of my dad's passing. I was talking to my mom a few days ago and we both agreed that this time of the year is just kinda difficult.

I've been thinking alot over the last few weeks about the numerous ways that cancer, well...basically...sucks. I think one of the biggest things that I just keep coming back to is how cancer never takes a day off. Pretty much every other "thing" in life, takes a siesta or vacation. Cancer just "stays". Every so often when I'm feeling particularly discouraged I watch the speech below from former NC State basketball coach Jim Valvano. I thought about what scripture I should add at the bottom of this particular entry but this just seems more appropriate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXlkqkFH6s

It's long but I recommend watching all of it.

1 More Day!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

Before you start criticizing me for how cheesy this picture is, as you may or may not know I enjoy adding pictures to this blog. Karl has one more day of treatment. So obviously I google searched the word "victory" as this is clearly a sizable victory and this was the first image that popped up on google images. So there you have it. Yes, the poster is probably hung in every 3rd grade Baptist church Sunday school classroom in Georgia but I wanted to include a picture so there you have it.

So yes, Karl has one more day of treatment (Hallelujah!). I asked him yesterday if he was glad (I couldn't resist putting a picture of an acapella group in my blog. If you or your parents didn't listen to Glad, you missed out).

that is treatments were over tomorrow. His response, "YEEESSSSSSSSS, of course!" Right. Touche. Of course, he's glad.

Karl is hoping to get about three weeks or so in of his student teaching starting on Monday! Please be in prayer that Karl will have the energy to deal with junior highers for about eight hours a day five days a week. A believe in a God that can perform miracles.

I mentioned in one of the previous blogs that Karl was going to a camp with his junior high youth group this past weekend. Karl said he had a lot of fun. The kids played broomball and football, and did, you know, what you do at those kind of camps. My favorite part of the conversation though was apparently there was a kid there this weekend that was kinda...errrr...gullible to say the least.

They told this kid that Tom Foolery and Balley-Hoo own a restaurant in a neighborhood called Hi Jinx in Paris. There they sit around drinking chicanery all the day long. Oh yeah, the restaurant is located directly under the Eiffel Tower.

Priceless. I love it...

P.S. per my tradition, I google image searched "Tom Foolery" just to see what would come up. Awesome. Tom Foolery apparently was a Canadian rock band circa 1979. Priceless...

4 More Days, Daniel Craig and Lamar Odom ruining Rhode Island

2010-01-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone with Karl. The first thing he said, "How come you didn't compare me to Daniel Craig?" Point taken. After consulting the picture above I believe Karl's point is valid. The similarities are startling. I mean they BOTH have blonde hair and blue eyes. It's eery...

Karl has four more days of treatment. I asked him how he is doing since they isolated the location of the radiation and he said he is just more tired than usually. Yesterday he took a four hour nap. He said even his legs feel tired, which I thought was kind of interesting. Karl is hoping to continue at least part of his student teaching after this chemo/radiation cycle is done but a lot of that will depend on whether or not he has enough energy. Please pray that Karl will be energized. He is going to Camp Timberlee with the junior high youth group of Immanuel this weekend, so again, pray for lots and lots of energy.

Our conversation then progressed to Connecticut as I will be recruiting in that "state" tomorrow evening. Instead of summarizing, the conversation is below:

Karl: What's in Connecticut?
Me: Nothing, I think Hartford maybe. Oh and Yale.
Karl: Why do you hate it so much?
Me: Why is Everest the tallest mountain? Some things are just inherently true.
Karl: Is Connecticut on the water?
Me: Yeah, most of it. Rhode Island is right next to it as well.
Karl: What's Rhode Island's deal?
Me: Even less than nothing, I don't even consider it a real state. Them and Delaware. There could be 48 states in the union for all I care.
Karl: Didn't Lamar Odom come from Rhode Island?
Me: Yes. Thank you for making my point for me.

Thanks for ruining a perfectly good state Lamar...

Radiation Photos

2010-01-13T09:28:00.001-08:00

I don't mean to make light of Karl's treatment (well, actually I sort of do) but am I crazy or does the second photo remind you of that scene in the James Bond movie "Goldfinger?" Don't remember what I'm talking about? See below.

The good news though Karl, it usually works out pretty well for Bond in the end. See below.

This of course, got me to thinking, which Bond is Karl most like? First i thought maybe he was Timothy Dalton but I quickly realized he was very much the Gary Cherone of the bond series (Only 3 people got that. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen#Gary_Cherone_era_.281996.E2.80.931999.29 for full information) appearing only briefly before everyone realized that he wasn't actually the right man for the job.

Then I settled on Roger Moore

Let me tell you why...

Moore's best work was in "A View To Kill" which features Jaws as the bad guy. If ever there was a Bond that could defeat Jaws it would be one that is most similar to Karl. In fact, I would pay a stupid amount of money to see Karl and Jaws "throw down". They are in fact, almost exactly the same size.

Ok, I have no idea where I'm going with this. If you would like to send Karl a word of encouragement please leave him a comment on this blog. The days get long and boring during treatments and he couldn't use a little pick me up at times.

Minor Update

2010-01-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

I spoke with Karl last night and he was watching a movie with Stephen Baldwin and Luke Perry. In case you didn't read that correctly, last night Karl was watching a movie with Stephen Baldwin and Luke Perry. Imagine the amount of movies that Karl has watched on Netflicks if he settled on a movie with Stephen Baldwin and Luke Perry. It's actually somewhat frightening. The best part of it all though, in my "research" to find a picture of Stephen Baldwin I came across stephenbaldwin.com. Seriously. Do me a favor, if you have some time to kill PLEASE go to stephenbaldwin.com. It'll be worth your time. Did you know that he has a new novel coming out? I bet you didn't. See, these are the things that you miss when stephenbaldwin.com isn't your home page. If you don't know who Stephen Baldwin is, he's the least talented Baldwin (which is saying a lot) and he co-starred with Paulie Shore in the film Biodome. I'm pretty sure Biodome won like 13 Oscars; second all-time to Titanic.

But I digress...

Just a quick update on Karl, he has a little over a week more of treatments. Up until this point the radiation wasn't necessarily focused on a specific point. It was more "broad-sweeping". Starting tomorrow it will be more focused on the area of the tumor that was removed.

That's all for now.

Pastor Juan

2010-01-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

One of the perks of my current living situation is that I periodically get sneak previews into the sermon that will be preached on Sunday at my church. This, of course, is due to the fact that one of my two roommates is the college pastor of the church I attend. This morning he informed me that he will be preaching on the first chapter of Joshua. Brief synopsis: Moses dies, the Lord selects Joshua to lead His people. This sermon is the third installment in the sermon series on "Journey into 2010". John specifically will be preaching on fear and how fear itself often builds walls in our life that prevent us from doing what we should/want to do. OK, I'm not exactly sure that is what John is preaching on but I sort of deduced that from our brief conversation.

I couldn't help but start thinking about what role fear plays in situations like Karl's. What I'm realizing is that fear rarely affects the patient. What I mean is that although I'm sure Karl is somewhat scared about all that is happening to him, just managing the endurance to battle this thing on a day to day basis is pretty darn brave. No, I think fear affects the family much more. I know I'm scared. What's frustrating is that often times I think fear replaces faith. I'm not implying its impossible to be of profound faith yet still scared; but I think often times we actually feed the fear instead of the faith. I'm not saying that when a family is going through a disease they should say things like, "We're not worried, God is in control." If you can say that, that's wonderful. But that is pretty tough stuff to say. Right now I'm in the place where I can say, "Lord, I'm scared to death but for what it's worth I'm putting my minuscule faith in you." And you know what, I think God is OK with that.

I've also been thinking what I would say to Karl if I wasn't so doggone scared. Well...yes, I'm using this blog as an indirect way to tell Karl how I'm feeling. By and large guys don't share how they are "feeling" with each other so give me a little bit of a break. But if I could say whatever I wanted to Karl I would say this.

First Karl, know that I love you. Often times our family doesn't express this. But know that I do. Know that the night I spent with you in the hospital before your first surgery was one of the most special nights of my life (I just reread this, and realize how awkward that sounded. I was on the floor. He was in the bed.) I know it wasn't the most "comfortable" nights for you, but for me it was maybe the first time where I felt like you and I let go of any barriers between us. Karl, I don't think you and I have ever talked about dad's death but I want you to know that I truly believe dad would be proud of you and that he loves you deeply. Karl my prayer is that you will fight this thing like a Banshee. I love you Karl.

Plastic Surgeon

2010-01-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Karl met with the plastic surgeon on Tuesday, and we have good news! The surgery was successful. There is a picture of Karl below. What? Too soon? Too off-color?

But I kid. Karl did meet with the plastic surgeon on Tuesday. Karl has two options for replacing the part of his skull that was removed due to the infection. The first is they could put a plastic piece in place. This is certainly less invasive than the other option but I guess this sort of operation has a high risk of infection. Given the fact that Karl has already had one infection this may not be a good route to take. The second option involves bone and skin grafts and essentially creating a new skull from the existing skull. I don't quite understand how this works but I couldn't get a hold of Karl last night. This surgery would take upwards of twelve hours...

Either way, Karl has roughly one more week of treatment and they wont be able to perform the surgery until at least four weeks after his last treatment. They have to allow time for the skin to heal. This was tough news because Karl is very sick of having to wear that stupid helmet.

We did receive some good news though, my mom heard back yesterday from an organization that helps patients cover medical expenses. They said they can provide some help for Karl's bills. We don't know exactly how much "some" is but I'm quite certain that some is more than none. This is particularly helpful because Karl's monthly insurance payments increased with the new year.

One quick update on his actual treatments, up until this point the radiation (from Marvin the Martian's gun) was more broad sweeping. I guess the remainder of his treatments will be more concentrated on the specific area where the tumor is.
I think that's all for now...

30

2010-01-04T05:20:00.001-08:00

On January 1, 2010 Karl turned 30. I'm very appreciated of the fact that my mother chose to give birth to Karl on January 1. I'm pretty sure I have never forgotten his birthday. A special thank you to all the people that were able to come out for Karl's birthday party. I know he very much appreciated it. Festivities included watching the hockey game played at Fenway (pretty cool), watching the Rose Bowl and eating pizza and a Scooby Doo cake. Yes, as the picture indicates Karl had a Scooby Doo cake.

On Tuesday Karl goes down to the University of Chicago to meet with plastic surgery. The Mr. Universe competition is fast approaching and Karl was thinking about getting a little bit of a tummy tuck. I kid. No, he's meeting with the doctor to schedule a surgery to attach a plate to his skull to fill in the part that is missing due to the infection.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years. God bless.

Sweet Victory!

2009-12-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

I've never seen the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance". However, after a quick perusal of IMDB.com I have come to learn that his movie details a particularly inspiring performance by Rannulph Junuh. Apparently this round of golf (based on a true story) is well equipped with drama, failure, redemption and success. Some would argue this was the great game of golf every played.

But I say nay.

Others may argue that Tiger Woods' US Open match on a torn ACL was the greatest game ever played.

But again my friends, I say nay.

No, one Karl Krass played the greatest game of golf known to man on December 25th. Yes, my friends, Karl Krass won the Annual Krass Invitational! He defeated Shannon! The streak is over!

Let me paint the picture: Karl was leading by two strokes going in to the ninth hole. Shannon plays the hole BEAUTIFULLY and evens the score. The game would then be settled by a one hole playoff. The hole started in the corner of my mom's front yard, beyond the ditch (which was full of water) and ended on the other side of the driveway just past Shannon's car. Karl's first shot landed in the driveway (water hazard). His second shot...one inch from the pin.

Epic.

I tip my cap to you, Karl Krass, to a job well done. If you look real close at the trophy you will no doubt realize that the spoils of winning the Krass Invitational is indeed the Timothy Award from AWANA. I'll give someone a nickel if the can correctly guess what member of the Krass family won that award.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I think the Krass family did (at least I did).

Switching gears a little, I know this blog has somewhat "veered" from simply updates on Karl's health. The reason for this is that Karl's treatments haven't varied much over the last few weeks. But I do promise you that if there are any updates I will put them on this blog.

Please keep praying.

Mid-Season Report Card and The Annual Krass Invitational

2009-12-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

As of today Karl is half way through his first cycle of radiation. I have gone with him the last few times. It's pretty wild. Karl goes, scans his card, flips through two to three people magazines, is called into the back and fifteen minutes later he reemerges. That's it. Its pretty wild.

Because we are at the half way point I thought it would be appropriate for me to give a midseason report card (a la Sports Illustrated or ESPN).

