Still Catching Up

-Thanksgiving.

I was so looking forward to Carrie coming! And she brought Frank, who was fun to meet and who (many thanks!), helped with the long drive from Philadelphia.

However, there were some missing faces as well. Mom and Dad were not able to come, because Mom's pain and mobility issues have been worse lately. She has been faithfully seeing a physical therapist, but otherwise is mostly staying home, while Dad takes good care of her.

Carrie and Frank took a quick one-day (day-after-Thanksgiving) trip up north to see them with John and me. What fun!

Bonnie and Charlie also were not with us this year, but Bonnie did come home from the hospital (in Erie, PA) that morning and we spoke on the phone!

Otherwise, we all had a good time getting together at Allan's house for Thanksgiving!
John and I; Carrie and Frank; James and Sarah;
Allan and Heather and A.J; Kendall and Eric; Jason and Kaitlin;
Uncle Buel and Aunt Betty
Inez Hice (John's mom)

More Catching Up - Short Spots

- "Where is all your curly hair?"
Hair cut #2 was Nov. 18
It was getting in my eyes!
The curls are mostly gone now, but there are still waves.
I think my Grandma Arlene would like it.

- New committee for me at church: "Igniting Ministries" (Evangelism)
I think part of the purpose of the committee is to remind the church of our primary purpose as Christ-followers: disciple-making.

- I also am involved in "First Adventures", a group at church that promotes keeping physically active for the health of our whole being. Does anyone else want to walk to church with me? To walk anywhere? Just to walk and chat? (John and I are also about to begin a walking program with our insurance company.)

-"Metro Bridges". A new group at church that connects people within city and suburbs. Monday night we gathered with some Second Grace friends, about 34 of us together.

- Choir. Sang at Royal Oak's "Holiday Parade" on our church front lawn, and also at a recent funerals. We also had a pot-luck this past week with voice-warming soup.

Medical Week

Mammogram Monday (Yes, my sister and another friend were also scheduled for Monday!)
(My results: fine. All good news is appreciated!)

Oncologist Wednesday (technically Thursday into the morning)
Primary Care Doctor O'Dowd Thursday a.m.
Dermatologist Dr. Harbeck Thursday p.m.
(Ophthalmologist Dr. Jardon next Thursday)

These appointments seem rather close to process well.
However, I am buoyed by the novelty and comic relief of the scheduling.
Not everyone one gets to see their doctor (Dr. Malviya) at 2:30 in the morning.
I am not scheduled to go back until June 9.

After a few hours sleep, I went on with the Thursday appointments.
A bonus: some dear friend-visiting-time between appointments.

Dr. Malviya streamlined my vitamins.
Dr. O'Dowd said I probably should not lift more than 20 pounds because of the hernia.
Just thought I would throw that in there.

Travel Week

- December 7 and 8 (Monday-Tuesday), I drove to Erie, PA to see Bonnie, and back.
- December 11 and 12 (Friday-Saturday), John and I drove up north to the folks' and cut our Christmas tree.

James and Sarah came up Saturday-Sunday to visit and help with the tree.

It was good to visit, and it was fun to walk through their fairy tale-like snow-covered woods! After we found and cut the "perfect" tree, Dad carried it back in the shovel of his tractor!

We showed pictures to Mom, who was sticking close to the house and her chair. Dad is taking good care of Mom up there.

To Bed!

3:22 a.m.
Just got home from the oncologist's office.
(There were still people after me.)

Stopped by an open McDonald's drive-through for egg sandwich (they're serving breakfast, of course). :)

Everything looks fine, by the way.
I have another blood draw, another CT scan, and see him again in six months!

Thankfully...
and no longer hungry...
off to sleep for another day.

Greetings from Dr. Malviya's Office

1:00 a.m.
I am in the waiting room of Dr. Malviya's office. My appointment was at 4:20 (p.m.), and I think there are only a few people before me now. John has been working on his computer, but I just borrowed it to write a note. It seems there is now internet access here!

The Way To a Sister's House Is Not Long

I have been wanting to visit my sister Bonnie in Erie, PA since she had surgery two weeks ago. Watching the weather reports, I decided to leave Monday of this week, and return on Tuesday. A quick one-night trip. But perfect timing. The weather was fine both ways, and changed to winter almost as soon as I returned home.

We have never taken that exact route, and I have never driven that long by myself before (5 hours). So now I have!

Bonnie is recovering very well, and looks terrific. She moves slowly and with caution, of course. But she is healing and going on with her life!

After much careful thought, considering both her own issues and our family history (since we have had two cousins with the same rare cell-type of cancer as I mine, there seems to be a connection), Bonnie decided it was time to just say good-bye to those offending organs. A courageous decision, it seems to me.

Once her decision to have a hysterectomy was made, she asked for the first available date, which turned out to be two days before Thanksgiving. That meant she and Charlie were not able to join our family Thanksgiving gathering, and we missed them. But, amazingly, she came home from the hospital that day, and we talked by phone.

Good news: the doctor reported that there were no surprises. He did not expect to find cancer, and he did not. The post-surgery cell-tests also were clear!

CT Scan and Blood Test Results

Friday afternoon, I received an envelope in the mail from my oncologist, the results from recent blood work. So I called Gail, Dr. Malviya's nurse, with questions about some "high" readings and about some comments I did not understand. She explained and said not to worry. She also offered the results of Monday's CT scan:

it is fine!
(...which must be sung, not merely spoken)

(She said the CT scan report did did not say the hernia is any bigger. So far, so good with that!)


When people had recently asked how my test went, I had told them I did know yet, but I was just going to ACT healthy!

(More singing!)

Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with strings and flute (image: Theresa and Jeffrey!)
praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Psalm 150

PS Thanks, James, for taking care of the RSS (technical aspect)! (per previous post)

rss testing.

We've made a couple changes to the rss feed from the site. If anyone has an email subscription to the site they may need to re-subscribe. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Loving October

Win-Some Women - Mom's Retreat
On October 18, my sister Bonnie drove from Erie, PA to pick me up and continue on the adventure to our parents'. (In the meantime, my mom also celebrated her birthday! Happy 83rd!) We "girls" traveled on to Mackinaw City, then took the ferry (one of my favorite parts! I love fresh air and the wind in my face!) over to Mackinac Island for the Win-Some Women Retreat, where we enjoyed speakers Jennifer O'Neil and Don and Eva Piper, and singer Kathy Troccoli. The music and lessons and good times have remained in my heart.

More Music
I am glad to have joined choir this year, of course, to meet the people there, and for the discipline of continual praise. My prayers can be so full of need. Thankfulness may come with consciousness of goodness. But I need to be more intentional and take time to purely praise God.


Putting the Garden to Bed
John and I found a piece of a sunny crisp October day to put our lovely little garden to bed. John did most of the work (mowing and vacuuming leaves, etc.), as usual. But I sprinkled and dug in a last layer of Organica-3, Cow manure compost, and Shrimp and seafood compost before he covered it with grass clippings and dried leaves for the winter. It looks peaceful. When we recently saw George, our garden mentor at English Gardens, we said "So long for a while."