Did you know that: Not all angels have wings, some wear scrubs? Bananas may help reduce acid reflux? Drinking a lot of water can actually increase acid reflux? When Doris is resting, you need to take all iPhones and iPads out of the room from where she is resting? When visiting with and seeking to provide comfort to someone who has cancer, it is a good idea to talk about things other than cancer?
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Grief It is a small word that encompasses so much. Here is one definition: Keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss. Grief is part of our new normal. Some days it lurks in the background. Other times it slaps me in the face such as when I saw the following this week: From my Mission Portal
Paul and I went on a walk four times this week. I had to take some breaks, but I eventually walked for 40 minutes each day. He carried a camp chair with him so that I could stop and sit anywhere I needed. For the habit of walking and my need to walk for my balance. For fresh air and sunshine. I no longer have to protect my port incision site during showers. For foot massages during my infusions. To be able to listen to the Book of Mormon during my infusions. We replaced our couches. Our new ones are much more comfortable. For the Sabbath Day. For things we learned because of COVID…such as wearing masks and using zoom. For zoom technology that allowed us to watch sacrament meeting and Relief Society here at home. Bishop Talbot gave Paul permission to administer the sacrament in our home. Heavenly Father loves me and is teaching me. For my Savior and Redeemer.
Our daughter, Amy, saw a bumper sticker on a vehicle in front of her in Austin, Texas. The sticker suggests supporting Search and Rescue by “getting lost.” Stewart, my nurse in the CIC on June 5, is so tall that I asked him to sit down to talk to me because I was getting altitude sickness. Tom A truck full of Vick’s VaporRub crashed in the middle of the highway during rush hour. Incredibly, no congestion at all.
God’s Gracious Love Swedish hymn writer Lina Sandell-Berg had several experiences that might have made her wonder how she could continue moving forward. As a child, she battled a serious, prolonged illness. Then at age 25, she witnessed her beloved father being swept overboard at sea. Yet throughout her life, she expressed her faith in God’s goodness by writing more than 600 hymns. The idea for “God’s Gracious Love” began when Sandell-Berg read a short story about a clock’s pendulum that found courage for its endless task by focusing on just one tick at a time. This story inspired Sandell-Berg to write a poem that became the text for this hymn. It was her personal testament that we can endure uncertainty and fear by focusing on what is immediately before us and trusting in God’s love one day at a time. 1. Day by day, God’s gracious love surrounds me As a balm to soothe my troubled heart. Countless cares and worries that confound me Fade away or quietly depa...
For years I have puzzled over specific counsel given to me in my patriarchal blessing: “Now let your heart rejoice and be not afraid.” How can I “let” my heart rejoice? How can I not be afraid? I have learned that there is one, and only one, way to let my heart rejoice and not be afraid. It is by focusing on Jesus Christ. As I go through medical procedures, I think of myself as the Apostle Peter who started to walk on the water to go to Jesus. As he fell, the Savior reached out his hand and rescued him. I know He is rescuing me. Whether I am healed or not, He is my Savior.
General Updates
Cycle 1 (Continued) This week had much less activity from a medical perspective. There were no medical visits for Doris until Thursday. Each day is similar in its progression with our getting up, getting a breakfast, and taking the scheduled medication in the form of two chemo pills morning and evening. These pills are toxic. Therefore, we need handle them very carefully. As such, I do not help Doris with these pills, but I set a reminder at 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM to remind her to take her medication. She does not really need this reminder anymore, but it is something I can do. After Doris takes here morning medication, we go for a walk. We follow the same course along the paths in our subdivision. Our course includes 40 minutes of walking, not including some standing breaks, and some sitting for a couple of minutes on each of the benches that are in convenient locations along our way. There are ponds with geese and ducks with their respective young, and some frogs in the lily pad pond....