Hi-ya, Dr Thompson and Staff!

Great big greetings to my friend at the Dental Office of Dr Mark Thompson - the Caterer-to-Cowards par excellence! He tugged out a broken off root from an old root canal, this afternoon - they're popping by here because I wanted them to see the Tanner Annunciation -

They've got this amazing painting of the Crucifixion in the office - forgot to ask if I can have a photo of it - would like a photo of them all, too -

(But my jaw does feel as if you tried to push that root into it!) - I've taken my Lorcet like a good girl, and I'm heading to bed for a woozy-headed nap!)

Email from a friend - PRAYER NEED, please!

My da is in the neurosurgery ward in Beaumont Hospital. He has an abnormality on his brain and they'll either do an operation to remove it immediately or a biopsy to see if it's a tumour or not. The biopsy will take 3-4 days to come back and both will be under general anaesthetic. The head surgeon is off for the holiday weekend so we will see him Tuesday and he'll discuss the options with us. My family is thank God, pulling together instead of falling apart. S and M (my sisters) and D (my nephew) are doing shifts with me and my ma. He keeps wandering off and thinks he can get a taxi to go home and then the boat to Birmingham where they used to live. His eyesight is all blurry too. That's just a shortlist of what's happening to him.

We really really need your prayers, and if you remember him after the consecration at Mass and when you get Holy Communion it will be so powerful. I would really appreciate if you could pay a few dollars and have a Mass said for him, his name is Eddie M. Our Lady said they are like candles to light up the way when a person dies and of course it's the most powerful prayer on Earth. I will keep you updated. God keep you always in the palm of His hand.

Hi, Adrienne!

If there's anyone here who hasn't popped in to Adrienne's place, you should. I've been enjoying her series on the AA 12 Steps as an AlAnon person. And she's just cool -
Besides which, she makes me happy when she tells me to "preach on!"

Way to go, Louise!

I almost wish I were British, so I could cast a vote for my friend Louise Bagshawe for Parliament.

I "met" Louise a few years ago on one of my favorite Catholic websites. Her passion for politics, and her keen knowledge thereof, not only impressed me, it intimidated the daylights out of me!

Then I find out she's one of Britain's best-selling "chick lit" authors - and she very kindly sent me a copy of a newly published book a few years ago (I still have it - one of my "treasures")

To top it all of, she's a darned serious Catholic. She gets the issues in a Catholic moral sense -

So when I learned she's running for a seat in Parliament, I cheered - and now I'm sharing it with you!

Prayers for Hope

Hope is one of my girlfriends from that website that shall henceforth remain nameless (until I forget I resolved never to mention it again LOL) -

Got an email from her a few minutes ago - she is scheduled for an angiogram tomorrow morning, Friday, 2/22. Some weird physical feelings had her uneasy, so she went to the doctor, just to play it safe -

The first round of tests were concerning, so this angiogram It could be as simple as false readings on the first tests, all the way to major trouble requiring surgery.

Hope's a young woman, in her 30s I'm sure. Please hold her in your prayers. Update will be posted as soon as I have one.

Hank

Hank entered into Eternity late in the afternoon, Wednesday, February 13. His wife of 56 years was with him, and she told me it was a gentle, peaceful passing.

I've watched Dorris over several months, and it has seemed to me she has been growing in radiance and peace. Hank's health had not been good for a long time, and he'd suffered quite a bit. Anxiety had taken a toll on her. But recently, the lines in her face have smoothed out and her smile has been sweeter and her countenance, also. It has seemed as if she'd taken on a literal glow.

This is an amazing gift of Grace, to be carried in such a way.

I ache for Dorris, parting with a life companion like this. I learned at the funeral Mass yesterday, they'd been together since she was 17. Their lives were so wholly connected with one another -

I have to confess, though, that I envy her even this pain. Dorris has had a privilege I covet - of being able to serve, in such full self-donation, a man she loves, of literally handing him to the Father in those final instants of his earthly life. As much as she misses him, as hard as the days ahead will be, there is still something precious that she has given of herself that any woman would want to be able to give the one she loves.

