Posts Tagged ‘cancer’

The Reality

Monday, September 5th, 2016

I sweat in places I never knew I had! Carrying 15 pounds on your back is uncomfortable and then you add a couple bottles of water. Washing yourself and clothes in the shower and hoping they dry by morning as they are strung all around the room is a test of faith. Chopping all your hair off and forgoing make up eliminates all vanity almost as much as wearing form-fitting wicking clothes and then binding yourself with all the straps giving you a Michellin Man appearance.

Dawn doesn’t come until 7:45 but you’ve been walking for almost two hours with 100 people who want to pass you. You climb a mountain only to turn and see 2 more ahead. You see other pilgrims stop for a break but you push on because you’re slower and there won’t be enough beds at the hostel if you lag. And at first you try to avoid the sheep poop but after doing a jig all over the countryside you just give up. That’s why you leave your boots at the door!

But having conversations with others about faith and their country of origin (Finland and South Africa the farthest so far) gets deep. Talking with Rolph, with terminal cancer, who is trying to get right with God and sharing your faith and cancer travels . Getting your first bedbug bites and considering them your badge of courage. Praying all the time, mostly for those back home and taking time to listen to answers, but also for that cramp or stiff back and waking new every morning.

It’s a trip of gratitude, testing, and like a praying friend said “with perseverance, even the snail made it to the ark!”

And it’s only been a week.

sheep

A New Chapter

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Front Desk At Focus On The FamilyThe experience at Focus on the Family was PERFECT; just what the doctor ordered. It forced me to get my stamina back with the schedule we kept, we made some great new friends, and enriched old friendships. It was a wonderful April!

Now we look forward to a whole bunch of anticipation to our “Rivers of Europe” river boat cruise.  From Amsterdam to Vienna on a ship that holds 150! I am trying to learn about the area, mostly Germany — Castles, middle ages, war trials etc. It’s kind of my “Jubilee” and victory trip over the trials of 8 months of Chemo and Radiation.

From Vienna we head to Barnoldswick,  England to see friends and family and from there to a family reunion in New Jersey.

So hold on to your hats, here we go again.  God is so good, and it is sooooo awesome to have my health back and that dark chapter of cancer behind me. The prayers, cards, books, and meals were so much appreciated. They got me through.  Amazing!

Cross At Focus On The Family

Trip of a Lifetime

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

Well it has always been a lot of fun to use this blog as a record of some pretty amazing travels! The latest is titled, “The Return to Cancer”.  Not the best location, food sucks, the sights aren’t much to write home about, but it does have a few pluses.

I have met some very nice doctors and their staff. Everyone I know is lifting me up in prayer. Life is a little sweeter when it’s viewed from this perspective, and I can make light of a scary subject. Please laugh with me, it’s ok.

Kickapoo Joy JuiceI flunked my blood test this week and couldn’t start chemo. I will retake it on Monday thru the blood line they inserted in my neck this week. Also on tap, a needle biopsy of a tiny lump  in my neck that lit up on the PET scan. Another thing to worry about.Trying to eat organic and vegan and boring, and drink tons of water. Wine is allowed but not while I take a few pain pills. Sleep is wonderful, but once you wake a little, the thoughts are looming to take over, so I get up and read. It also gives me time to pray for others.

So we are hoping for Chemo to start (I call it my kickapoo joy juice…the moonshine from Lil Abner days …I am dating myself) so that radiation can happen so chemo can start again and we can get back to “normal” sometime in January.  THEN I can write about some exciting destinations!!

Trip to Cancer

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Last year was an awesome year of travel; 22 weeks away from home and on the road!  The sights and tastes of the journey were incredible, awesome, priceless.  From Barnoldswick, England to Pisa, Italy,to Orland, Sweden the adventure far exceeded all expectations. And the people; oh the kindness of Raymond, Alessandro, Gunner and Dieter, Miranda, Giovani, Father Piernino, and many many others.

We returned home with some inklings that all was not normal, so doctor appointments started lining up. Sonagram, pap,biopsy, specialists, waiting, and then the day you have a date with an oncologist. How do you be cheerful as you walk in that door, the one at the very end of that long hallway?

But just like the adventures in Europe, the doctors, nurse-practitioner, staff and volunteers at Scripps-Mercy Hospital, Scripps-Green and RB joined with all my friends and family to hold me up in prayer. Betty and Mary and Andy babysat me after surgery, Donna cooked and Steve e-mailed updates. I was so loved and cared for that fear NEVER had a chance to take hold. Radiation zapped some strength, but not the knowledge that God loved me and had placed me amongst the most wonderful people in the entire world.

I need to get a map with some bright pins to mark all those special destinations I hold in my heart. Just not sure where to put the trip to cancer pin, cause  I don’t want to forget it…it too became a good memory.