Mother Krass: A+
These last three months have obviously been very difficult for my mother, but she has been more than resilient. Put plainly, my mom is just one tough son-of-a-gun. Never have a heard my mom complain and she has had the same attitude as she did when my dad died. This is the hand we were dealt, now what are we going to do about it. Her entire demeanor has been very inspirational.

Karl: A+
Everyone keeps saying things to me like, "I can't even imagine how tough this has been on you (referring to me)." They are right, it has been difficult. But think about how tough this has been on Karl (a point my mom brought up two nights ago). Karl has maintained a very level head (no pun intended) despite these less than ideal circumstances.

Kaylee: B-
Kaylee is my mother's dog. And now my mother is mad at me for giving Kaylee a B-. Kaylee ate an entire subdivision of ginger bread houses this morning. She's lucky I didn't fail her.

Ethan & Kevin: B+
Karl's nephews. They make everyone smile. If you ask Kevin who is favorite uncle is he says "Kar-All". And yes, when 1.5 year-old turn one syllable words into two it is adorable.

Ok, that's it for now because Karl asked me to share about one of the Krass family's Christmas traditions.

Every Christmas we have our annual Krass Invitational. This invitational is a golf tournament (usually in the snow) which consists of Karl, myself, Alan and Shannon. The course is all over the back and front yards and if the weather cooperates on the pond in the backyard. Whoever wins the hole (which usually mean's hitting something with your ball) that person throws the object to the next location and we play on. Here's the real kick in the pants: a Krass a never won the invitational. Shannon ZAWADA (Kari's husband) rails on us every year. He's won like five years in a row. Well no longer my friends. Tiger's "transgressions" have motivated me to bring back the good name of golf. Shannon, you're going down.

Happy Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Mas Nieve Por Favor! (More snow please!)

2009-12-22T06:28:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas (and Hanukkah for that matter). What I don't love is loosing to an inferior opponent in Fantasy Football but that's for another day. Back to the matter at hand, we are currently getting 1-3 inches of snow right now in God's Holy Land (Illinois). And I love it. Think about it, how many Christmas movies have you seen WITHOUT snow? Let me answer for you. Zero. Well, I'm as happy as a Georgia peach today.

Karl very kindly reminded me last night that I may have missed out a few details about well...err...Karl in my last post. He reminded me that the blog was actually about him. Touche.

About two weeks ago Karl had his pick-line removed. The pick-line was used to administer the antibiotics for infection that Karl picked up in the incision from the surgery. This means that the infection is gone. Right now the piece of the skull that they originally had removed is still not back in place. Karl has a doctor's appointment in January and hopefully by the end of January they will be a metal plate in the place of the skull.

I can think of several reason why this would be advantageous

3) At 6'9" with a strong head, Karl will no doubt be called up to the national team in time for the world cup. Can you say corner/free kick specialist?
2) Haven't YOU always wanted to headbutt someone and have it not hurt?
1) Karl want have to wear his helmet anymore.

I went with Karl to get his radiation yesterday. He told me that basically its like an X-Ray machine. He can't feel anything while its happening but he did say that he can taste metal in his mouth afterwards. I think this is because the radiation treatments are really the government performing a an experiment on Karl and grafting anamantium to his skeleton. To understand this consult Alan or watch X-Men Origin: Wolverine.

Live Free or Blog Hard

2009-12-21T08:25:00.000-08:00

I'm back. After a somewhat lengthy hiatus I am returning to the world of "blog" and like Rocky in "Rocky IV" or Bruce Willis in "Live Free or Die Hard" I may not be as quick and squirrely as I once was but I'm a little bit wiser and perhaps even a little bit more skilled at my craft. And since it snowed in the Midwest, I can put together a sweet training montage of me carrying oxen and cutting down evergreens and before you know maybe I can defeat Socialism too.

But I digress. Yes, this is my promise to be more diligent with the blog. In fact, although it isn't quite new year's just yet it is my new year's resolution to update more frequently. Just think of all the great ideas that have been swirling in my head for the last two weeks. Its actually kind of frightening.

OK, first an update on Karl. Currently he is in the state of Indiana (Side note: Indiana claims to not only be the "crossroads of America" but also "the childhood home of Lincoln. Listen Indiana, Lincoln belongs to Illinois. Period. That's like Bill Wennington and Stecey King taking credit for the Bulls six championships. You don't know who Bill Wennington or Stacey King are? Exactly. And the whole crossroads of America? Don't push your luck Indiana. You're just ahead of Connecticut right now and that's just because you produced the greatest movie of all-time. Ruth Rosentrater feel free to chime in and defend your state if you can think of a good rebuttal).

But I digress...

Karl, Alan, Jennie and Kevin are heading back from Michigan after spending the last few days with both sets of grandparents and my aunt, uncle and nephew. Its always good to see family, particularly when its close to the holidays. Overall Karl did pretty well but I think the drive was a bit much for him. I'm hoping to convince him to either go Christmas shopping with me tonight or to go see Avatar. They had to leave early this morning to make it back for Karl's treatment.

Just for the sake of review, Karl takes two chemo pills (named temodar) seven days a week. Five days a week he receives his radiation treatments. We don't know if the treatments have been "effective" just yet. Karl will get a slew of tests and scans when the five weeks is up. Today is the beginning of his third week.

Please continue to pray for Fiscally Gator (Karl's nickname. Long story...)

OK now for just general musing. Many of you know that I consider Bill Simmons to be one of the greatest readers of all time. He is. It's science. Anyways one of the things that I enjoy most of reading William is that every so often he has a mailbag. Readers are invited to email Willy their questions. So here is the launching of the karlkrassupdates.blogspot.com mailbag. And yes, I'm giddy. You can email your questions or comments to keith.krass@gmail.com or leave a comment on this blog. They can be questions regarding Karl and his treatment or how I would rank the top ten states in the US (and yes this list does exist in my head). Basically the questions can be about anything.

Before I leave, I would like to list my top five Christmas songs. Some of them are obscure, some not. All of them are awesome. Boom.

5. All I Want for Christmas if You - Mariah Carrey
4. Anything from the Nutcracker - (Saw it last Thursday. Awesome Every time. Thanks Steph!!!!!!)
3. Silver Bells - Sleeping at Last
2. Go Tell it On the Mountain - Aaron Espe
1. Oh Holy Night - Josh Groban (can we just make Josh Groban President of Christmas and grant him a monopoly on all Christmas songs?)

That's it for now. Adios.

Merry Christmas from the "Mitten-State"

2009-12-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

I apologize I haven't updated the blog in awhile. I must be honest with you all. I was holding out for more money. You can only do this pro bono thing for so long. I mean, lets be honest in the words of The Joker in "The Dark Night", "If your good at something, never do it for free." My agent talked to Karl's agent and we settled on three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a player to be named later.

Right now I am in Port Huron (every time my Grandma Krass says this I laugh. She pronounces it Port Ur-rin. C'mon that's funny), Michigan visiting my Grandpa and Gramda Jamison. Actually I'm sitting on their computer right now writing this. Karl, Alan, Jennie and Kevin (Yoda) just got to Milan, MI where they are visiting my Grandma Krass. Later tonight I'll head back their direction.

So yes, Karl is feeling well enough to take a car ride 5 or so hours from the Chicago area to the Ann Arbor area. He also hasn't been vomitting since the first few treatment. He does however get easily fatigued unfortunately.

Again, I apologize for the lack of "posting" these past few weeks but I hope to really kick it into high gear during this Christmas season.

A Story

2009-12-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

Warning: In the following post I tread very closely to the line of "nerdy English major." I will however, not apologize for this fact. I merely feel the need to warn you all. I also realize that by writing an entry that doesn't include pictures and becomes "Englishy" I am removing all likelihood that Alan my older brother will read this entry. Alan reads, but only if the word "novel" is preceded by the word "graphic", as in comic books. Sorry Alby.

So I've been thinking a lot over the past few months how life is really this great big story. It includes characters, protagonists (think Luke Skywalker Alan), antagonists (think Darth Vader Alan), climax, plot development, etc. I think subconsciously we are all waiting for some sort of "rising action" something that will either "improve" our story or in some cases just change the direction of the story. This rising action comes in a lot of ways, getting married, having kids (I know everyone says this but my nephews are actually the cutest kids on the planet. If you disagree you are actually incorrect. Your opinion is wrong), changing jobs, moving, etc. And in some instances the rising action comes as a result of some really unfortunate situations, ie Karl's health.

What is interesting to me is that all of humanity is connected and invested in the "big" story. What I mean is that when "the plot thickens" (or bad things happen to good people) every person on this planet wants the good guy to win. And we all invest in the story and empathize with its "action".

And I think this is because people just really like good stories.

Think about someone like Lance Armstrong. His story was good because he won like 37 tour de Frances. He story became GREAT when he did it after being diagnosed with cancer. I think this is because we all NEED to believe in a story. We NEED to believe that there does exist this really qualified author (there is by the way) that knows just how to rope in his reader. Like any good story, we have no idea how the thing will end but the more we know about the character the more we know about his struggles the more we want him to "win" in the end.

Right now my brother's story is reaching a point of tension but I know the Author has got something up his sleeve. Maybe more than "knowing" that he has something up his sleeve, I BELIEVE he has something up his sleeve.

Which obviously begs the question, if Karl is Luke Skywalker, who is Darth Vader...

I had to include a picture for Alan.

I think what got me thinking about all this was an email that I received from a friend of mine. Instead of me retelling what happened I just included it below. Its a pretty cool story.

My Dad had talked about Karl in church awhile back to put it on everyone's "prayer radar." Anyway he was in Wal-Mart yesterday and a sister of some regular attender asked how Karl was doing. My Dad updated them I guess on what he knew from the blog ( I have no clue who the person is). Anyway the woman had a daughter or family member with brain cancer (or at least that's my understanding) and I guess opened up her wallet and gave my Dad the $20 she had in there and asked that it gets to your brother. So, its just a little bit, but I will have twenty dollars for you to bring to your brother. I know not much, but something.

Saturday, and musing on Psalm 138

2009-12-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

Although I wasn't able to attend, I've heard from numerous sources that last Saturday's fundraiser went really well (though I did hear reports SEVERAL people were dissatisfied that Karl's interpretive dance never happened). A huge THANK YOU to all of you that attended and were able to support Karl financially. The most recent figure that was relayed to me was $6,000 raised. THANK YOU SO MUCH! My sister supposedly took pictures. Once I get those from her, I will put them on the blog.

I was reading through Psalm 139 this morning. What a reassuring and "peace-giving" Psalm. Particularly as it pertains to my brother's situation. God not only created my brother, but he created him exactly how he wanted to. I do not believe that it is God's desire for people to become ill, but I do people that God is in control. I understand that the belief that God is ultimately in control is the road block for many people but if we can get to the point where we are willing to say, "God I don't understand what you are doing, but I trust you", he gives us such peace. This Psalm speaks to that peace. I can't really explain it, but knowing that God knew what he was doing when he created me, you and my brother just offers me a little reprieve from the anxiety.

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Ahoy!

2009-12-06T05:43:00.000-08:00

Below is an email from Karl. I edited it slightly. Just make sure you read until the last line. I literally almost fell out of my chair laughing. I haven't heard how the fundraiser went last night. After I talk to Karl I'll update the blog.

Today I got up at 5am and did the IV (for the infection) in bed until 8am. Then I had oatmeal and toast, took a shower then took the chemo pills. Micah [Karl's friend] took me to radiation and chemo radiation. It was ok. The mask wasn't as tight and took only 15 minutes. then we went to chemo and sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes. Then I went in and talked with the nurse and started to feel queezy. I laid down on the table the doctor gave me a Iv drip and some medication mixed in. Then I moved into the chemo room were there was lazy boy chairs and other people doing iv chemo.

Then i got home and showed Micah were the ingredients for home made bread were. Micah made me some toast. I ate one piece before i saw it again. Next I showed the chimney sweeper where the fireplace was then sat down and watched tv. I puked but it was mostly dry heave because i didn't have any food in me. Then I cleaned up the garbage can and just stayed in my chair. Kari came over and hung out for a bit Ethan was Ethan, grabbing everything he could reach. I started to watch a movie. Yes a drama on netflix then mother came home and mother made me some grilled cheese and I ate some apple sauce and a chewy bar. Now i am watching the Bulls and waiting till 9 to do my drip and go to bed.

Sorry very random but very detailed so that was my day.

I think my day was ok because i used old spice swagger in the the shower.
Thanks.

-Karl Krass

As promised, guest blog entry #1

2009-12-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Below is the first I what I hope is many guest appearances in this blog. Just to note, yes I bike in spandex but I wore shorts over them. That is unless its cold out, then I wear spandex pants. That is true. I'm so freakin weird..

