An Update and a Christmas Carol

Hello All, on this sunny day with both the birds and the squirrels at the feeder. In five days, we will celebrate the journey of a Jewish family and a group of shepherds to Bethlehem in Judaea. Tomorrow, we celebrate the winter solstice, a yearly promise of change in our natural world.

Shortly after sunset tomorrow, we here in Missouri will look at the southwest skies and see the wonder of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. My hope is that this “Christmas Star,” last seen here 800 years ago, may perhaps lead us all to Bethlehem: each in our own way; each in our own turn; each with our own story. Here’s an old carol, from long years ago, about what the friendly beasts found in Bethlehem.

 

Tomorrow, in another posting, I hope to share with you a modern carol about Bethlehem. That carol also prompts me to share with you my thoughts on how we are all going to Bethlehem and why.

 

But first today: It’s been a month since I last posted about Eliza, the grand-daughter of my heart, and Donna, a friend whose generosity knows no bounds. Both of them are accompanying me in my life-long journey to Bethlehem. Both are gifts whose lightness of spirit and embrace of all humanity have enriched these final years of my life. 

All of us, I suspect, understand that Elisa and Donna, whose lives in just three short months have been changed by cancer, are finding that life is fragile, fleeting, and finite. But . . . filled with the grace of Oneness.

 

Elisa is home now in Idaho. She’s had high dosage radiation on her brain tumor. It lasted for 55 minutes. She’s also completed the seven-day, 20-minute sessions of radiation on her spine. She will return to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City every six weeks for an immunotherapy infusion. After each third infusion, her whole body will be scanned to observe the course of the cancerous tumors.

 

The oncologists and other doctors at the Huntsman have given her a prognosis of two years. The radiologist, however, told her, “If anyone can beat the odds, you can.” Everyone at Huntsman was somewhat astounded by her grit and determination, her indominable spirit and optimism, her gratitude for what has been and what will be.

 

Donna’s stage 2 breast cancer has been removed, and she begins radiation for three weeks in January. Her prognosis is reassuring: with radiation and the daily taking of a pill (not sure what it is) for five years, there is a 95% probability that the cancer will not return.

 

They both want me to thank you for sharing the past two months with them and for connecting with them through your own spiritual pathways. Both feel and know they have much for which to be grateful this Christmas. I want to thank you, too, for your response to my own health concerns. My concerns have been truly put in perspective when I think of what Elisa’s and Donna’s lives are right now and what they may be.

 

For the past month, Meniere’s Disease has held me in thrall, which, I hope, explains why I haven’t been posting anything more about Elisa and Donna. However, both are on Facebook (as I am) and whenever Elisa has posted, I have shared her post on my own Facebook page. A number of those who have “befriended” me there have responded to her stories. 

Many of her posts are funny; others poignant; still others, inspiring. And some illustrate Elisa’s way of drop-kicking this force called “cancer.” If you, too, use Facebook, her name there is Elisa Beth Magagna should you have a desire to read her own account of her journey with cancer. 

 

Peace.