Gee, Angela - give a gal a chance to recover -

from a trip to the dentist's!
I thought the tooth was going to have to come out; instead my favorite "Caters to Cowards" (yep! that's me!) dentist - Mark Thompson - actually was able to do a gorgemous composite filling. My chipped incisor looks like new, and my poor old molar looks good enough to move around to the front of my mouth!

but I do need a nap. Badly.

Catalinni - Final update

She joked about being voted off the island, but no one wanted to see her leave. God had other plans, though, and yesterday, at about 12:45 Pacific Time, my dear friend Catalinni entered Eternity.

I posted about her almost two years ago, when I was a new blogger - you can find that in the archives.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and may perpetual Light shine upon her. May her soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDY

It's all his fault I'm blogging. May your arrival at the half-century mark be a joyful occasion, Gorgeous. God bless you!

Update on Catalini

I've just about abandoned this blog, so much going on these days, but I got a delightful email from Catalinni that I wanted to share with you. That woman is such an inspiration to me! (I've altered some names to protect privacy)

I've had so many emails asking for an update I thought I had better get on with it and bring every body up to date on what's been going on in my life since the last one.

As you know I am undergoing my third round of 6 chemo treatments and my 2nd treatment was February 7th. I have had 10 chemo treatments all totaled thus far.

The nurse pre-treats me by running different drugs through the IV to prevent allergic reactions and nausea and other side effects all of which have done their job so far. Then she gives me 3 hours of taxol ( the first chemo drug) followed by 45 minutes of carboplatin. This web site explains it all for the curious who want to know all the gory details.

But on this 11th treatment my body decided to develop an allergy to the carboplatin. It's not the cancer that kills you -- it's the kill or cure treatments. First my hands started to itch and then they went hot pink and so did my face. I had trouble breathing. They ran for a doctor who tried a couple of different antidotes before they found the right one. They continued the treatment without incident.

They say if your palms itch it means you are going to get money but I am still waiting for my ship to come in.

March 7th I had my 3rd chemo treatment. This time they pre-treated me with benadryl before each drug, but that didn't work either. This time the rash spread over my whole body and it took 3 doctors and 3 drugs before they were able to clear it up. By this time it was 7pm and the nurses were supposed to go home at 5pm so they did not continue with the carboplatin.

Dr. Hoskins ( I call him Dr. Faulty because he is a dead ringer for John Cleese on that British TV show - Faulty Towers) phoned me yesterday and said they will not be continuing with the carboplatin in future.

He said it is not safe to administer it anymore because it could be fatal. He said he has done a good job of keeping me alive this far and doesn't want to see me drop off from the drug. He said the taxol will do its job without it, it's just a little better when they use them both together. I asked does that mean my life will be shorter now?. He said “about 15 minutes shorter.”

Anyway I trust his judgment because - as he says -he is doing a good job of keeping me alive so far. I told him my short term goal is to be here to welcome the new grandboy in July, and my long term goal is the 2010 Olympics. My nephew Dr. Don has promised that if I am still here, he is taking me to the Opening Ceremonies. Dr. Faulty says he can promise me the July deadline. As for 2010, he said “I'm not so sure but I will do my best.”

Other than a few side effects, and a chronic bladder infection, I am enjoying my life immensely. The highlight of my life was the night my son John took me to a real live Canucks Hockey game at GM Place in Vancouver.

I watch all the games on TV and I go to a lot of John's hockey games. He plays in an adult league in his community. But this was the most exciting evening I have ever had. Just being part of the crowd and the yelling and screaming and seeing the players in person was just a fantastic experience. They have giant TV screens way up over the rink and they keep the crowd riled up with signs “NOISE” “LOUDER” and they play loud raucous music and hands clapping to get the crowd clapping their hands. It's just so crazy to see all these adults letting their inhibitions go and just making absolute fools of themselves. Some of them dress up and paint the Canucks logo on their faces. And every time the Canucks scored a goal the whole audience of fans stood up and cheered and whistled and waved flags and towels and banners and whatever else they had in their hands. Just wild and crazy. I loved it so much.