Thanks for the contribution Jerome.

Initially I was not really sure why Keith asked me to guest blog. He’s definitely not out of material. When I asked him for some ideas, he promptly rattled off about twenty different ones (including this gem: inexplicably, Kyle Orton is Karl’s favorite Chicago Bear—the picture above should make him rethink that terrible decision). It’s also not because I’m some kind of medicinal genius: when it comes to science, I’m about one notch above Ron Burgundy (“You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science.”). And it’s not because I know Karl super well. Big Bear and I have broken manna (a.k.a. Chicago style pizza) together, but beyond that I do not possess a cache of Karl stories like the normal author of this blog. The only thing I really know that has relevance to this blog is Keith himself.

And then it hit me. Keith, the selfless brother that he is, has worked tirelessly on this blog for some time now, and like any normal runt of the family, he needs some attention. So, I’d like to use my brief bit of space to focus on Keith. He is a wonderful friend, brother, son, etc., but here’s what you should really know about him:

1) Keith is actually not from Illinois—he is a Wisconsinite.

2) Keith’s favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon; every time you read this blog from now on and see a semicolon in the text, you should know that it made him smile to use it.

3) Keith roots for the Michigan Wolverines, who have not beaten THE Ohio State Buckeyes in football in 2,204 days. Read that number again. It’s large.

4) When Keith fake runs (you know, like when you’re coming out of the game and you should hustle off the floor but you don’t want to sprint because then you’d look like a nerd or Sammy Sosa, neither of which is very flattering), he looks like a deer bounding through the woods. I say this because Keith makes fun of my fake run, and it’s high time I strike back.

5) Keith likes to clean the living room when he gets nervous about Michigan games. This was always a win-win for me because by the end of the game, I’d have a Buckeyes’ victory and a clean apartment.

6) Keith bikes in spandex. Questionable.

7) Keith has an arch-nemesis named Edward Cookson.

8) Finally, if Keith were to stumble upon a magic lamp and be granted three wishes, here’s what he would choose: Karl’s health, a Cubs World Series crown, and a pumpkin spice latte. Since we know that one of those will never happen, make sure to keep praying for Karl’s healing and if you see Keith, treat him to some Starbucks.

Evil Chicken Nuggets

2009-12-04T11:15:00.001-08:00

Karl received his first treatment of chemo/radiation yesterday. We are not sure if it was because of the treatments itself or a bad six-pack of chicken nuggets but Karl threw up quite a bit yesterday. Obviously chemo/radiation has a nasty reputation of causing people to "loose their lunch" but Karl wasn't sure it was not the nuggets. He is meeting with the oncologist today and he is going to ask about dietary concerns during his treatments.

Just to clarify, he takes the chemotherapy pills one hour before radiation. The radiation process itself takes only about 15 minutes but the process of getting the mask on takes quite awhile and the mask itself is rather uncomfortable. It extremely tight so Karl is unable to move his head around but it basically very uncomfortable. The only positive is that once Karl has the mask on his body becomes very "rubbery" and he can do things like swallow grenades, make fake guns come out of his hands and date Cameron Diaz (if you need help with this one follow the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110475/). A picture of his mask is below.
So a normal day for Karl is to get up and take his IV drip (for the infection) around 5:30am then he eats breakfast. He can't eat an hour before or after taking the chemo pill so he has to take the pill by 9:45am so he can have his radiation treatments at 10:45am. He will have radiation five days a week for four or five weeks.

We hope to see you all at the fundraiser tomorrow!

I just texted the guest blogger. I know you are all eager for his post...

Big Day

2009-12-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

I talked to mother Krass this morning and got the full scoop. There is lots to report so I shall now enter into the sacred land of "the bullet point". Before I begin I would like to raise a glass to the individual that invented the bullet point. You are a god among men.

-Karl had his first treatment of radiation and chemotherapy today. The chemotherapy pill has to be taken 1 hour prior to or 1 hour after his radiation treatments.
-Karl was denied a free subscription of the chemo pills. There are a couple of different routes my mom is researching but please continue to pray that we can find a way for Karl to receive these pills for a reduced rate.
-I was inaccurate yesterday in my statement that Karl was going to see Hans Gruber today. He is actually going to see Dr. Metta and Dr. Metta. No I am not a charter member of the department of redundancy department, Karl's oncologist is named Dr. Metta and his radiologist is named Dr. Metta. I have attached pictures of them to avoid confusion. I know only about 7% of you get this joke, but it was funny to about three of you (its not a joke that Karl has two doctors that share the same name).

He also is going today to get his helmet refitted. He has been having more headaches of late but Karl seems to think its just because his helmet doesn't fit right. I attached a picture of Karl and Kevin (Kevin is Karl's nephew) each sporting their helmets. Karl is the one on the left...

Radiation Starting Tomorrow

2009-12-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

Apparently Karl was slightly displeased with the "banter" that was my last post. About 46 seconds after I told him I blogged he texted me with additional information.

Tomorrow Karl will start his first treatment of radiation (from Marvin the Martian's gun), get refitted for his helmet (to compensate for his growing intellect) and meet with Dr. Nicholas , the oncologist (ie Hans Gruber. I can't remember if I gave photo evidence before so here it is).

I just called Karl for a little more information regarding his first treatment but he didn't answer. He's probably practicing his interpretive dance. When I talk to him I'll update y'all a little more. I do know that the treatment will take place in Gurnee in one of the Greenleaf offices. For all of you that are not from the Holy Land (Illinois) Gurnee is about 15 minutes from la casa de mi mama. Sorry I don't have a ton of information at this point.

I received two emails from people regarding my Connecticut comments. They are below.

"I am kind of excited at the prospect that Connecticut is the most overrated state. I didn't even know we qualified to get into the argument. Outside of Fairfield County being bloody rich, 84 west of Hartford being a black hole, and turning out incredible basketball teams (I know we lost to Duke who is, ahem, overrated. But still. . .), Connecticut is pretty unremarkable for better or worse. I mean, we lost the Whalers to North Carolina!"

This is true.

"...Connecticut the most overrated state...i have some words for you..."

I must apologize to all of you that call or once called Connecticut home. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Connecticut sucks...

We still haven't heard if Karl will qualify for the free chemo pills. Please continue to pray for that.

Oh and one more thing, I'm exploring with the idea of a guest blogger on Friday. Lets just say that this person once professional wrestled as a famous pharaoh, was named defensive player of the year in the TCCC, placed third in the 2008 Gordon College Bromley Olympics, thinks he's a giraffe, cooked over 250 strawberry pancakes in one day and knows the lyrics to every DC Talk song. It should be epic.

New Helmet and Waiting for Radiation

2009-12-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

I apologize I haven't blogged in awhile. I was in the wonderful land of Maine over Thanksgiving and did not have access to the internet. First, I would like to retroactively wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving consisted of food, sleep and watching about 35 episodes of the TV show Friday Night Lights. I'm not even kidding.

Just to remind y'all there is a fundraiser for Karl on December 5th. Not only can you win a date with Karl you can also watch Karl perform a rather moving dance interpretation of Phil Collin's "In the Air Tonight." Information for the fundraiser is below.

Date:	Saturday, December 5, 2009
Time:	4:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:	Bee Street 3077 Sheridan Road Zion, IL 60099

Karl received his new helmet yesterday but unfortunately it didn't fit. I keep suggesting helmets but they won't listen to me...I think its because Karl is getting smarter by the day and his brain is expanding. If you are ever flipping through the channels and you come across a special on how the Straight of Gibraltar was built and you think to yourself "Gee I wonder who actually watches these shows." Karl does. Seriously. Ask him, I bet he could even tell you that Gibraltar means "Tariq's Mountains" in Arabic. With the amount of "down time" Karl has, I bet he's learning a lot about useless information.

Karl requested that I post on the blog that several of his friends are not pregnant. He gave names. I will not. You're welcome friends of Karl.

This a little do to with Karl but I have some post-Thanksgiving thoughts that I need to get off my chest.

9: I read in an article yesterday that the Silverdome (previous home of the Lions) sold for 583K. What?!?!?! If five of my college buddies dropped of out college after our first semester and saved the money we would have spent on tuition we could have bought the Silverdome. Just think about that for a second. We would have renamed it "The Awesome Dome".
8. In an unrelated story if the Silverdome was sold for 583K how much would the Lions go for? $29 is my estimate.
7. Better question, do you think Lion's fans even like watching the Lion's on Thanksgiving? Are there still Lion's fans?
6. Having spent four days in Saco, Maine I have deduced that Maine is the most underrated state in the Union
5. Connecticut is the most overrated
4. Delaware shouldn't even be a state
3. Sweet potatoes are too good to be a vegetable
2. Settlers of Katan is the greatest board game of all time
1. God bless a day where it is appropriate and actually expected to eat 5 pieces of pecan pie for dessert.

The Bachlor: Zion, Illinois Chapter

2009-11-23T10:03:00.001-08:00

Today Karl is going to the doctor to receive his new helmet as well as to be fitted for the new mask. Just by way of review, the mask will be used to protect Karl during the radiation treatments and the helmet will be used when Karl goes hang gliding. Unfortunately I was not consulted to design either the helmet or the mask. Apparently the "medical people" must think that my proposals were not "practical" enough. Hogwash. If Karl had the helmet I suggested not only would he not have to worry about falling and hurting his head he could also live free from the fear of the Persians invading Beach Park, IL. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Wouldn't YOU want to be protected from the Persians! Alas, another good idea of mine falls by the wayside...

Kari, my lovely sister, recommended that I announce on this blog a fundraiser that is taking place for Karl. There is a facebook page with all the details but I understand there are probably like 3 or 4 of you that don't have facebook (I am now facebook friends with my 9 grade science teacher and my mother. If Mrs. Krass starts "tweeting" I'm not coming home for Christmas. That is not a threat. That is a promise). The name of the facebook page is "Fundraiser for Karl Krass". They also didn't like my suggestion of "The Karl Krass Fund for People That Can't Read Good and Want to Learn to do Other Stuff Good Too." What's with people? I feel like my wit is tragically being unappreciated. Here are the details for the fundraiser:

Date:	Saturday, December 5, 2009
Time:	4:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:	Bee Street

There will be an auction for some items, a raffle, Karl will perform his spot-on rendition of Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" and other various entertaining things.

Probably the best of all though, if you decide to attend you can participate in the auction for a date with Karl Krass. That's right ladies. You've heard of the bachelor, this is the bachelor Zee-Bee style. Oh and ladies, there is more to Karl than just the fact that he is really, really good looking...FYI I superimposed Jesse Palmer's face onto Karl's body in the picture above. And on a side note, Jesse Palmer is a horrible college football analyst. He should go back to just being "really, really good looking."

Prayer Request

2009-11-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

Karl met with the radiologist yesterday. My mom said the meeting went really well. The doctor spent almost three hours with my family. Unfortunately we later learned that the chemotherapy pills that Karl needs are ummmmm...well....really, really expensive. Here's the prayer request, this morning my mom wrote a letter to the company requesting that Karl receives the treatments for free. Apparently this particular drug company provides medicine for patients if they can prove that they are unable to afford the treatment. Unless Karl becomes a professional cow bell player I don't think he will be able to afford the treatments.

Please pray that the drug company will approve Karl as one of the individuals that receive the treatments for free.

I NEED MORE COWBELL!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone with Karl. He's awesome. He went to youth group last night and per junior high youth group tradition, old big bear played the cow ball with the worship team. I want you to actually stop and think about this. If you're at work close out of your email program, if you're at home turn off the TV and visualize this. Karl, all 6'9" of him, on the stage at the church playing cow bell to some Chris Tomlin song. In a word awesome. To quote Chris Tomlin, "indescribable."

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, follow this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTvr755V8s&feature=fvw

After listening to this song I want you to try to figure out where the cow bell fits. The answer? Anywhere. The cowbell is not bounded by meter, measure, time, gravity, space or science; especially when big bear is it's master.

Now for a more "medical" update: The dreaded insurance company as returned to the scene like Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze-stronger and much more "pointy". See the picture above. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but we do have to wait for the insurance company to approve of Karl's treatments and the new mask and helmet etc.

Right now the plan is for Karl to be fitted for the mask next week and start radiation (from Marvin the Martian's gun) after Turkey Day.

He is still receiving the antibiotics for the infection via his IV.

On a side note, the Fighting Scots are 1-0. www.gordon.edu/athletics.

On a second side note, this is the second time that Shredder has appeared in this blog. How many blogs do you read that include Shredder? I mean seriously...

Dr. Evil?

