Dr. Malviya is Happy

December 18, 2013  9:40 p.m.

We just got home from my 6-month visit with Dr. Malviya.
We discussed my blood work and CT scans, and everything looks fine!

I had started counting time from the surgery date, January 28, 2008.
However, he is counting from the end of chemotherapy, September 2008.
So, that is the 5-year mark for him.
A golden time!

Dr. Malviya is happy.
So I am happy!

Good Apple

As I was leaving from a short visit with my parents, my dad gave me a bag of apples from their trees. 
They are old trees.
I don't know what kind they are, but I call them antique apples.
They are not sprayed, so they are quite natural.

Each year, my mom lovingly makes these apples into pies and applesauce.  Patience is needed to core and take out some "bad" spots.

But today, as I prepared a Dutch Baby Pancake (baked puff pancake, filled with cinnamon apples), I looked at them differently.

Instead of cutting out the bad spots, I cut in the good parts.
I needed the apple cut into pieces anyway.
A different perspective.

It reminded me of life and people.
It is easy to concentrate on what is wrong, and dealing with the bad parts.
But maybe it is more satisfying to concentrate on the good parts,
and how they may be found and used.
Yum.
(Thanks, Dad.)

"...hold fast to what is good....
1 Thessalonians 5:21b (NRSV)

Birthday Girl - Mom

I was glad to celebrate Mom's birthday this week
in beautiful north country with beautiful colors!
Happy Birthday, Mom!

You and Dad were my first examples and lessons of God's love,
both to feel loved and to love others.
I love you!

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God;

everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

I John 4:7 (NRSV)

 

Seeing Differently

In third grade, I discovered that I needed glasses. 
I was amazed and thankful at all the detail I noticed on the drive home with my first glasses.

But sometimes, detail can be overwhelming.

Sometimes, in a different light, a big picture emerges.
An outline.
A shape.
A direction.
Calm.
Peace.

On a recent twilight walk,
I heard neighborhood night sounds. 
Some cars.
But more sounds of life:  crickets;  gray tree frogs?

Maybe I was more aware of sounds, because of the change in lighting.

As for sight, I saw what I needed to see
to find my way home.



For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”
who has shone in our hearts...
2 Corinthians 4:6a

...we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen;
for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
    and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
Psalm 92:1-3 NRSV
[and the sound of crickets...]

 

Motorcycle Ride with Dad

Earlier this summer, on a visit with my parents, Dad went out for a motorcycle ride.
He invited me along.
He loves the beauty and the wild freedom, I guess.
I love him.

He roared down the road,
with me sitting behind him,
in my own meditation space.

My conscious thoughts:
God, I am feeling so close to you,
in kind of a funny way,
with heightened senses.
I feel so vulnerable.
Long sleeves and pants and even helmet
are not much protection against a fall
or another vehicle
or an animal.
I could die any minute.
So vulnerable.

My experience:
I watch trees and woods and sky and even wild turkeys.
I feel wind in my face.
Air.
Breath.
Life.

My conscious thougths:
I am alive.
I am alive this minute.
I am alive and...  why waste a beautiful ride?
I am alive and I should enjoy the ride.
I am alive and I will enjoy the ride.
I am alive and I am enjoying the ride.
I am alive!
Thank you God for this moment... for this day.


God, may I trust you for the ride each day.

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)

CA-125 Blood Check

I just opened today's mail.
A report arrived from Dr. Malviya's office.
One part was the results of last week's CA-125 blood test
(that I am getting every 6 months).
It  is 11.
 :D
I am floating on air.
Six months ago, it was 13, which doesn't mean much by itself.
It may just hover.
Or it could be a direction.

So now it is 11 again.
I am very thankful, and breathing fresh air.
(I see Dr. Malviya next week.
There was no CT this time because of passing the 5-year mark.)

 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end
    and the number of my days;
    let me know how fleeting my life is.
 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
    even those who seem secure.
 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
    in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
    without knowing whose it will finally be.
Psalm 39:4-6  (NIV)

In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
Job 12:10 (NRSV)

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 150:6  (NIV)

Today's the Day - January 28

Not magic or earth-shattering.
Still, it is nice to have a day to associate with a celebration.
I can celebrate a whole month... and every day....
But yes, a specific day seems more concrete.
So, today I am celebrating the 5-year anniversary date of my cancer surgery.
(No known recurrances.)
It is good to be here.
Good to be here.

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24 NRSV