Mom came through the surgery with flying colors!!! The doctor sent her home after just a few hours. They took out two lymph nodes and that came back negative for cancer cells. They removed the cancer via a lumpectomy. She will meet with the radiation oncologist next week when she’ll begin her first round of radiation. SO far things are going really Great!!! The OR nurse cut heart shapes out of the bandages before applying them to her chest. That made Mom laugh when she looked at them. Mom said the lady in the recovery room next to her did not have such good news and was crying so hard when she left. This Damned Cancer!!!

Aunt Charl is up to 135 lbs. (from 97) and the doctor called her last week and said she is good to go for surgery now, so tommorrow morning they will try the first operation since her diagnosis in May of this year of serous cancer. She has finished her first 5 weeks of chemo and they removed the tubes from her kidneys last month. They will be removing her ovaries and uterus and scraping out as much of the cancer as they can. Mom talked to her tonight and she said she was scared, but that she has been ‘up’ through all of this. When we first talked to her in May, they were about to lose their home, Charl had just found out about her cancer after putting off doing anything about a tumor on her ovary they had found the year before. She wasn’t sure how they’d pay for it – so she let it go. I don’t tell that because of being judgemental – I tell that to let everyone know – You must fight cancer or the possibility of it one step at a time. It’s a long battle and early detection is truly the biggest factor! Aunt Charl was most concerned because she had not talked to her youngest son in several years over a falling out they had had. Since then, they’re managing to hang on financially, friends and family have rallied the support they can, and she has had the reconciliation with her son that they both so desperately needed. It’s not all 100% – but you know – it doesn’t really need to be! It’s the individual contacts with people, it’s a look, or a kind word, or an offer of help (no matter how small) – the baby steps that motivate us to keep on trying – just as when a toddler takes his first steps and sees the outreached arms that he can fall into if he doesn’t quite succeed. That is what Life is all about. Living to Love and what makes us all Love Living, and when the time comes that we can’t take another step – our Father will be there to hold us in his warm embrace.

When I’ve had time to stop and take things in, once again avoiding a trap of sorrow or pity, I realize – if the devil is trying so hard to take something – it must be something really special!!! God, our Father, reassures and consoles with small acts of kindness and love that truly make one’s life meaningful. We glimpse an ounce of that feeling when we become parents, or siblings, godparents or friends.

Something that I wonder about alot is when Pope John Paul was dying, he said that there was joy in suffering. It gave him the gift of glimpsing God. St. Francis also said the same thing. I’m not sure I always understand it, but if it’s the coming closer to our Father through the acts of kindness of others, I can say with confidence – I’ve seen and tasted that – and it truly is real!!

Slobo may lose his job this week, family, friends, and others I’ve hardly known, have offered us so much help this week that it overwhelms the spirit. Kindness can overcome fear and replace it with strong reassurance that everything is going to not only work out – but it’s going to work out for the better as long as we value those friendships and acts of kindness, do our share to try hard, and pay it forward.

“Yes, life is a treasure. Each moment is…an eternity seeing God face to face, being one with him.”

“I will let fall a shower of roses.
I will spend my heaven, doing good on earth.”
St. Therese, The Little Flower

Please – I ask for your prayers for Aunt Charl. I’m sure our Father is listening, and don’t forget to talk with Mother Mary – I’m sure she is there with a comforting touch.