2009-11-17T19:53:00.000-08:00

I apologize that I haven't updated the blog in several days. Mid-November brings a slew of things (including pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. Mmmmmm...) including the start of the basketball season. Our first game is tomorrow night (broadcasted live at 7pm eastern time at www.gordon.edu/athletics and yes that was a shameless plug) so I have been uber busy.

Karl visited with the plastic surgeon today. In Karl's words, "He was a nice man. I shook his hand like 45 times in 10 minutes." That's awesome. I don't know why but that's awesome. According to this doctor, the incision was looking pretty good and the antibiotics seem do being doing their job. The doctor also mentioned that he would talk to Dr. Yamini (Karl's neurosurgeon who is better known as Adrian Brody) about putting the piece of Karl's skull back in. Karl met with another Doctor but Karl described him as arrogant so I refuse to discuss him in this blog. Maybe this excommunication will teach him a lesson. I attached a picture of him above.

If I understood my wonderful mother, Karl is meeting with the radiologist tomorrow.

Doctor Updates and Darth Vador

2009-11-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Last night, around 9:30pm, I talked to my mom and she gave me all the updates from Karl's doctors appointment yesterday. At 7:00am this morning when I woke up I realized that I forgot a majority of what she said. As the day has progressed I'm beginning to remember more and more, and I'm hoping that writing this blog will further jog my memory. My excuse, I was driving a Rabbi from Logan Airport (Boston) to Gordon College at 1am. Seriously. I'm not going to tell you what I do for a living. I'll let y'all's collective minds wander...

Ok, so Karl first met with the radiologist. He was a very nice man but it was decided that if Karl can receive the same treatments in Gurnee, IL there is no point in him driving to U of C. They said that this is in fact the case. Thus this meeting was very short. Karl will meet with a radiologist next week. During that initial meeting they will hopefully fit him for the "mask" he will have to wear during the treatments. The mask, as far as I understood, is to block the gamma rays (from Marvin the Martian's gun) from hitting the healthy spots of Karl's brain. The doctors proposed the mask pictured above. For the longest time we thought that it was problematic that Alan (Karl's older brother) collected comic books and "nerd" paraphernalia. How fortunate are we that Alan already has a Darth Vader mask! That should save us a couple hundred bucks!

I'm kidding by the way. Not that Alan has a Darth Vadar mask (and cape). He does. But Karl's mask and new helmet will probably look a little different. Oh yeah, and Karl is also getting a new helmet. That's not a joke. He is actually getting a new helmet.

Karl then met with his neurosurgeon and he was very pleased with how the wound was healing and he thought that Karl looked great. Good news obviously.

Then Karl met with his oncologist (i.e. Hans Gruber). To put in simple terms, Hans is awesome. My mom (I'm not quite sure how. Perhaps she used her ninja skills) was able to steal a glance at his schedule for the day. Apparently he set aside an hour to meet with Karl. That's pretty cool. These guys meet with like 46,000 people a day but he sat there and answered every single one of my family's questions. That's pretty cool.

So Karl's radiologist will be in Gurnee, but he will keep the same oncologist at U of C.

Lastly, the doctors mentioned again that in a lot of cases patients that come down with an infection actually have more successful radiation and chemo treatments. Apparently the infection works with the body to fight the cancer. Pretty wild. So, yes it stinks that Karl had to delay his treatments but at the end of the day it may actually turn out for the best.

One more word on Alan, it was his son that dressed up as Yoda for Halloween (consult Halloween posting on this blog). Are you noticing at theme emerging?

The Routine

2009-11-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

Having been home for a couple of days now, I now fully understand Karl's routine. Every eight hours he has to take his antibiotics by way of a thirty minute IV drip. So every day he wakes up at 5am, then he takes it again at 1pm, then again at 9pm. He's able to do it himself but it can be somewhat of a hassle.

On Wednesday he goes back to the University of Chicago to meet with the oncologist, neurosurgeon and hopefully the plastic surgeon. While Karl was in the hospital we figured he should get some work done on his nose. Just kidding. The plastic surgeon was involved in the third surgery and restapling of Karl's head. Hopefully they will be able to take the staples then. They are actually probably the most painful aspect of the surgeries.

I think that's it for now.

-Keith

"The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

Pizza, Pirates, Ninjas, Thanksgiving and a full weekend

2009-11-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at my mom's kitchen table writing this post. So yes, I am back in Illinois for the weekend. Not only did I want to get back to help mi madre around the house and give her a little bit of a break, I needed to see Karl. Everyone has been telling me he was doing really well and moving around much more but I needed to see him with my own eyes. They were right. He is doing really well. He's getting around quite well. He's not quite to the point of running a triathlon but he is definitely doing well.

Just to recap, this was our weekend.

Ginos East
First I must apologize that this is written in bold. I can't turn it off. I don't know why. But yes, we went out for pizza last night. 80% of me wanted to come back home to see my family, 20% is always reserved for Chicago style pizza. I love Boston, seriously I do. Pizza in Boston is atrocious and actually laughable. Stick to seafood. You're embarrassing yourself. We went to the Gino's East in Lake Geneva. Pizza was very good. Here's how you know you're eating pizza in Wisconsin though, the couple next to us were eating salads and the family behind me ordered three flat crust pizza.

Seriously. I'm speechless. I'm not a smart man, but ordering a salad at Gino's East is like going to Texas and saying that George Bush wasn't a good president. Both can be hazardous to one's health.

Here's a question that came up during dinner. Why is Gino's East, Gino's East. Alan suggested that it is because you go east to get there. True, I suppose. But that's kind of like saying you can get to Boston to Chicago by going west...for like 10million miles...Please feel free to educate the Krass family on this one.

Pirates and Ninjas
After pizza Karl and I went to a post-Halloween, Halloween party. Ninja and Pirates theme. Karl's costume was the best. Its tough to compete with a 14 inch scar.

Church
I went with Karl to church today. Karl always gets in good spirits when he's going to church and I think this is a good thing. It was pretty cool for me to go to Immanuel as well. It was a blast from the past as Bonnie Brook Baptist Church (my dad's former church) was a church plant from Immanuel in the 50s 0r 60s. The church I go to in Massachusetts is a church plant as well (insert shameless plug: www.the-harbor.net) is also a church plant and its just cool for me to see how the church grows, moves, adjusts, adapts but also perseveres.

After church we watch the Bears. Yeah...At least the Packers lost. Oh Packers fan, you are aware that the Buccaneers were winless right?

After watching JV football we had family Thanksgiving. I won't be able to make it back to Illinois for Turkey day so we figured we should have one this weekend. I'm 87% sure that the manna God sent down to the Israelites was actually sweet potato casserole. Mmmmmmmm...

I think that's it for now.

Oh one more thing. I have now been asked by about 6,770 people if I studied English in college. As a matter of fact I did. I take that question as a compliment. Do you still think I deserved that B- in intro to English Dr. Frankwitz?

Upward and onward.

Low carbs and the life of a "legend"

2009-11-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

Karl had a pretty "full" day yesterday. He was able to go to church and watch some friends play basketball. He told me that it was exhausting but really good to hang out with friends and get out of the house for awhile. The nephews also came over yesterday. If you haven't seen Alan's son, Kevin, then let me just say you will never meet a more active kid in your life. I think Kevin, as a 16 month old, is actually in better shape than me right now. Karl also mentioned that he someone brought over a rather tasty meal last night (whoever that someone was, thank you). Lance Corley has been coordinating meals for Karl. Thanks Lance. I did get a good chuckle though from Karl's email though because apparently Lance requested that the meals be of the low carb variety. I love it.

The absolute best part of Karl's email? This is how it concluded: "anyways that's a day in the life of a legend."

Unbelievable.

Over the last month I've found lots of encouragement through song. Below is a link to a song called "Desert Song". The lyrics from this song are also below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J15BpBs3Qk4

Verse 1:
This is my prayer in the desert
And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

Verse 2:
And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

Chorus:
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

Verse 3:
And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand

Bridge:
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

Verse 4:
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow

Home and "the one arm man"

2009-11-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Karl made it home yesterday. I talked to him last night, and he was very tired. The drive home took a lot out of him. He has to be on an IV drip a few times a day to receive the antibiotics for the infection. Its not a huge deal, just another "annoying" thing.

I promised Karl I would include something that happened during his second surgery in the blog and I have forgotten until now. No mas.

Immediately after the surgery Karl talked to Adrian Brody (ie his doctor) and asked if they were able to do something (I don't remember what) during the surgery. The doctor's response, "No, because I only have two hands and the other doctor only has one."

?

Not to be a jerk or anything but doesn't it make sense for a doctor that is performing a highly complicated brain surgery to have two arms! Is that asking too much. I just envisioned the one-arm guy from the fugitive performing the surgery and Richard Kimbal bursting into the operating room and screaming, "I didn't kill my wife!" Karl then logically would say, "I don't care!"

It was later explained to us that the doctor only had one ROBOTIC arm. Ohhhhh....That makes a little more sense.

In my "research" I couldn't find the hospital that Dr. Richard Kimbal (Harrison Ford) practiced at in the movie. Does anyone have this information? If its the University of Chicago...

Under Pressure

2009-11-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Any time one can include a picture of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury in any sort of writing, one should always include a picture of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury in said writing. You may be asking, "What do Karl and David Bowie/Freddie Mercury have in common?" Well hopefully not a lot, but much like the song collaborated on by these two artists entitled "Under Pressure", Karl's head is somewhat "under pressure". I learned that the count my wonderful mother was referring to is the inter cranial pressure (ICP) count. The spinal tap was taken to test this pressure. Obviously its not good for there to be this much pressure. But with that said, Karl was released today to go home so they clearly aren't too overly concerned with this count.

So Karl should be home any minute now.

On a side note, Vanilla Ice you are a thief. You stole something that did not belong to you.

If you don't know what I'm talking about follow this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM

Andrien Brody and "The Count"

2009-11-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Since I made my ridiculously accurate comparison between Hans Gruber and our oncologist, Karl has requested that I find a similarly stirring "look a like" to our neurosurgeon. This one was slightly more difficult but after much thought and prayer I have decided on...

Adrien Brody.

Again, not flawless, but I'm not displeased either.

If you are asking yourself, "Who is Adrien Brody?" Shame on you. He won an academy award for The Pianist.

I talked to my mom last night about the results of the spinal tap. It was a pretty comical conversation in that the spinal tap showed that Karl had a high "count". Logically I asked my mom what "count" this was referring to. She had no idea. Just that his "count" was high. Ok...Well, Karl's "count" was at 27 yesterday. Normal is anywhere from 1-15. This could mean a couple things but it probably has just means that the infection is still present. The plan right now is for CT scan early in the morning at 4am, drugs at 9am and hopefully then home.

Spinal Tap

2009-11-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, this blog as very little to do with the band. Karl had a spinal tap this morning. They needed to figure out if the brain itself has become infected. To determine this they took a spinal tap to test some of the fluid from Karl's spine. As I understood it from Karl, the fluid in the spine is the same as the fluid in the brain. Therefore, they were able to test for infection without aggravating the brain itself. I asked Karl if they had the results from this test yet. I believe he said no, but I'm not quite sure because his lunch came as we were talking and lets be honest some things just take precedent.

Another "one more day" and yippie kay ya

2009-11-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

Karl's CAT scan this morning revealed that one of the veins in his brain has become enlarged. This is either because the brain is naturally expanding into the space voided by the removal of the tumor, or because the vein is reacting to the infection.

Either way they want to keep Karl at the hospital for a few days. Apparently the nurses wanted encore numero dos of the Karl Krass show.

A few additional updates regarding Karl's treatment. He will meet with the oncologist on November 11th. This has little to do with his treatments but the oncologist really looks like Alan Rickman. Rickman is more commonly known as "Hans Gruber" from the film Die Hard.

I'm just waiting for the doctor to say "Yippie kay ya, stupid tumor".

Originally we were told that Karl may qualify for a clinical trial. Because Karl has an infection this is no longer the case. However, in blioglastomas they have found that radiation/chemo actually can be more effective after an infection. Apparently the infection works as a catalyst to fight the tumor. Karl will be able to receive his treatments at Northwestern Hospital, which is a blessing for the Krass clan since Northwestern is on the north side of the city. Karl will receive his chemotherapy by pill form orally and his radiation through Marvin the Martian's gun : )

Obviously his plan for treatment may change when we meet with the doctor on the 11th but that is where we stand today.

I have another idea for Karl's helmet. What if Karl was rewarded a sticker every time he does something awesome, like in college football. He goes for a walk, he gets a sticker. He says "Presbyterian Episcopalian" flawlessly, he gets a sticker. He beats Kari in chess, he gets a sticker.

I like...

One more day...

