A Prolonged Celebration

Now don’t fall over in a dead faint as I write my first blog post in about a year and a half. No precipitating event has compelled me to write. Sitting down today with the purpose of writing something was completely spur of the moment. It’s just time to start engaging again, bringing the Word to life. I’ll be honest: I have no idea who my readers are now, but I hope you will give me some feedback (by means of “Comments”) so that I get a sense of you and what you find of value here.

The quick updates in previously used categories:

Health continues to be stellar, enhanced to a large degree by losing 38 pounds in the last year (yes, I started on Ash Wednesday 2016!). I’ve maintained above average skeletal-muscle mass, and now see normal health numbers across the board, though high blood pressure remains my inherited and therefore stubborn vulnerability. The one long-term effect of annihilating The Beast is with me: asthma (particularly bad this winter in the damp cold). A visit to a cardiologist informed me that long-term effects of radiation applied to the upper left chest can lead to stiffening of the blood vessels in that area. He therefore has recommended an aggressive treatment of my borderline-high cholesterol. So add Lipitor to my daily meds ::sigh::

My voice is back to 100%, after discontinuing the cortico-steroid inhaler I was taking daily for asthma control. The inhaler mist was depositing a residue directly on my larynx, gradually paralyzing it. After five days off the inhaler (in October 2015), my voice was back to full capacity and control! Praise God for this; and my asthma has not been any worse as a result.

For reasons that will be more obvious in a minute, book writing came to a screeching halt last year, but my work desk is now cleared of all clutter and the manuscript is front and center, getting some attention two or three times a week. My 12 to 15 hours of chaplaincy work each week at the hospital are amazing on so many levels, most especially experiencing the opportunity to be a light to people who register their religious preference as “None.” Many of my ministry stories now come from the encounters with patients and their families, though HIPAA rules (federal privacy laws) require me to mask or obscure details so you could never know about whom I am writing.

I remain in the category “No Evidence of Disease” (NED), that is, cancer-free more than 3-1/2 years after the diagnosis of Stage III Lung Cancer. My surgeon says I became cancer-free on March 3, 2014, the day of the surgery to take out my upper left lung lobe and many lymph nodes. My oncologist says my cancer-free anniversary is April 28, the last day of chemotherapy. So what’s a girl to do? Celebrate life more enthusiastically than usual for almost two months, from March 3 to April 28! I am right in the middle of this prolonged celebration.

On March 14, 2015 (the Pi Day of the Century, 3.14.15), our “little Miss Elly” was born to our older daughter and her husband, both attorneys now residing in Tacoma, WA. Our first grandchild is of course smart and brilliant and healthy, and that is probably all you are going to hear from me about her in this public forum. But we love going up there to the Pacific Northwest to help celebrate her birthday just as the cherry blossoms are popping, celebrating with pie of course!

In 2016, we added another date that happens to fall within this celebratory period. On April 12, 2016, my husband Andy was felled in a motorcycle accident, when a car went through a red light and they collided in the intersection. He was taken to the trauma center at Highland Hospital in Oakland, just two miles from the accident, and over the next eight days was stabilized with internal injuries, operated on for a broken pelvis and shredded knee tendon, and rejoiced over that things weren’t a lot worse than they were. He transferred to “my” hospital (close to home) for two weeks of acute rehab, then came home for another five weeks of non-weight-bearing discipline. All in all, he was off work for four months, and the whole experience was a huge test of our faith, good-humor, and marriage vows (the “for better, for worse, in sickness and in health” part). But I am happy to tell you that one year later (next week), Andy is back to 100%, working at Abbott Diabetes Care, walking without a limp, and doing the things he loves—all except motorcycle riding, since his brand-new BMW motorcycle was totaled. After long and careful thought, Andy replaced it with an Audi plug-in hybrid car, and we are both very happy with that choice!

Andy’s accident was a terribly destabilizing and disorienting experience, but a year later I can say that I have my sea legs back with a renewed sense of call to my hospital work and to writing. There is so much to tell you, but I will continue on Monday. In the meantime, take a moment to celebrate the life God has given you!