DANCE FOR JOY and AN UPDATE ON JOHN

Happy Tuesday!

Sounds like a movie, doesn't it?

Starring:  Sweet Cheeks and MyHero.

For those of you that don't read 

The Caring Bridge,

I am copying that message over here.

If you already read the post there 

please don't feel

you have to make a comment here, too.

I know that time is a precious commodity.

Here is the post:

Remember when you were a kid and the days just seemed to drag out forever?  Only in summer when you were on vacation from school did the days seem to fly past and summer ended long before you were ready to go back to school.

Time has marched very slowly for us these last few months.  Six bad days followed by one tolerable day---five bad days followed by two bearable days---finally a week or two with a "good" day. etc---and then fast forward.  Today John has had a few good days in a row followed by set-backs.  There are days when he still feels nauseous and there are days when he feels very weak.

He has taken a couple of falls due to weakness and dizziness.  The last one being a bad fall yesterday.  Today, he is using some pain killers again.  He had pretty much given those up-just taking nausea control pills and something for thrush mouth.  If you have not had thrush mouth, you do not want it---trust me on this.

A week from today he is going to attempt to go back to work.  I don't know if he is ready but he has to do it for his insurance and benefits.  He will have to see what he can tolerate and cross that bridge when he comes to it.  For today, and the rest of this week, he is laying low, recovering from his latest fall, and gearing up/praying for the strength to be an effective chaplain again.

The cards and well-wishes continue to be a blessing to John.  A friend of ours sent him a prayer shawl.  He wears it all the time which took me totally by surprise.  I think it is going to be like trying to wean a baby from a pacifier to get it away from him! Remember when your kid(s) wore the same thing day after day and you had to creep into their room at night and "steal" it so you could wash it--hoping they wouldn't miss it.  What was the first thing they did in the morning?  Start a frantic search for "my favorite outfit".  I can see a replay of that in my future here. Hmmmm...maybe he is in his 'second childhood'?

It has been cold, rainy and dreary here for most of the spring.  It is sometimes hard to remain happy and upbeat-especially when you feel sick.  However, there are little things that make John smile.  He got a big smile out of seeing our little SweetCheeks (Julia) in her dance costume as she prepares for an upcoming recital. (picture at the top).   She always makes him smile with her droll comments.  Never one to mince words she says things like "that's gross" or "YUCK" when John coughs/hacks/spits/etc.  It is not the words as much as it is the accompanying eye rolls and facial expressions that makes me laugh. If she is sitting on the sofa she moves as far away from him as she can with a close eye on his "sick things" so that she doesn't get too close to them.She is not even aware that she is doing it.  I have found that we take our laughs where we can find them these days.

I think the next post will be from John as he prepares to go back to work and then we will probably give our Caring Bridge posts a rest for a while until after John's PET scan in June---unless there are some major changes before that...(please Lord NO MORE of those).......

Blessings to all of you- thank you for praying for us so faithfully. You all are the best!!!!  Diana

I will be back in a couple of days

with a report on your prayers

for Ron Tomes & his family...

and I will attempt to play catch up

on some things that have happened

that have NOTING to do with cancer.

Thank you, Lord, that there

ARE THINGS

that have nothing to do with cancer.

It is so easy to let cancer dominate

your every waking moment,

as some of you know all too well.

It is good to be distracted 

with other things that are part

of 'real life'.

Have a wonderful, blessed Tuesday.