2009-11-02T08:06:00.001-08:00

They decided that Karl needed to stay at the hospital for one more day. They said it is only precautionary and that they want to make sure the swelling is down substantially before they release him. This could be true, but I have my thoughts.

4. They still can't believe how huge Karl is and need to "observe" him to see if he is indeed 1/2 giant.
3. After going 3-2 over the weekend in chess, many believe Karl is the new chess master- champion. The U of C wants to call "shotgun" on his genius mind.
2. One of the nurses has developed a crush on Karl and can't bring herself to say goodbye.
1. They will just flat out, 100%, just miss Ol' Big Bear.

I spoke with Karl last night on the phone and he is just sick and tired of being in the hospital. As I have mentioned before he is just really, really bored. Hopefully he will be home by tomorrow. Feel free to send Karl stickers for his helmet. The $ thing was kind of a joke. Though I do think the funniest sticker should get a prize...

On an unrelated note, I was wondering if it would be ok if I shared something with you all? And there you have the beautiful thing about a blog. I can say whatever I want! You can't decline!

Anyways...

At church yesterday we sang a song by Matt Redman called "You Never Let Go". The bridge goes like this:

"And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We’ll live to know You here on the earth"

When we came to this bridge I kind of lost it. Yup, I started crying. There was just something very powerful in that moment of cooperate worship. I suppose there was renewed hope in that moment. But unique hope in that it speaks to something that transcends life on this earth. This song reminded me of Job 1:20 when, after hearing about a series of super crappy things happening to him, Job responds by worshiping. Job also shaves his head and rips his robes. I think God lavishes grace on us to mourn which eventually frees us to worship.

Thanks for bearing with me. And yes, I will now subsequently be made relentlessly by my family for admitting in this blog that I cried.

If you want to hear the song, here's a link to the youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ifTTuL4XI

5 really good things happened today

2009-11-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

As the title indicates, five really wonderful things happened today. They are listed below.

5. The Bears defense gave me 26 points today in Fantasy Football.

4. Karl beat Kari in chess today.

3. They removed the "drain" today. The "drain" was an IV-type thing that was being used to literally drain the swelling from Karl's head

2. Karl will have a CT scan tomorrow. If the scan looks good he will be discharged home.

1. I received a pledge today from someone to buy a sticker for Karl's helmet. I believe the Harbor Church has solidified the back, right-side of Karl's head.

Trick or Treat?

2009-10-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

Karl attempted to go trick or treating tonight, but the nurses wouldn't give him any candy. He even wore his custome! By custome I of course mean his helmet. I just hope we can get extra, extra large Yoda ears so he can look like his nephew. How adorable are Ethan and Kevin? Fact: Very. Ethan (Kari's little un) is the giraffe and Kevin (Alan's little un) is Yoda.

So not only was Karl denied his God-given right to trick or treat I also found out that in the children's ward they are given stickers to decorate their helmet! Age discrimination!

Karl really appreciates all the visitors these last few days. One of my mom and dad's old college buddies even came by. I thought that was pretty cool.

The antibiotics are still running their course. Karl is doing well but ready to be out of the hospital. He tells me everyday that he takes a walk to go visit Author. I finally asked who Author is last night. Yeah, its the painting at the end of the hall. I thought Karl was making new friends in the hospital. Whoops...

Pray that these antibiotics will kill the infection quickly. Karl's surgery went really well in that they were able to remove a lot of the tumor. With radiation/chemo they could hopefully get rid of the rest. But, again, they can't start treatment until this infection is gone.

Happy Halloween.

Best idea ever!

2009-10-30T21:04:00.001-07:00

Karl has a few updates he wanted me to pass along but I'm really tired. But, I did just get off the phone with Karl and we agreed on something rather extraordinary. Epic if you will. So here's the situation: Karl's helmet is rather bland. Now there is a chance he's going to have to wear that thing for awhile. Solution? Turn Karl helmet into a Nascar car. That's right, like prime real estate we are selling of the decorating rights to Karl's helmet. For example, the center front is going to cost you a pretty penny whereas the rear left will definitely be more expensive. If you do purchase a piece of helmet you are free to take creative liberties (stickers, markers, etc.) We just ask for nothing Krass (get it?)...

We'll start the bidding for front and center at $20. Do I hear $20? We'll use this blog as the auction house. Post if you would like to bid.

The rear will go for $15, and the sides will go for $10.

You can get the top of the helmet for $5. Very few people see the top of Karl's head.

Let the bidding war begin!

This is awesome...

The funniest thing you'll see today, I promise

2009-10-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Before you all start scoffing at me for being a terrible brother, know that Karl granted me permission to "playfully" comment on his new errrr..."helmet".

I suppose I have a few thoughts, but the most substantial one that is banging around in my head like a pinball is if Karl is paying the University of Chicago some ungodly amount of money couldn't they at least give him a helmet with a smiley face sticker or something on it? Now don't get me wrong, from a functionality standpoint I'm sure this is tip top but it kinda looks like one of the helmets you buy your 1st grader when they attempt to ride their tricycle for the first time. I guess what I'm saying is the helmet is more "roller-derby circa 1972" then Spartan soldier.

After a pretty rough night in the ICU, Karl has slept farewell the last few days. Rose (the same nurse from our first U of C stay) hooked up Karl with, in my mom's words, "a big boy bed". Karl will hopefully be home in a couple of days. The doctor took a look at the incision and said that as soon as the plastic surgeon releases him, he can go home. And yes, Karl has now seen a plastic surgeon. You thought I was joking about Karl following in the footsteps of Tom Brady and marrying a supermodel. The plastic surgeon was brought in to stick up the incision.

Karl has also requested that I throw his email address on here so feel free to email him words of encouragement or ideas for how to decorate his helmet.

karlw44@aol.com

The Foot Clan, Shredder and Karl after his third surgery

2009-10-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

I spoke with Karl last night. He was a little groggy but for the most part pretty coherent. To be honest, I was pretty shocked how "with it" he was. I mean, he wasn't giving me a proof of the quadratic equation but he felt well enough to watch TV and a movie for a little bit as well as to write me an email.

As it turns out he will have to wear some "headgear" if he decides to go out and about frolicking around town. Sure at first we all thought this would suck to have to put on a helmet every time he goes to the bathroom at 2am. But then I had an epiphany. What if his helmet was like the one pictured above? That way not only would he the sweetest brain cancer patient of all time but then he could spend his Sunday afternoons battling the English department of U of C! It's brilliant!

But I digress...

To summarize, the skull was actually not infected. However it is the doctor's belief that replacing the skull "piece" would actually slow the antibiotics and at this point we need to get rid of the infection asap so Karl can start his treatment.

It appears as though Karl will be in the hospital for at least a few days so if you have some free time I think he would really appreciate visitors. Below is an email from Karl. The English teacher in me wanted to correct all of his misspelling but given the fact that he was probably typing with one figure and it was about 3 hours after a THIRD BRAIN SURGERY I thought I would cut him some slack. I'm not sure if "foot gifts" are 1) gifts for his feet, 2) something to do with the foot clan or 3) supposed to be "food"gifts. I'm pretty sure Karl is a member of the Foot Clan, a proud follower of the Shredder. Read below, last line...

God Bless.

i was thihnkning (i hjave a thimg 0on my rigjhjt index fiimnger sorry

the surgery was stucssessful they took out some bone

i have a stint by my ear to collect the fluid so i dont swell
dr yamini stopped by before he left and was happy wioth how it got cleaned

its all wrapped up but i guess its ouit of shape so i hjave a divit in my head

before the surgery i was really abouit them taking the bone out and more going wrong

i also didnt want a cathetire i hate those

my recovery this time was better because my throat wasnt sore and i could talk

i was awake a few miinutes aftersurgery and talking to the nurses in the icu

my room is in a hall withj opem windows to tje nuirsing station so its not real dark here lets see if io get any sleeo

prayer reqiest

i get some sleep last night my roommater needed a lot of attentkion

my head ache is constant

moms stress level and energy

praises

all of my addorroing fans and friemds thanks you guys so much you are so supportive thanks for all the foot gifts and love

Surgery Update

2009-10-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Sigh...

The bone is infected. Ok, I will do my best to relay all the information I just received from my mom as accurately as possible. Because the bone (part of his skull) is infected, they will leave it removed because at this point it is most important that they begin treatment (ie radiation and/or chemotherapy) as soon as possible but they cannot begin treatments until the infection is gone from his body. Putting the bone back in would mean that it would take longer for the antibiotics to take care of the infection.

So they removed the parts of the skin that are infected. This of course is problematic because stitching him up is more difficult with less surface area to work with. When it rains it pours I suppose...

Karl will have to stay at the hospital for a few days as the antibiotics run their course.

A few months ago I played at a worship service with a couple of friends of mine. The theme of the mini conference was "our eyes are upon you" taken from II Chronicles 20:12. In that passage Jehoshaphat's army was about to be overtaken. What he says is that "God I have no idea what to do, but our eyes are on you." I think that's kind of how I feel right now...

waiting...

2009-10-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Still waiting. No new news. Mom is getting impatient...

Explanation of Picture

2009-10-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include the reason for the picture in the last blog entry. That wrestler's name is apparently Brutus.

I'm sorry for the confusion, I'm sure most of you assumed that was a picture of Karl...

Surgery and the other Brutus

2009-10-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Karl went in to surgery today at 9am central time. I haven't heard any updates but mom is there at the hospital and I'm assuming she will pass them along to her favorite son (me if you're playing at home). I spoke with Karl yesterday evening. He sounded tired and frustrated. I think he's just fed up with seemingly having to do things over and over again. I'll let y'all know as soon as I hear anything. The biggest prayer is that the skull is not infected. Hopefully they can just go in, clean the incision and be done with it. He will be "put completely under" for this surgery so he will be pretty groggy today and probably a little bit tomorrow as well. The will more than likely keep him in the hospital for a few days for observation. I think he is looking forward to this the least. If you missed yesterday's post, Karl started showing the signs of infection last Friday and yesterday they went back to the hospital where they confirmed that it was indeed infected.

In an attempt to be egalitarian and unitarian (yes, I am quite aware that neither of those words actually fit what I'm trying to say but I'm home sick with the flu and thus a little "loopy") I have decided to include in this blog an email from a friend of mine defending his beloved Buckeyes and their murderous mascot. See below. Thank you for the contribution Jerome Lupin...

1) I'm pretty sure that if Laurinaitis and Hart are on the field, we both know who
won the game. Need I remind you that the Sweater Vest is 7-1 against
Michigan, or that it's been 2,165 days since Michigan has beaten Ohio State on
the gridiron? Read that number again because it's really high...and
embarrassing...for you.

2) Secondly, Brutus didn't kill Caesar. Caesar killed Caesar, with his arrogance
and complete disregard for Roman social, cultural, and ethical norms. Sounds a
bit like Rodriguez, doesn't it? However, I am not going to slander Caesar with
such a comparison. Anyways, Brutus the Buckeye is definitely named after the
guy in the photo that I've attached. And also, for the record, I'd like to submit
Hitler, John Wilkes Booth, Voldemort, and Jack the Ripper as the top four most
famous murderers in history, all ahead of Roman Brutus)

3) Wolverines can't eat poisonous nuts--this is kind of like rock over scissors.
What is paper you ask? Apparently the Boilermakers, who ran over my beloved
poisonous nuts quite effortlessly.

U of C & Another Surgery

2009-10-26T12:10:00.001-07:00

First of all, does it take away some of the legitimacy of your higher educational institution when you have to insert an "of" between the two vowels? If you're not UC, does that make you any less of a college. I only ask because apparently the trendy way to say "The University of Chicago" is "U of C".

And yes, these are the things one learns when one spends a 25 consecutive hours at a hospital. Oh, and one learns that certain individuals (just going to throw it out there, they probably belong to the English department at "U of C") also have medieval battle reinactments on Sunday afternoons. Seriously. You should have seen the Samaria...

But I digress, Karl is on his way back to the hospital. Probably in the ER as I am writing this. It appears as though his incision is in fact infected. What this means is that Karl will have another surgery tomorrow to clean out the wound. There is a chance that the infection is actually from his skull. If that's the case they will have to remove the part of the skull that they removed. They would not replace that part for a couple of months because anything they put in would likewise become infected. He would have to wear a helmet to protect his head until the infection has left his body, which would then let them put a plate in.

So, yes, another surgery...Karl will have the surgery tomorrow and will be there overnight at least for tonight.

If Karl has to wear a helmet I suggested we get him a Bear's one. Karl also wanted me to remind all of you that Tom Brady's knee became infected after surgery. If Karl stays true to Brady's precedent he will struggle in the first few games of his PE class but by week six will be killing those 7th graders for six touchdowns.

