General Update

 From Paul:

Cycle 4 – Modified (Continued)

We continue our journey amidst discomfort and fatigue. We have a week off to get a needed break from the day-to-day sameness. As mentioned last week, Doris had her ramp-up paused on Oral Chemo #2 medication owing to her severe joint and muscle pain. That pause continues for this coming week as well. We are headed away for a few days. We will have different surroundings and places to visit. But our home will be host to painters who will be painting the interior of our home with vaulted ceilings. The painters will start on Monday but will finish up on Friday. We will leave on Monday and return on Thursday. When we return it will be to different looking walls and fresh paint!

This journey is not a sprint, but rather a prolonged marathon, or perhaps more accurately, a trek through a wilderness where we have never been. The experience is a challenge, but looking down the long road, there are times when not being able to see the finish line presents its own challenges.

Years ago, I was involved with a sales organization during which we took part in an activity to visualize what success would look like for us and sketch it out. Here are a few things that I look forward to after successfully complete our shared journey:

1.      Complete trust and confidence that we have conquered the cancer that has changed our lives in what we hope is a temporary way – that being restrictions of what we can do and for how long we can do them.

2.      Greater sensitivity to those among us who are dealing with chronic discomfort and being able to offer specific aid for them to help meet their needs.

3.      A daily appreciation of communion with the Holy Spirit and our Father in Heaven and our Savior, which is a constant daily focus in our lives, dwelling on what we can learn, and whom we can help with that understanding.

4.      Engaging with others freely with confidence in physical capabilities and time commitments that are needful.

5.      Opportunities to serve others in our ward and community fully by being with them, empathizing with their situation.

6.      Freedom to plan travel to be with family in times of need with full availability to meet those needs.

7.      Freedom to plan family activities and gatherings in locations convenient to them.

8.      Participating in Temple worship weekly, including all the forms of worship available there.

9.      Participating in our church worship services fully each Sunday.

10. A trip to Europe – especially England, and hopefully to Sweden, perhaps Denmark, and depending on the timing of the temple in Belgium, to Belgium.

11. Daily pain free walks. Doris has been walking nearly daily for many years. As her treatments have progressed, she is experiencing more pain and limiting the length and reducing the pace of our walking has become necessary.

These are some of the things to which we can look forward to at the conclusion of a successful treatment and recovery from the cancer treatment that is such a way of life for us. We look forward to the time when we can see it in the rear-view mirror.

God is kind, and He sees to our daily needs as we help ourselves along the path. I am certain of His attentive nurturing nature and His understanding of the trials of all His children. I rejoice in the happy ending we will all have in the Plan of Happiness.

From Elder James E. Faust:

“Into every life there come the painful, despairing days of adversity and buffeting. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful. The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives which seem robbed of significance and hope. This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength. For some, the refiner’s fire causes a loss of belief and faith in God, but those with eternal perspective understand that such refining is part of the perfection process.”

The Refiner’s Fire

From Doris:

Elder David A. Bednar talked to Elder Robert D. Hales, his neighbor, about his physical limitations.  “You were a fighter pilot, a great baseball player, and a phenomenal golfer.  You have been physically robust and active your whole life and now you can barely move.”  And he had to be pushed around in a wheelchair.  I said, “What have you learned going from the state of being so physically vibrant to now you are almost incapacitated.”  And he looked at me and said, “David, when you can’t do what you’ve always done, then you only do what matters most.”