To Every Season...

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.
William Penn

A friend of mine is amazing at keeping our circle updated on friends near and far who have scattered since high school. Recently she emailed me a note sent to her from one of these friends:

Hello dear friends,

I will be brief. * is in the hospital again. After a great day and evening, * came to me unable to swallow. We went straight to * emergency, and had a ct scan. He has another small bleed in his brain. He cannot speak at all, and can barely swallow, so is drooling a lot, and gagging on his own saliva a bit. He is able to communicate by writing notes – and he does this quite handily. We spent last night in the e.r. also – for hip and groin pain. So, I am home for a few hours. The skin under my eyes feels like paper about to tear – from many hours awake, lots of tears and rubbing.

Please join me in praying that * will feel God’s presence and comfort like never before. He was a bit scared tonight, but I think he is doing better now. I wish desperately for him to claim God’s peace. Of course, I feel much better when I see reassurance in his eyes.

I’ll write more later, but I thought you’d want to know what was going on. * and I have had a wonderful several months – many important conversations and prayers took place. Whatever “unfinished business” we had has been finished... with grace and love.

and later...

After several hours, scans revealed that it was a mass on his brain stem that caused the insult and that is inoperable. After much examination and thought by our team of docs, our options were aggressive treatments or hopsice. So, * started hospice today. We had a big party planned on Saturday and did not cancel it. The docs let him come home for 8 hours for the party, and the fire chief escorted him home in Engine 1 - the rig he used to drive. We had planned for about 80 people, but probably had about 180, with all the firefighters and others that came to see *. He was wonderful - fatigued, but happy to see everyone and they were so grateful for an opportunity to see him. Very emotional. Yesterday he had a feeding tube put into his stomach and he came home today. We are so happy to have him at home. We are sad, but not worried.


My friend spoke to her this week and this is what she had to say..."The doctors told * they have a few weeks left, at least two, so she is hoping for some nice, peaceful family time this next week. She sounds really good, she said that she has been grieving so long that the end is not making her hysterical."

I cannot imagine what she must be going through at a time like this. I hope I never have to. It makes my problems seems so insignificant and trivial.

To anyone who reads this, please take a moment to pray that they may have peace and solace in this difficult time.