Last Saturday, Sid and By came over and took me out for sushi lunch and then came back and cleaned my apartment – vacuumed and tidied and did a whole bunch of little jobs that I can't do. Put up the shower curtain, changed light bulbs sorted out junk, organized shelves and carried the junk to the dumpster. My house feels so clean and tidy. About a month ago John had sent in a carpet cleaner who steamed cleaned the whole apartment. That was my Christmas present from John and Sarah.

George comes over often and does little jobs and keeps my computer running smoothly.

Spring Break is this week and next, so my grandkidz are having turns visiting me. Tuesday I had such a busy day. I took my grandgirlz to the mall and spoiled them rotten. I let them empty my piggy bank of the dimes nickels and quarters and share the money.

Rosie had her red pyjama bottoms on. All the teens go out in their pj's these days. So I said , “does that mean i have to wear my red satin pyjamas to the mall too?” She said yup. Then she went thru my hoodies and picked a red one for me to wear. And I had to wear my red wig, because Roxx is a redhead. I said people will think I'm your sister. So here I am walking around the mall dressed like a teenager in my red satin pj's. And nobody even noticed. Lotsa people looked at my red wig with a curious look but nobody noticed my pj's.

George drove us to the mall on his lunch hour. We lunched at the Food Court, after which we went to the dollar store and shopped up a storm. Luv those Dollar Stores. Becca, age 9, bought make-uppy things and Rosie (age 13) bought incense and an incense holder for her bedroom.

Then we took Becca to Go Bananas – the indoor playground. The rule is that your child cannot be left unsupervised, so Roxx stayed with her while i went shopping at Walmart. and then when i came back she went shopping.

George came back for us after work and they all had dinner with me. Then they had to rush off to Rosie's guitar lesson. All in all it was a very tiring but wonderful day.

I had one day to rest up because Thursday the grandboyz came for lunch.

Their amazing Super Nanny, Maddy, brought all 3 of them on the skytrain, seabus, and bus all the way from Surrey. And she was still smiling when she got here. Come to think of it I did that for a lot of years with my 3 sons and lived to tell the tale.

I always do theme meals for the kidz so we had a St. Pat's Day lunch party. With hats, and decorations, green tablecloth and napkins, green slurpies and the Irish Rovers music.

Then Maddy trooped Harry and Jimmy back the way they came, leaving Tommy for his sleepover. Hurricane T. that is. Can't wait til he's 7.

We watched old Our Gang movies and Harry Potter. On Friday I took him to see the Shaggy Dog and we took our own popcorn and drinks. Sarah picked us up from the theatre. When Tommy was leaving he said “bye Grandy, I love you, even if parts of you are missing. I still love what's left of you.” Out of the mouths of babes.

I looked out the window this morning and said “Thanks for this beautiful day and thanks for letting me live to see it.” It's just like Easter Sunday out there. I went to the Noorouz Bazaar with my Iranian friends and her two daughters. Walking up the bus people were stopping and smiling and saying “isn't this a beautiful day ?”

So all in my life is still running smoothly except for the few side effects. I just keep plodding on. I'm gonna live, live, live til I die.

Prayer Update: baby Abby

I've received a nice, newsy email from Abby's grandmother, and she has good news about baby Abby, who has been the subject of many of your prayers following her diagnosis, shortly after her birth, with thyroid problems: I am very well and Abby is doing brilliantly as well. Her medication is working well, she just needs regular check ups and as she grows her dosage will be adjusted. She is a very happy little girl, she sleeps all night (nearly every night and is developing a very giggly personality.

I actually removed Abby from the prayer list a while back, but I'm glad to be able to provide such a good update. Deo Gratias!

