Good Kansas Visit

Both Bonnie and I had opportunities for 50th high school reunions this year. Mine was at the time of my cancer workup, so we had to cancel the trip for the Winchester (KS) High School alumni banquet and reunion, but we did get to attend Bonnie’s class reunion at Emporia last weekend. About 20 of the 23 surviving members, plus spouses, were there and it was a busy weekend of events and remembrances of high school days. The Lord even provided opportunity and blessing for Bonnie to visit her Frederiksen relatives, who had a recent loss of her cousin. And Sunday we attended the St Mark’s Lutheran Church where Bonnie was confirmed. Would you believe Rev Davis delivered a fitting sermon on healing!

We also spent a few nights with my brother Robb, Peg, John and Stuart who live on the farm where we all grew up. Kansas in the early summer is beautiful and green, but we did experience an awesome windstorm the first night with howling winds of 50 mph that made the plains sound like the seashore! Since I missed the Winchester reunion, a number of my classmates came by for an afternoon of visiting and sharing pictures from the recent event.

Another highlight was visiting and having lunch with my niece, Heidi, and nephew, Chris and their families – three cute kids each. Beforeefore returning to San Francisco on Monday evening, we had a chance to see my sister Joye and her husband David, who had been in Columbus, Ohio for their grand kids graduations and who had just returned a couple hours beforewe were leaving.

Returning to the land of our roots at a beautiful time of year and seeing friends of 50+ years plus lots of family members made for a great 6 day vacation. We are always struck by the wholesome authenticity of life in rural Kansas – where friends neighbors and entire communities are so supportive. And many of the houses don’t have locks on the doors even to this day! Of course at the end of 6 days it was also good to be back home in Stanford – definitely an easier place to cope when one is not quite feeling up to par!

Today I had my 4th chemo treatment. However, the denials of authorization for the radiation treatment (and appeals) go on. I’m not sure where this will end, but then there is no particular pattern for chemo/radiation treatment for this particular stage of pancreatic cancer anyway. An alternative that is becoming more likely is to pay for Trilogy out of pocket and then start a new review process to get reimbursed. My pancreas pain seems less intense and less frequent now and I’ve been able to cut back on Vicodan and get away from some of its adverse effects. So, thankfully, the last couple of days I have been feeling pretty normal most of the time.

Just to make things interesting, I had a horse accident a week ago with Jackson. He is about recovered from a broken pelvis and has had 6 months of stall rest to achieve that. The result for him is muscle atrophy, but also lots of excitement when he does get to go “outside”. The vet suggested working him in a harness to pull some weight and muscle up his legs – which went fairly well the first day, tho it was apparent that harness driving was something new for Jackson. But the second day it was gusty and a little too exciting, causing him to bolt and me to perform a “face plant” in the sand. When I woke up with a mouth full of sand, Jackson had fled back to the safety of his stall and I had lost skin off my left side of my face and scraped both little fingers. Jackson had no ill effects but a few days later I began having red strobe light flashings when I would move my head in the night. Today I saw the ophthalmologist who determined that my retina was not torn nor detached – just stretched – Whew! I’ve determined that Jackson and I are too old to take on harness driving.

Some years ago I carried the NIV version of Jeremiah 29:11 on the back of my personal business card. Today I read the paraphrase from the Message by Peterson:
This is God’s word on the subject… (God’s people in exile in Babylon) … “I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

In this exile of cancer treatment, I’m so thankful for God’s promises – not to mention the prayers of so many of you.

Thankful indeed!