Oh, and he'll probably marry a supermodel. That is, again, if he stays true to form...

Brutus?

2009-10-25T17:29:00.001-07:00

For all of you that failed ninth grade English, Brutus killed Julius Caesar...

How Karl's head is like Big Ten Football

2009-10-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

There is a saying that people used to use to describe Big Ten football, "Three yards and a cloud of dust". Now this has somewhat shifted over the last few years with the emergence of spread offenses and coaches named Rodriguez. However, any true Big Ten fan knows that to win in November and December on the road in Iowa you have got to be able to run the ball. The thing about "Three yards and a cloud of dust" is that you don't get anywhere very fast. In fact, there are times when you think to yourself that the offensive coordinator may be taking too many fish oil pills when on 3 and 8 you run a draw play to the fullback. Undoubtedly, this unnamed offensive coordinator would probably respond by saying, "This is big ten football. This is how the game is played". Touche.

At this point you are probably thinking 1) Keith has lost it 2) Did you see Michigan put up nine touchdowns against Delaware State and 3) what does this have to do with Karl? Allow me to systematically address all three of these queries.

1) I ranked Karl's nurses based on their awesomeness. Need I explain this comparison?
2) It was Delaware State. Seriously. It was Delaware State. Karl could rush for a TD against Delaware State.

and...

3) Karl is like Big Ten football because right now we are just plotting along taking what the defense gives us. Honestly, not too much has changed over the past week. He is getting a little stronger each day, and he is able to do a little more each day. But we are not in a position to bomb the ball downfield just yet. We need to soften the defense up a little more first (translation, allow for Karl to fully recover from surgery before he starts radiation).

This whole analogy makes sense to about 17% of you all I'm sure. Sorry.

There has been some continued problems with the incision bleeding. They aren't sure why this is continuing, but as long as it is not the brain it shouldn't be a problem. My mom is calling the doctor's at U of C tomorrow to makes sure that there isn't anything else we should be doing. I talked to Karl today and he said the only thing the doctor told him was to be sure the fluid wasn't clear. Apparently clear fluid could be spinal fluid.

I think that's all for right now. Again, if you would like to visit Karl you can email Kari (our favorite sister, and its not even close) at karizawada@hotmail.com

PS I'm pretty sure Laurinitas is tackling Mike Hart after a 22 yard gain. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Buckeye fans. Oh yeah, did anyone ever tell you that your mascot is a poisonous nut and your mascot is tragically named "Brutus" which just so happens to be the same name as the most famous murderer in history?

PPS Karl wanted me to add that "The Red Wings will win" and that Lovey Smith will not be coaches the Bears at seasons end.

Saturday Night

2009-10-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

Karl sent me an email earlier today and apparently it was just fluid in his head. They were able to drain some of it (yes...that's gross...) which helped a lot to reduce the swelling and make Karl more comfortable. I'm not quite clear if the incision is still bleeding but Karl's email seemed to suggest that a lot of it was just general fluid. I haven't been able to speak to him directly yet.

If you would like to spend some time with Karl during this upcoming week that would be great. He's just really bored at home with nothing to do. You can email my sister at karizawada@hotmail It may be easier to email her to set up a time since I'm back in Boston now.

Saturday, October 24

2009-10-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

You could say that Karl's Friday was somewhat of an adventure. You see, the incision on the top of his head started bleeding. Now its important for me to say that this is the "outside" of his head that is bleeding. Not beneath the skull; the brain is NOT bleeding. However, its obviously problematic if Karl's dome continues to bleed. So Fiscally Gator (Karl's nickname. Think Karl --> Carlton --> Carlton Fisk --> Fiskally...and I don't know where the gator came from) had to take three trips yesterday to the Zion clinic to get this thing figured out.

They tried putting another "headdress" on Karl but that didn't work, they tried cauterizing the vein of his head that is bleeding and that didn't work the first time but when he went back a third time they were able to stop the bleeding. Karl did just send me an emailing saying that it was bleeding again last night but not too bad. We called the surgeons at U of C and apparently this isn't abnormal. It becomes cause for concern if Karl bleeds a pint of blood.

Fiscally didn't sleep very well again last night. He was up at 4:00am and 6:00am because his back was hurting so much.

Karl's college football picks. Not very detailed but again, give the guy a break. He had brain surgery!

penn st over mich

ohio state will loose

illinois will loose

If you needed visual evidence for the conception and evolution of Karl's nickname I attached pictures...

Cable Company vs. Insurance Company

2009-10-21T19:37:00.001-07:00

I apologize I haven't blogged the last two days. I was in transit all day today back to Massachusetts and upon my arrival to the north shore of Boston I discovered that Comcast had disconnected my internet. After about 856 minutes of talking to the "techies" we got the problem solved. I don't claim to even begin to know what transpires in hell but I wouldn't be surprised if it involves being required to rotate between talking to the customer service departments of this two "juggernaut" companies.

But I digress...

Karl had an eventful night last night. Well, if eventful translates into terribly crappy. Basically he couldn't sleep at all. His back was killing him. He tried ice packs on his back, he tried walking around the house to loosen it up he even had my mom give him a massage (to which, I would like to submit, my mom be awarded the medal of honor for) but nothing helped.

Eventually he had to switch beds with my mom because her mattress is a little firmer, thus better for his back. He was up at about 4:30am this morning and just laid in his La-Z-Boy for a few hours then took a nap during a movie. So he was able to sleep a little bit. Hopefully tonight will be better.

I couldn't get this posted in time but Karl would like to predict that the Phillies will win 4-2 tonight and that Derrick Rose will miss the opener.

Karl

2009-10-19T15:27:00.001-07:00

In case you needed of visual of Karl...

Big bear is hibernating

2009-10-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

Karl is now home in his bed sleeping. Big bear desperately needed his queen size bed for his back. Again, he doesn't fit too many hospital issued anything.

He will meet with the oncologist and have his stitches removed on October 30. I recommended that Karl leave the stitches in past Halloween for trick or treating. No one laughed but me. I thought it was clever. Alas, again my humor is just simply above everyone's head. Sigh...

Karl's pain also definitely decreased throughout the day. I think this was a combination of pain medicine and prayer. I'm going to side heavily on the prayer. Thank you all for continually remembering Karl in prayer.

Some of you have been asking for Karl's address to send cards and things. It is below. If you would like to drop by and say hi to Karl you can email me at keith.krass@gmail.com to set up a day and time. Holy crust, I am now OFFICIALLY Karl's secretary. I'm putting this on my resume.

Karl Krass
40233 Adelphi
Beach Park, IL 60099

Going home...

2009-10-19T12:14:00.001-07:00

The doctor just came in and released Karl to go home. Apparently the fluid that they saw on the CAT scan this morning is actually just a combination of blood, fluid, etc from the surgery. It is located outside the skull, beneath the skin. This is a good location for the fluid because it is outside the brain. The fluid is probably just the result of two brain surgeries in about 2.5 weeks. The doctor said that the MRI and CAT scan look great, and that Karl's brain is healthy and is starting to expand and fill the void left by the tumor. So yes, Karl's braining is growing which of course means he's getting smarter.

We have to monitor the fluid and swelling on his head but the doctor anticipates that this will decrease throughout the next few days. If it doesn't he may need to get it drained but this appears to be unlikely.

Monday, October 19

2009-10-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Karl's having a pretty hard day. In the past when the nurses have asked "On a scale of 1-10, how's the pain?" he has said 4 or 5. Today he has been saying an 9 or 10. I don't think this is unusual; I think it has more to do with the anesthesia they used for surgery finally wearing off. I could be wrong, my undergrad is in English.

Karl had a CAT scan this morning at 2am and they did find some bleeding in his brain. They may keep him at the hospital for a few more days as a precaution, but they also could release him today. We aren't really sure at this point. His main doctor will be seeing him today. We are just waiting for his word.

I'll update the blog after the doctor comes. Either way, please pray for Karl's discomfort to subside.

Ammendment to previous post

2009-10-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

I was just scolded by both my brothers for saying "go big blue". Apparently there is no "big" in the phrase. My sincerest apologies. I am embarrassed.

Karl just chimed in with "'big' is the appropriate adjective to describe "the house", not the color."

He is correct. I apologize to everyone in the state of Michigan...

NFL Picks

2009-10-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

The Krass boys are watching football. When God decided to make sure church was on Sundays I'm glad he decided to make football on Sundays too. It makes for exceptional days (particularly when a substantial amount of the day is spent in the hospital). Thanks God.

Karl's week six NFL picks:

Baltimore @ Minnesota: 34-17 Skol Vikings

New York Football Giants @ New Orleans: 49-36 Saints

Detroit @ Greenbay: 50-0 Pack

Bears @ Atlants: 22-19 Bears

Karl's NCAA picks:

Michigan 63 Delaware State 6

Oh and Karl believes the groundhog will see his shadow. Write it down.

Yes, we realize that some of these games are actually in progress (and in Michigan's case happened yesterday). Karl just had brain surgery. Give him a break. He can make his picks whenever he well pleases.

Karl went for a walk today, without a walker. Alan and he walked for about 10 minutes. I think Alan won. Karl is slow. Just kidding. Well sort of, he is the slowest Krass brother.

Karl briefly spoke with a doctor this morning. Nothing real profound, basically he's doing well. The MRI revealed nothing abnormal. He will meet with the main neurosurgeon on Monday. On a side note, we found out that Karl's doctor went to UM. Go big blue.

Ps I included the picture of Mom and Ethan (Kari's son) basically because I think its a cute picture.

Fish and Loaves

2009-10-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Alan: We need to figure out what me, you, Kari, Shannon and mom are going to eat for dinner.
Karl: That's why I ordered the fish sandwich. I figured the fish would multiple.

Karl is so considerate.

We are still waiting for the results of the MRI. As we are learning hospitals kind of shut down on the weekends. We will probably talk to the doctor on Monday. Karl slept a lot today.

Other than that, I'm not sure there is too much more to blog...

Karl requested that I mention that he no longer has any IVs hooked up.

Saturday morning

2009-10-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

Karl is doing well. We got to the hospital around 9:30am. Karl said he didn't sleep real well last night, but well, he did have brain surgery yesterday. I suppose that's kind of expected. Probably even better news than the surgery going well was Karl being cleared to eat whatever he would like. And boom goes the dynamite. Karl has thoroughly taken advantage of U of C's excellent "catering services", as evident by the attached picture.

Karl will have another MRI today just to check in on everything. He had a CAT scan last night and everything looked good.

A lot of people have been asking what % of the tumor was taken out. Because of the type of tumor that Karl has it is both impossible to tell exactly what percentage they have taken out as well as how much remains. What we know is that the doctor got a "boatload" of it yesterday, which is obviously a good very, very good thing.

Oh and Karl's headdress is a form of religious expression.

"It went as well as it possibly could have."

2009-10-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

That is a direct quote from our doctor. He said he couldn't have been more pleased with the results of the surgery! Praise the Lord! He was able to safely remove all of the tumor that was exposed and accessible. There are still parts of the tumor that remain, but everything that he was able to see he was able to remove and with, as of right now, no side effects. What this means is that Karl take the next ten days or so to recover from this surgery then he will begin radiation to remove the parts of the tumor that were unable to be removed surgically.

I asked the doctor if he could give a percentile of the tumor that was removed but with this type of tumor it is impossible to say for sure. One interesting little twist is that the component of Karl's brain that controls his speech is on the right side of his brain, which is common to only about 5% of the US's population. This meant that Karl actually didn't need to be awake during the entire surgery. Whoops. Oh yeah, Karl was awake during the entire surgery. But it makes his recovery much easier since he was awake.

I think we are all a little speechless right now. Now obviously this is just the beginning of a long and tough road to get rid of the rest of the cancer but at this moment its the first good news we have heard in quite awhile.

Thank you all so much for praying. At about 3:00pm today I heard a voice in my head say that Karl's surgery was going to turn out really well. Now whether this was an angel, the holy spirit I don't know but I've never really sensed something quite like that before. It was pretty cool.

Karl will spend the night in the ICU to make sure there is no bleeding in the brain, will hopefully move to a regular observation room at some point this weekend and will be home soon.

Here is a list of things we...well...listed while we were waiting for the doctor

1) Animals that start with the letter "d" (Alan chimed in with door mouse)
2) US Presidents (He forgot Clinton. 65% of you are smiling, 33% are scoffing and 2% are saying who?)
3) State capitals
4) The 1992 Dream Team (Laettner? Really?)
5) SWISS conference schools

I think that's it for right now, but we'll keep you posted.