Cool new forum

Congrats to my buddy Bill (a.k.a. "Bad Hat") for this new and entertaining forum. It promises to be a good one! I hope lots of people go and register and participate!

Great News from my friend, Catalinni!

She give me permission to share her email with everyone:

As you know I had my last chemo treatment at the end of June. Today I was given a clean bill of health from the oncologist. The cat scan I had last week shows that everything is back to normal. All the blood counts are normal too. He said “see you in 3 months”.

I am over the moon.

It doesn’t necessarily mean those sneaky little shmoos aren’t lurking around inside somewhere, it just means they are sleeping for now. Hopefully they will sleep for a long, long time.

It seems if it isn’t one end it’s the other. They get me comin’ and goin’! Tomorrow I am having two molars surgically removed, to the tune of $800 bucks. Highway robbery! A few days of pain and fasting, and then I will be as good as new. After what I have been through in the past 5 years, this should be a walk in the park.

On September 9th at 4: pm I will be travelling East with my niece for her brother’s wedding in Toronto. Livi can only stay ten days, but I got a one-way ticket. That way I can stay and visit til they get tired of me, or I get tired of them, whichever comes first.

I plan to move around and visit with different families and friends. And there are lots of them. So I don’t want to tie myself to a deadline.

When I’ve done all I want to do I will come home. Might even sneak a weekend in New York City if I can get travel insurance. If you’re over 70 and have a pre-existing condition it is next to impossible.

That was my short term goal – to get to Toronto. My long term goal is to be here for the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Vancouver.

Isn't she something else!

Here's a photo of Randy, taken in my front yard while he was here back in June. So long ago? Inconceivable! (He took my new photo from the back deck at the farm) Okay, Randy -- is this better?

Geocaching

(In process of editing )

For those of you who haven't heard -- and there can't be many, because I'm usually among the last to catch on to these things -- geocaching is one of the latest internet/hi-tech hobbies going. What it is, is, some creative soul hides a container out in a woodsy or public place so other people can come along and find it.

A more detailed explanation is: afore-mentioned creative soul determines whether to create a "micro" or a "regular" cache -- a micro cache only contains a few slips of paper so that finders can log in their find, and a regular cache might contain some little souvenir for the finder to keep (with the understanding that the finder will in turn leave some other bit of treasure for a future finder). Then said creative soul locates a place to hide said cache, records a global positioning location in latitude and longitude, then records the new cache on a website like this one. Really clever and creative souls will create clues, hints and other little goodies to help increase the thrill of the hunt.

I went geocaching for the first time yesterday. My buddy and former neighbor, Steven, came to rescue me from a Fourth of July spent in front of a box fan (no a/c) with my nose buried in a book and to introduce me to one of his favorite hobbies. He's been geocaching for at least two years now.

We looked online by my zipcode to locate some of the caches hidden in my area. I was astonished to learn that there are actually dozens, if not hundreds, of geocaches located within twelve miles of my home! We visited three locations during the afternoon; I made my first find over in Jackson Springs near the old spring.

This could certainly become a delightful (and addictive?) hobby. A GPS device is pretty necessary to save time and energy in locating the cache, but those can be gotten relatively inexpensively nowadays, I'm told (under $100). Looking for the hidden treasure is only part of the fun I experienced -- It gets one out of the house, and yesterday I discovered a local site I'd not known of before - an old cemetary (the originator of the cache used information on the tombstones to provide clues for the whereabouts of the actual cache). I look forward to visiting a number of other parks and woodland sites in our area over coming months. I think it's going to be quite a lot of fun!

A Very Happy (Priestly) Anniversary

Today folks around here are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the ordination of Father Kenneth Parker. Father Parker is something of a chaplain for the charismatic Catholic renewal around here, regularly celebrates healing masses around central North Carolina -- and he's the dear, kind priest who heard my first Confession, nearly three years ago.

God bless you, Father Parker!

