Dr. Colyer

I know that this is probably old news - especially to the people who are still at UDTS, but I talked to Elmer the other day via e-mail, and he sent me this update on his "condition." I didn't know anything about this, and I hadn't seen anything regarding it on the blog. So I asked him if I could post it here so that the whole community could lift up him and his family. Obviously, he said that I could post it anywhere I wanted, or I wouldn't be doing this.

So - here is his update and Credo, unedited. Let's keep the Colyers in our prayers.


Update on Elmer Colyer’s condition September 18, 2006
I have Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma (SMZL), a fairly indolent form of lymphoma that responds well to treatment, but is finally medically incurably. At the end of April I was experiencing some abnormalities in my resting heart-rate, etc., which I discovered because of closely monitoring my health in relation to my training for bicycle racing. When the abnormalities did not go away, I saw my Dr. and discovered that my hemoglobin and hematocrit were low (12.4 and 37). This led to a flurry of tests and initial probably diagnosis of SMZL on June 16.
The medium life-expectancy for people with SMZL is 10 years. Most people with SMZL live 8-15 years. However, in around 25% of the cases SMZL transforms into really nasty aggressive form with a 1-4 year life-expectancy (14 month average according to one study). My blood work revealed some evidence of that my SMZL is transforming into the aggressive kind.
So I had my spleen removed in July for both diagnostic and therapeutic reasons. The biopsies of the spleen indicate no evidence of transformation into the nasty aggressive form. The latest blood tests indicated that my A LDH@ levels have dropped back within the normal range. So now the three prognostic indicators the help predict whether the SMZL will transform into the aggressive kind are all negative. This is really the best prognosis we could hope for, save for a miraculous healing of an incurable lymphoma.
Now we will wait until mid-October to allow my body and the SMZL to respond to the splenectomy. At that time, we will do another battery of tests to determine what the SMZL is doing. If it is in remission, we will A watch and wait.@ If not, we will decide the most prudent course of action at that.
The most likely course will be that I will have 1-4 or more really good years, basically normal and by appearances cancer-free. This will be followed by a relapse. The SMZL reappears in the lymph nodes or elsewhere. We would then use other treatment (chemo, anti-body or others) and then I would have 1-4 or more reasonable good years, followed by another relapse. In the end, you just kind of waste away under SMZL. You get weaker and weaker, end up in bed sleeping a lot, etc. and finally die from various complications. There are a number of new treatments on the horizon, but no magic bullets at this point.
Everything above is based on the best information available. Yet there is only a small amount of research on this rare form of lymphoma. There are massive individual variations in how different people respond to SMZL and to treatment. Thus while it gives us some idea what we "might" "likely" expect, we really do not know how things will unfold. My SMZL could transform into the nasty aggressive form next year or next week. I am in extremely good health and will continue to approach my SMZL aggressively. So I am still very optimistic.
In short, I plan to be around a lot longer than 8-15 years! But I will also live my life in light of the fact that I may only have 8-15 years or even less. I am not afraid of SMZL or of death. I am not angry or depressed. I am grateful to be alive, grateful for whatever years I have left. I will continue to live carpe diem. I love what I am doing as a professor and pastor.
I owe my lymphoma a debt of gratitude for giving me a clarity and passion around who I am, what I am about, what I value and what I don’t, and how I want to continue to live, a depth of clarity and passion greater than I have ever known in all my years of "redeeming my routines" (a course I teach here at UDTS) and reflecting on these kinds of questions many, many times. Frankly, there are not many things in my life that I want to change. God has richly blessed me. Over the past months I have been often simply overwhelmed by a sense of God’s presence in my life, surrounding and supporting me in the midst of all the tests, changes in diagnosis and the uncertainty of it all. I find it much easier now to live in the moment, embrace the simple joys of life, and live one day at a time.
So I greatly desire your prayers because I am ever so conscious that we really only live by the Grace of the Triune God, by the Triune God of grace, who alone is the Great Physician. Please pray specifically for my healing , for Natalee and my sons, and most of all, for God= s presence, grace and blessings through it all and whatever lies ahead.
Rev. Dr. Elmer M. Colyer
Blessings, Professor of Historical Theology
Stanley Professor of Wesley Studies
University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
El 2000 University Avenue, Dubuque, IA 52001
563-589-3389
Credo: What I Affirm in the Face of Disease
June 16, 2006
The Lord of my life is Jesus Christ, not lymphoma!!
Therefore by the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Spirit:
1. I affirm and live out of my new life in Christ, in light of and toward my eternal life with and in the communion of the Triune God, and I affirm the goodness of my mundane life in this world despite the ambiguity, brokenness, and disease of this fallen and tragic creation.
2. I will continue to live as a servant of Triune God, in communion with God, out of love for God, and as a servant of, in communion with and out of love for, my family, friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, all people and all of creation.
3. I will live carpe diem in faith, hope, love and joy day by day whatever the future may hold.
4. I will continue to fulfill my vocation and discharge the duties entrusted to me faithfully and with excellence until Christ calls me home.
5. I will never give in, give up or give myself over to lymphoma and the complications that develop from it in my life.
6. I will not give in to self-pity, resentment, anger, apathy, and the rest, though I will be honest and open about my thoughts and feelings whatever may come.
7. I will joyfully receive and embrace the love and support of family, friends, Christian brothers and sisters and all others who offer themselves to me.
8. I will face my disease in a wise and prudent manner, accepting the best help medical science has to offer, but also alternative forms of health care compatible with my faith, and direct healing from God through the Body of Christ.
9. I will trust the Triune God to work for my good in the midst of this situation whatever may come, and I will be open to God= s presence and blessings in whatever form they may take.
10. I will entrust myself, my life, my health, my future, my death, my all to the Love of God the Father, the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit Who loves me, created me, reconciled me, redeemed me and Who is and ever will be with me whatever the future holds.
Here I take my stand on the Grace of the Triune God, on the Triune God of grace.