-Keith

first post surgery update

2009-10-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Karl is awake and coherent. He can speak and move the right side of his body. Mom, Kari and Alan have all seen and talked to him. We still have not talked to the doctor so we don't know if the surgery was successful or not.

I will keep you posted.

minor update

2009-10-16T12:26:00.001-07:00

They are stitching Karl back up. We have moved up a few floors and are waiting for the doctor to give us a report. Karl will be in ICU in an hour or so. We don't know much about the surgery at this point.

sort of an update

2009-10-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

We just heard that Karl's surgery is going well. That's it. Just that it's going well.

Surgery Update

2009-10-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

The surgery has (just now...) officially begun. Karl was apparently cracking jokes and entertaining the doctors and nurses.

Estimation for the surgery is 10am-3pm.

Into surgery...

2009-10-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

If you were still curious of what exactly my wonderful mother did to the insurance company, please consult the picture to the right.

Karl was wheeled away to surgery at 8:30am this morning. They originally told us they would start the surgery at 7:30am. Apparently, they meant central time and we were functioning in the eastern time zone. Or something, it's kind of confusing...

The surgery will take several hours so we...are...just...sorta...hanging out. Alan is doing his research (translation=reading comic books), Kari is relaxing (translation=proofing every word I write. Stop looking over my shoulder), mom is drinking tea (translation=she's drinking tea) and I am updating this blog.

I will update y'all when we receive any information.

Karl was in good spirits this morning. The nurses asked Karl to list some important people in his life, which he will have to recall post surgery to make sure that his brain is functioning properly. Below is his list of people. #1 is most important.

1. Mom
2. Alan
3. Kari
4. Kaylee
5. Keith

Kaylee is my mom's dog. Thanks Karl.

Seriously?

2009-10-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, seriously. Karl didn't go back to the hospital today. Why you ask? A doctor's note. That's right, apparently we were all just whist away to 1989 and Karl is back in Mrs. Jackson's third grade classroom where you need a doctor's note to do anything. OK, its a little more than a doctor's note but honestly, not that much of a difference.

Karl's primary care physician at the Zion clinic needs to sign off on this pending surgery. He is very willing to do this. In fact he WANTS to do this. The problem, the Lake County board of surgeons wont respond to our doctor's calls.

Oh yeah, and there was a problem with the scheduling of Karl's MRI. So now he will have two back to back, or one REALLY, REALLY long one. This isn't a huge deal except for Karl is about as comfortable in the MRI booths as you or I would be with our fingers linked in a Chinese finger trap with a polar bear. Again, Karl's big. They don't make things to fit Karl-big.

The plan right now is that Karl will leave tomorrow around 9am, get the MRI around 2:00pm and have the surgery on Friday. But as you can probably anticipate by now, the plans may change...

Things that are hard to do (5 = easiest, 1 = hardest)

5. Conquer Russian (Unless you are one of Karl's nurses)
4. Actually read and ENJOY Pride and Prejudice*
3 Circumnavigate the globe in a row boat with one oar
2. Cubs winning the world series
1. Have something done when it was supposed to be done in the medical world

*#4 only applies to the male gender

My mom, the wrestler

2009-10-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Per the suggestion of a friend of mine, I would like to submit that I am logorrheaic not verbose. I'll pause while you look up that word...Don't worry I had to as well.

Just got off the phone with Mama Bear (my mom) and the insurance situation appears to be all straightened out. An individual from Kid's Hope called today and confirmed that Karl is in the system for Cobra Insurance. We are still awaiting final confirmation from the hospital but it appears we are a go for Karl to check in to the hospital tomorrow and have the surgery on Friday.

I realize that only a small percentage of you will get this forthcoming allusion (namely my brother-in-law and oldest brother) but it is so etched in my mind that I felt the need to share it with you.

Imagine my mom standing in the center of a wrestling ring equipped with The Rock's elbow pads. Lying on the ground underneath her is the crippled body of "the insurance company". My mom rips off her left elbow pad and bounces of each side rope once before officially landing "The People's Elbow" directly in the sternum of the insurance company.

So yeah, my mom is kind of like a pro wrestler...

Explanation: my mom just kicked the insurance company's butt.

The firefox and the hound

2009-10-13T08:42:00.001-07:00

Well, we figured out why the insurance company was dragging their feet. They were waiting to receive our first payment. This is only slightly problematic because we sent in our first payment, um...well...like ten days ago.

Apparently this insurance company cannot receive online payments from clients that use firefox as their web browser. Nowhere on their website do they indicate this, they just assume that people will know. Right...

Therefore, they were waiting on us.

I'm not even kidding.

We went to Karl's online bank account statement and Chase processed the payment, the insurance company just couldn't accept it. That sound you hear in the background is me banging my head against my desk repeatedly.

We are supposed to know at some point today if everything went through. There is a chance that Karl wont be able to have the surgery on Friday if the necessary paperwork has not gone through their system.

I will keep y'all posted.

I literally cannot say thank you enough to everyone that has supported our family over these past few weeks. I'd like to think that I am a somewhat verbose person, but the generosity we have received from everyone has left me speechless.

Prayer Request

2009-10-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

I just off the phone with my mom. The hospital, Kid's Hope (Karl's former employer), Humana (Karl's former insurance company) and Cobra (Karl's pseudo current insurance provider) are all dragging their feet and not returning my mom's calls. Essentially even though Karl is technically signed up for Cobra Insurance because no one will get back to us we cannot prove to the hospital that Karl is insured, therefore the hospital will not admit Karl and ultimately will not perform the MRI and surgery that Karl needs. This is giving my mom a huge amount of stress, and candidly, not something that she should have to worry about because we have done all that we can and are supposed to do. For those of you that don't know Karl quit his job in August to begin his student teaching to fulfill his last requirement before receiving his teaching certification from North Park University. He technically did not have insurance when this whole process started. However, by law your previous employer has to provide you insurance 30 days after you stop working (I believe its 30 days).

Have I expressed I much I dearly love the health care system?

At any rate, we are planning on going through with the surgery and are just hoping that everything will get squared away by Wednesday when Karl was supposed to return to the University of Chicago hospital.

Something else that my family can use this week: we will be going to the hospital on Thursday and probably will not be leaving for at least a few days. This may sound a little peculiar but you actually have to pay for parking every time you leave. We were wondering if someone would be willing to pick the Krass family up some snacks for our extended hospital stay. Just basic nonperishable items for us to munch on.

Right now we are not sure what would be more dangerous, walking around the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Chicago or attempting to pay the prices at the Au Bon Pain located in the lobby of the hospital. Its kind of like Russian roulette...

Sunday, October 11

2009-10-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Karl had an eventful day. We talked on the phone for about 10 minutes. I'll just give you our dialogue:

Keith: How are you feeling Karl?
Karl: Pretty good, I have some friends over right now and we are just hanging out.
Keith: Cool
Karl: Oh, and I went to church today. It was great, really good to see people. I am pretty tired though. Do you want to know what was even better than church?
Keith: Yes?
Karl: I had the best grownup grill cheese of my entire life.
Keith: awesome.

Ok, it didn't quite go like that but you get the gist.

Praise the Lord, Karl has a la-Z-Boy! An answer to prayer. A giant THANK YOU to the family that provided Karl with this. I know my church in Massachusetts, The Harbor, prayed around 11:00am. Karl has a chair not long thereafter. Pretty cool.

I kind of feel like we are on a lucky streak. Maybe I'm pushing my luck a little bit but another Karl needs is a small fan (10" or so) for his room at home and his hospital room.

Thank you all for being so helpful and supportive.

Sometimes you just gotta jump in the pool

2009-10-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just a forewarning, this blog entry may lack a little "gusto". I actually flew back home to Boston today to tie us some loose end before heading back to Chicago Thursday to be home for Karl's surgery on Friday. All this is to say, I actually am not having daily contact with Karl. I will do my best to fill everyone in from afar.

I talked to my mom today and she said that Karl was feeling pretty good. Yesterday was such an uber long day with the two hour car ride from the hospital he pretty much was exhausted by the time he got home. He slept well last night and took a couple of catnaps today which really helped restore his energy.

OK, so one of things I have learned in life is that sometimes you just have to take a shot and swing for the fences (apparently in Argentina they say "sometimes you have to jump in the pool". I recently learned this, thus I decided to include it in the blog). Here's my swinging for the fences: something Karl actually really needs right now is a BIG, "bear-like" lazy boy chair. Right now he basically has to lie in his bed or sit in a chair in the living room that doesn't fit him all that well (picture the shorts that basketball players used to wear in the 70's. Not pretty I know...). It would be a great blessing to Karl if any one has a big old lazy boy lying around somewhere that they never use.

A huge thanks goes out to everyone that has emailed me and offered their prayers and asked how they could help. I sincerely apologize if I haven't responded to your email yet. I will do my best to get back to you ASAP.

Thanks!

Friday, October 9 PM post

2009-10-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

Big Bear is home. We (Karl, Alan, mom and myself) are watching the Yankees vs. Twins game. Does anyone else hate the Yankees? Yup, I've now lived in Boston too long.

Karl just requested that I post on the blog that he would love to have visitors on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If you would like to see Karl please call the house phone at 847-746-1749 before you come. Big Bear likes his sleep. Oh, and no autographs please.

If anyone has a wheelchair, we could really use one. Here's the catch, its need to be a LARGE wheelchair. Old Big Bear, is well, kind of big.

I apologize if I haven't responded to everyone's email. I hope to soon. A huge thanks to everyone that has offered their help over this past week.

Friday, October 9

2009-10-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm reluctant to say this, but Karl is coming home today. I only feel confident saying this because he is literally in the car right now on his way. I did not go with Alan, Karl's oldest brother, and my mom to the hospital this morning. I talked to my mom briefly after she spoke with the doctor this morning. This is the plan: Karl will be home until next Wednesday. On Wednesday they will check him back into the University of Chicago Hospital. He will get a special MRI take on Wednesday. This MRI is unique because they will ask him questions during the exam and map out what part of the his brain Karl is using to respond. They need to do this because on Friday Dr. Yamini and his medical team will perform a second surgery; this time with the sole purpose of removing as much of the tumor as possible. By "mapping out" Karl's brain prior to the surgery they will be able to determine where they can be more aggressive and where they will need to act more conservatively. The goal is to remove 70%-80% of the tumor before Karl begins radiation.

The type of tumor Karl has is called glioblastoma. You may have heard of this type of tumor recently because it is, I believe, what Senator Kennedy had.

You can google glioblastoma but basically they cannot remove all of the tumor because this it has small "fingers" that reach into the brain. You can remove the bulk of it but the small fingers are too many and too deep in the brain. The radiation will take care of these parts of the tumor.

I apologize if I just confused you all more. This is just how I understand everything.

It'll be good to have Karl home.

What Van Halen has to do with Karl Krass...

2009-10-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Continuing in the trend of quoting aging rock stars who saw their popularity fade in about 1996, Sammy Hagar one sang, "here we go around, around, around."

We just met with Dr. Yamini the neurosurgeon at the University of Chicago Hospital. He strongly feels that it would be of no advantage to rush Karl into surgery today, tomorrow or even this weekend. Basically, Karl needs to have an MRI done to see exactly what we are dealing with (yes, I know, I feel like we've said this before), then the U of C team needs to review the MRI and the pathology reports, meet as a team and then decide what to do.

Essentially this team wants to reevaluate Karl on their own. Not that they distrust the previous team's prognosis but if they are to treat Karl they have to feel 100% confident in their analysis.

You know those 3D posters, "Magic Eye" I believe is what they were called, that when you stare at them crossed eyed they reveal a sea shell or a peacock? That's kind of what we feel like right now. The last two days we have been looking at the picture without our eyes crossed. Around 3pm today we started crossing our eyes, and now we are finally starting to figure out what the picture is. Its a schooner...or a sailboat...(Consult Mall Rats for this reference. Compliments of my brother Alan).

So...Karl is getting his MRI right now. As we understand it, Karl will (hopefully) be coming home soon.

Rose, the nurse, is awesome. Rose and Cathy could conquer Russia.

waiting...

2009-10-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

No surgery today. Waiting for an MRI.

Small answers to prayer

2009-10-08T07:37:00.001-07:00

Karl's nurse today is woman by the name of Rose. Rose has made everyone in the family feel more comfortable. I know its "small" but she has already calmed my nerves. Small battles = small miracles.

Thursday, October 8, 2009 AM

2009-10-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

I spent the night with Karl last night in the hospital room. I think he got a decent nights sleep, well aside from the steady flow of nurses and doctors that would come in every 2 hours like clockwork.