Tribute to another hero -- a cancer fighter

I first "met" Catalinni (all names herein are changed to protect the innocent... and the guilty) back in 2001. I was a new participant in the Catholic Online discussion forum, and this woman posted a prayer request for her son, who was going through a divorce, and for his children. I think I may have sent her an email; anyway, we began corresponding.

I learned she had recently undergone a complete hysterectomy for uterine cancer -- endometrial adenocarcinoma. In the fall of 2002, eighteen months after her hysterectomy, her cancer returned. This time she underwent chemotheraphy, followed by radiation therapy.

While she was undergoing her radiation, she began to branch out into a new life. She wrote of her cancer support group and what a fun group of women they were. She wrote of the funny hats she was wearing to counteract the "Sinead O'Connor Look" of chemo-related hair loss. She even wrote of going to the gym, where she did some MAJOR WORKOUTS -- Body Pumping, bellydancing, Pilates, and 1/2 hour on the treadmill!

Catalinni was 66 when she started taking those classes.

Then all hell broke loose. A phone call from her ex-daughter-in-law, Gina, put her already fragile world into a tailspin. "I think you need to know," said , "and I know they won't tell you. Gramps was questioned by the police today, and he's confessed to molesting Caty." Caty was Catalinni's son's 8-year-old daughter. The nightmare unfolded during the succeeding weeks as Catalinni learned the details of her husband's betrayal and her granddaughter's suffering. "Gramps," who had not been incarcerated pending trial, never spoke of it to her; so far as he was concerned she knew nothing, all the information came through her son and his ex-wife.

Catalinni herself had been molested as a child by more than one close family member. Her memories resurfaced. Her rage at her husband's betrayal and abandonment -- there had been no intimacy between them for years -- knew no bounds. She poured herself into her gym classes and her cancer support group. She began seeing a therapist. She renewed her old love of writing.

She slipped off to visit her beloved granddaughters away from their home, and she looked for every way she knew how to help her granddaughter recover from her trauma.

"Gramps" underwent sentencing for molesting his granddaughter a little more than a year ago. He's due to be released again in less than two weeks. Catalinni doesn't know where he's going to be taking up residence, but she's adamant about one thing: he ain't comin' back home.

While he's been incarcerated, she has remodeled the apartment and her life. She continues with the cancer support group -- a major "remodeling job" this past October due to vaginal cancer has been followed by still more cancer this spring (she's undergoing chemo now). The doctor said at one point that he would chase it around as long as she wanted him to. She's had to give up the Pilates for the time being, maybe permanently -- even with the present round of chemo, doctors suspect her cancer is spreading. The culture on her bladder comes back next week. She's pretty much decided she's tired of being cut on, and the doctor agrees.

In the meantime, the raucous emails keep on pouring in. If laughter is a weapon in the fight against cancer, then Catalinni is a Ranger or a Green Beret. She's collecting and forwarding all sorts of humorous emails to those of us rooting for her from the grandstands -- and the puns we had to bear when she had her vaginal cancer surgery last fall (she also lost much of her colon and her rectum as well as her vagina -- that's why I called it a "remodeling job") were wilder than I ever could have imagined. This is one gutsy, feisty dame!

And Caty, her sister, and their cousins are once again frequent visitors at Catalinni's home. They watch movies, pop corn, and party all night long. Catalinni says the only thing she really wants is to be able to see those kids grown to adulthood. With the ongoing tests and suspicion of spreading cancer, however, she may not get to do it quite the way she wants.

So say a prayer for my friend Catalinni, and for her family. And remind me, next time I whine about some minor adversity, or want to crawl under the bed from low spirits -- how immensely blessed I really am.

When a friend is suffering

A friend got an email today from his estranged wife. She's seen a lawyer about filing for divorce.

This is the kind of news that hits a person in the gut, exposing old scars and reawakening old sorrows. I find that I'm grieving for my friend, and for his wife, for lost dreams and disappointed hopes -- theirs and mine.

