Notes from Your Senior Warden
Dear People of St. Catherine’s,
I finished my chemo in May – a long, four-month journey. The doctors are very happy with the results as far as they can see. Surgery will be early June and then the radiation oncologist will determine how much radiation I will get, beginning in July. I will keep you posted. I continue to be grateful for good health insurance and wonderful support – from parishioners and from my family and friends. Thank you for all the prayers – and please keep praying — for healing and recovery and strength. I have a large pile of cards on a table in my dining room that I look through once in a while – most of them from you. Thank you again!
Something to think about that may help us all when I return in September came from my meeting with the wardens a few weeks ago. Lance Rocks, Jr. Warden, talked about my medical leave as having some similarities to a military deployment. Of course it is not the same thing – but the similarities are that I will have been gone for a long time, (8 months total) and the parish has been functioning without me. Those of you who are in the military or in military families will understand how the re-entry takes some intentional work on both sides. A husband or wife has been gone for 9 months or more – the spouse and children have learned to get by on their own – and when the person comes home from service, not only are they changed by their experience, but also the family has changed. Everyone needs to work at getting re-acquainted and try not to make assumptions based on the past that may not be true anymore. If this is a helpful analogy for you, please give it some thought. We will do some intentional re-connecting this fall.
I will continue praying for you as you pray for me and my family. My oncologist told me that for most people it takes about 6 months after the end of chemo for them to feel like they are somewhat back to normal as far as energy, etc. Not to mention, on top of that, the recovery from surgery and radiation. I continue to take my pilgrimage of treatment and healing one day at a time, paying close attention to what my body is telling me, what I am capable of doing.
I wish you all a blessed Pentecost! I trust you will enjoy the wonderful priests who will be celebrating and preaching this summer at St. Catherine’s.
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