Being at U of C is a mixed bag of emotions. On one hand, Karl will have some of the best neurosurgeons in the world. On the other hand U of C has a "cold" feeling around it. Not because the nurses haven't been friendly and supportive to Karl, they have. We just don't know any one here and everything feels so foreign. Clearly Karl's health is most important, not his comfort, but it has just been a little bit of a transition.

I wish I could write more but I need to head back up to Karl's room. Needless to say, today is a big day for Karl. There is a chance that he will be having surgery at some point today. This surgery would be a pretty big one.

I'll try to post later tonight.

Obviously Karl needs prayer, but also keep my entire family in your prayers. Pray that we will "run and not grow weary".

God bless.

Change of Plans

2009-10-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

There was a slight change of plans. Around 2:oopm today we met with the oncologist at Vista (Victory) in Waukegan. He strongly recommended that we consult a neurosurgical team at the University of Chicago Hospital. In sum, he doesn't think that radiation will effectively "shrink" the tumor unless more of it can be removed surgically.

At 6:15pm today Karl was transported to the University of Chicago. Tomorrow morning we will start meeting with the group of doctors and begin to formulate our plan of attack. Karl will undergo a slew of tests tomorrow and have several consultations throughout the day. The hope is that this team will be able to remove a significant amount of the tumor. The initial neurosurgeon's goal was to take a biopsy and remove as much of the tumor as possible. Because of the blood vessels that were growing into the tumor it was too dangerous to attempt to remove it. The U of C team will take a slightly different course with the surgery. The procedure in and of itself will be done slightly differently. We will know more about the specifics of the surgery after we meet with the doctors tomorrow.

Obviously we were a little surprised by the oncologists recommendation, particularly because we were being told for the few days that Karl would be home.

Please pray. Our God can move mountains.

Home

2009-10-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

In the words of Ozzy Osbourne, "Mamma I'm coming home." At some point today Karl will be discharged from the hospital. I think we are all ready for that. Well...everyone but the nurse that asked to listen to Karl's heart. I know she will deeply miss him.

We are (STILL!) waiting for the oncologist to come. He was supposed to come at 7am, then 8am, then 9am...

Karl was visited by the physical therapists today and successfully navigated a flight of stairs. He then showed up the occupational therapists by rattling off the three words he was supposed to remember. Renee thought that Karl had slightly lost his mind, but only because Renee isn't the person that asked Karl to remember the three words...Whenever that "three-word nurse" comes back...

I did some memory/speech exercises with Karl. He had to name animals that started with the letter "b". He said "bear", then "brown bear", then "big brown bear". Karl doesn't have a problem with adjectives. In all seriousness though Karl did really well with the exercises. I asked him to name 10 NFL teams and he named about 20. I asked him to name 10 presidents and he named about 15 (probably more than I could come up with...). Oh, and those of you that are blessed to reside in Montana, Karl still remembers that Helena is the state capital.

I was talking to Karl about things he needs. He had a really good idea. If you would like to bring Karl a meal that would be great, but his idea was to actually have people come over and prepare the meal for Karl with Karl. He also said it would be nice just to sit and watch a movie with someone. I'll let you know how Karl does when we move him home today but just keep this on the back burner.

If you are interested, email me and we can find a time. Karl has requested that we leave Friday open for "date night". Just kidding.

Thanks for reading this blog. You have no idea how therapeutic it has been for me.

heart

2009-10-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

The nurse just asked Karl if she could listen to his heart. I think she was hitting on him, Karl isn't so sure.

I'll update the blog after the oncologists come today. There is a chance he'll be home by late this afternoon.

Karl + Milkshakes

2009-10-06T14:43:00.001-07:00

Karl has really, really enjoyed the milkshakes. Perhaps too much...

He has decided to embark on the treacherous "milkshake fast" for the next couple of weeks. Its kind of like the Daniel fast...

Basically, no need to bring any more milkshakes, ice cream, chocolate, etc for awhile.

We had a mystery nurse come in today and rock our world. The funniest, happiest and all-around best nurse we have had yet. Her name was Carol, but I'm pretty sure she was actually Aceso

(I'll pause while you all google search Greek goddesses. Here let me save you the trouble, she's the goddess of healing)

It was kind of like a summer fling that was the best two months of your life but ends abruptly when the girls says she's moving back to Texas and you will never see each other again. I'm pretty sure Carol wasn't actually assigned to Karl's room. I fear our paths will not cross again.

Alas...

Tuesday, October 6

2009-10-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

We received the initial pathology report today. The pathologists have an early indication of what it is, however we are sending the sample to MD Anderson for confirmation on the leanings of the Vista team. I am being vague intentional because we still have to meet with the pathologists as well as with the oncologists.

Earlier in this blog I believe I may have indicated that they weren't sure if it was benign or malignant. It is in in fact cancerous. We are just waiting to definitively confirm what level of cancer it is.

Once we figure out how we are going to attack this and what our next step is, I will let you all know.

I asked Karl if there was anything he would like to say to all his adoring fans. His response, "thank you so much for all the prayer and support."

Oh, and Sarah, the nurse is currently the "sixth man".

So here's a good one; two days ago the speech therapists asked Karl if he could remember three words. They are table, apple and penny. Karl is such a high achiever, he says these three words to every nurse that comes into the room. The speech therapists hasn't come back yet but when she does...lookout...

If you have any questions or would like to help out, you can email me at keith.krass@gmail.com

Thanks!

Ps I just decided that our family verse moving forward is Zephaniah 3:17. "He is might to save".

Monday, October 5 PM report

2009-10-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, Karl's afternoon nurse, Lit, is really threatening for the number "5" (center). She's only 5'O", soaking wet 100 lbs but she's quality.

Karl has now officially graduated to his Duke shorts and a t-shirt. No more scrubs! He had quite a bit of action today. The occupational therapist, speech therapist and physical therapist all visited Karl in the span of about 59 minutes. He did very well with each of them. He did walk about thirty feet down the hall with a walker! Needless to say, Karl slept very well this afternoon.

We are still waiting on the biopsy report.

Thank you so much for all your prayer and support. God bless.

Ps Karl says, Viking 33 Packers 30. Oh and Favre will get injured in the third quarter. He also said, "Just buy a stupid TV Brett."

Monday, October 5

2009-10-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

I stayed at the hospital with Karl last night. He slept well. Well, until about 4:30am. Other than that he had a good night sleep. The swelling around his left eye has subsided substantially. Unfortunately because he has been sleeping on his right side, that eye is now swollen shut. Imagine Rocky at the end of Rocky IV. He had a CAT scan this morning. The nurse, Cathy (more on Cathy later), said it looked normal but the doctor will be in at 9:30am to confirm that.

No results from the biopsy yet.

Karl and I had an awesome conversation. As most of you know Karl has played basketball pretty much his whole life, and, Karl has had lots of nurses over the past few days. Therefore it is only logical that his morning we discussed who his starting five of nurses would be.

PG - Joby: Slightly unconventional at the "1" but she has tenacity
SG - Cathy: A stud. If they had all-americans in the nursing world she would be a first teamer. In all seriousness, Cathy's brother had a brain tumor about four years ago and she has been wonderful to my family.
Small Forward - Tina: She performed the EEG on Karl the night before surgery. Really nice and well...errr...Karl thought she was "not unattractive".
Power Forward - Marsha: Like Joby, Marsha packed a punch. She was Karl's nurse while he was in the ICU. Very friendly, very funny. Just an all-around player.
Center - We have had a couple of candidates but none that really fitted the bill. We still need one more front court player to fill out the roster.

Karl also suggested that we rank visitors but we decided that probably wouldn't be the best way to make friends...Again, Karl still has his sense of humor.

Answer to Prayer

2009-10-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

First answer to prayer, Karl's appetite is back...with a vengenance : )

He likes ice cream. Milk shakes in particular.

Karl just asked if anyone had commented on his page, so feel free to make comments.

Sunday, October 4 PM post

2009-10-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

I just returned to the hospital for the PM shift. Karl greatly appreciates the visitors but I think he is about to turn in for the evening. He was able to watch the Bears game with Alan (the oldest brother ) today. I think Alan was doing a majority of the watching but Karl would chime in with a question here and there. The swelling around his black eye is starting to minimize and our hope is that by tomorrow he will be able to open it fully. There is a little concern that the nurses aren't able to fully appreciate Karl's "baby blues". We are hoping Karl gets a little one phone number out of this whole ordeal...

Basically we are still in a holding pattern, awaiting the results of the biopsy. Until then we wait and pray. People have been asking how they can help our family. If you would like to help you could

1) Prepare meals for Karl.
2) Send the Krass family gift guards for restaurants, preferably one's that deliver. Again, meals have been a little hard to come by. The gift cards would simplify things a little bit.
3) Pick up some groceries for my mom in preparation for Karl's return.

If you would like to help out with any of these email me at keith.krass@gordon.edu or call me at 847-722-2810.

In the meanwhile, keep praying. A few weeks ago I was at a church service based around II Chronicles 20:12. In this passage Jehosaphat's army was about to be overtaken. The last section of verse 12 says, "We don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." Honestly we have no idea what is going on but our eyes are upon our Heavenly father.

I just asked Karl if he wanted to say anything to his adoring fans. His response, "Don't bother me I'm trying to sleep." Again, he still has his sense of humor...

Sunday, October 4 AM Post

2009-10-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I just spent a couple of hours with Karl this morning. He is improving and doing well. Karl does have a pretty nice "shiner" on his left eye, which is a normal reaction to the type of surgery he had. They changed is bandages on his head and the nursing staff has been great. Karl's favorite nurse is Joby but Kathy has been threatening Joby's elite status with her performance yesterday and this morning.

Karl is still in pain but they are giving him a little stronger pain medication. The best news is that they will be moving him out of the ICU as early as 10am this morning! His new room is #507. This is an indication that Karl is right on schedule with his recovery. Right now we are prayerfully awaiting the results of the biopsy. We have been told that we should know either Monday or Tuesday. Once we know what the tumor consists of we will know exactly what we are doing with and the best route to take in Karl's treatment. More than likely his treatment will consist of a combination of radiology and chemo but nothing is certain right now.

The hope/goal is to have Karl home by midweek. Please give me (Keith, his brother) a call if you have any questions are would like to help. God bless.

Prayer Requests:
1) That Karl will be able to keep a positive mindset.
2) The biopsy report will clearly show what we are dealing with
3) That Karl's appetite will return
4) That he can rest comfortable
5) That his black eye will go away!
6) Most importantly that God will perform a miracle and heal Karl!

Saturday, October 3

2009-10-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

We just left the hospital for the evening. Karl is doing reasonably well. In fact he even asked me what time it was in Spanish today. Apparently they implanted an "SAP" button during the surgery. He is still in the ICU and is pretty groggy, however he is very coherent and aware evidenced by his implementation and usage of "Krass family nicknames"; as I am again affectionately known as "Stinky", Kari is "Reeree" and Alan is "Alby".

Right now we are awaiting the results of the biopsy. Once the know what the tumor is "made up of" they will know how to treat it most effectively. Our hope is that he will be moved out of the ICU and back home at some point next week. Karl deeply appreciates all your prayers.

I (Keith, his little brother) will do my best to update this blog on a nearly daily basis because as Karl said yesterday before the surgery "I'm kind of a big deal".

As you can see Karl still has his sense of humor.

Purpose of this Blog

2009-10-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! My name is Lisa Logan and I am a friend of Keith Krass's from college. I am setting up this blog to offer updates on how his brother Karl is doing so that everyone who cares about him and the entire Krass family can be kept in the loop during this unsteady time. Keith (and whoever else he desires) will have access to post so that information from all sides will be in a central location accessible to people across the country.

I am copying an email sent from John Prickett, another friend of Keith's from college, who spoke with Keith a couple days ago to get an update:

As many of you probably know at this point, it was found out on Wednesday that one of Keith's older
brothers, Karl, has two brain tumors. I talked with Keith earlier this
evening (Friday evening) and he wanted me to pass on an update of the
situation. Earlier today, Karl was operated on
and they found out that there were two tumors and that they were quite
large. There was no possibility of removing the tumors either because there
were blood vessels and other things intertwined with the tumor and all
growing together. They sent off a sample of the tumor for a biopsy. They
do not know for sure yet if it is malignant, but the doctors have said they
do think it is probably highly malignant. It will take a few days for the
results to come back. In the mean time, Karl is stable and will most likely
remain in the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. Once the results are back from the biopsy, which will take a few days and maybe up to a week, they will determine what their next course of action will be. At that point they will have a better idea about whether they should or even can use chemo or radiation as a way to combat the tumor.

Thanks and lets keep lifting up the Krass's in prayer as we intercede for
Karl and the Krass's.

John