Marriage is a serious business. Two people exchange promises, establish a new family together, mingle their lives and souls... really do become one. And whether those bonds are severed out of utter necessity, as in my case, or out of some unknown, unintelligible cause, as in my friend's, the tragedy of the sundering is of inestimable magnitude. The December 26 earthquake in Indonesia, which resulted in the tsunami disaster throughout the Indian Ocean basin and which was recorded to still be shaking the earth weeks after the event, is negligible by comparison.

For my friend, this email places before him what he feels to be a personal failure, although he as yet has been unable to identify what that failure might entail -- sufficient to justify a divorce, that is. It brings about a complex sense of loss that only someone who has been abandoned can begin to comprehend. It is standing on the epicenter of that earthquake. He can now begin looking to the future, whereas he has been in a sort of limbo until now, but wisely he is allowing himself time to grieve his loss, to recover his balance and his footing, and I'm glad for that.

I'd comfort my friend if I could. But the only comforts I could offer right now would feel like salt in wounds, or cheesy platitudes. All I can do is stand by and watch and share the sorrow -- for both of them! And I can pray, and I do pray, that the day will quickly come when my friend discovers the beauty that grows out of ashes, when he learns for himself that the Love of our Heavenly Father is bigger even than this.

May the God of all Comfort bless and keep you, dearest friend, and guide your steps by the Light of His most holy and perfect Love.

So... Who's this Randy person?

I’ve gotten several comments from people who’ve checked this blog (thank you!) and contacted me with a question. They know I’m single and that I’m not dating anyone… but on the right hand column, listed as a Contributor, is a person they don’t know.

So, who is Randy?

To answer that question I must take you back more than 25 years (ack!). Dan, my first husband, and I were in California, where he was stationed in the U.S.A.F. At church we met a lovely couple, Dave and Lisa. Lisa became my best friend in California; Dave played in a Contemporary Christian Music group called Heirship. Dan and I got to know the guys in the band, we worked with them in a coffeehouse ministry, and we became pretty good friends with some of them.

Dan and I moved back home to NC in April, 1979, and got busy with growing family and “real life;” Heirship started breaking up shortly after we moved home, and everyone went in varying directions. We all lost touch.

I’ve thought about those folks often over the years, but a couple of months ago the thoughts began to be more frequent and more intense. Finally, several weeks ago, I decided, oh, what the heck! and sat down to begin a Google search. I quickly located a link for a website for Heirship, but the site was expired. I kept looking, though, and found an email address for someone connected to the website. I tossed out an email hoping it wouldn’t come back to me marked “undeliverable.”

I was so surprised and delighted to receive a message, almost immediately, saying, “You have the right place – and I remember you very well! What in particular did you want to know?” My correspondent was none other than Randy Phillips, whom I remembered as a tall, jolly, bushy-haired, constantly-grinning guitar player and vocalist with the band. I shot him back an email – and the rest is … going to make history? He’s living and working out on the Left Coast, and we’ve been getting re-acquainted, exchanging emails, Instant Messaging, and talking via Skype every day since that first email. In large part, it’s his fault this blog exists (blame him!), because while other people had told me I ought to create one, he persuaded me I could (technologically speaking).

For this blog, Randy is sort of a technical advisor, helper and cheerleader. Of course, he has full access and if he ever wants to, he’s quite free to post. He has his own blog, though (which he needs to keep updated more faithfully! – there’s a tease for him to pay him back for mentioning me there in over-glowing terms!), so don’t look for him to be posting here.

For me, Randy is quickly proving a valuable and dearly beloved friend, and it has been wonderful to share with him how Our Lord has been working in our lives since we last saw one another in 1979. He asks questions – the right sort of questions, that stimulate my desire to understand the Faith more perfectly. But most of all, through our conversations I’ve come to a new eagerness to get my head beliefs and my life performance lined up more perfectly.

And that’s who “that Randy person” is! (in part, at least)