Coffee? Tea? Serenity?

Wow, how time flies!

Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving?

Today is Nov. 28. I have seen Dad on several occassions since my last post. His back has begun to be better. He began doing some very easy exercises which slowly worked the muscles loose. That seems to have done the trick - until last week. He was in his company pick up truck when he backed into a parked 18-wheeler. There was no damage to the other vehicle, but the rear fender of Dad's truck shows the evidence of his fender bender. When that bender took place, Dad said he immediately felt his back take a jolt. He was pretty sore and stiff, but seems to be doing better now.

He has had a couple of blood pressure readings (with a home monitor) that caused concern. These occured in the early morning hours; shortly after waking. When discussing these with me, he assured me that he would call his cardiologist if they continued. Within of a days of that concern, Mom told me that it turned out the batteries of the monitor needed changing. The indicator did not show up when Dad used the monitor, but did just a few days later.

His cough continues. While he was not smoking, which was immediately following the surgery, that cough showed dramatic improvement. When he began smoking again, the cough returned - in a manner that seems even worse than before. Even with the suggestions of the nurses, doctors, and family who cares, he chose to smoke again. At first it was a lot less than prior to the surgery. Now, it seems that each time I see him he is smoking more frequently. My heart wants him to quit. My own habit of smoking helps me to understand the difficulty in doing so. What a grip that little bitty thing can have on a person's life.

As you pray, pray for Dad and his smoking habit. You can pray for me as well. The harder I try the harder I fall.

Since Dad returned to work, he has been experiencing a back ache. When this did not subside quickly, he phoned the office of his surgeon and discussed this with the nurse. She felt certain that this was not related to the surgery and recommended a visit with his family physician. That appointment was on Nov. 10.

Dad said that Dr. Faulk did not seem to concerned about the back ache. He said that if in a couple of weeks it had not gone away that he should return. In the meantime, prescriptions were given to alleviate the congestion and coughing from the cold that Dad caught recenly.

When I asked Dad about the backache, he said that it started shortly after returning to work It had not bothered him at all prior to that. Riding/driving is something that aggrevates his back. He has also noticed that when he is less that attentive to his posture, his back will bother him more. He said that he is almost certain it is muscular. He met up with a friend of the family who is a nurse and she agreed. She said that it could very well be a muscle that was pulled due to coughing.

With all that Dad has been through in the past couple of months, my prayer is that this is quickly healed. He is anxious to return to his normal stamina and put all of the health issues behind him.

Each year, on All Souls Day, St. Peter's parish remembers their recently deceased parishioners by presenting their family members with a small gift in their memory. On Nov. 2, a small group of our family gathered at St. Peter's Church to receive that gift in memory of Grandma Foreman. The Mass was said in its normal format with the exception of the short presentation of gifts immediately following the homily.

The church was solemn. The people were revenant. The pains felt when losing a loved one to death were evident. As I looked around, I saw families whom had buried loved ones in January. We had done so in April. Some had done so as recently as a few weeks ago. As I looked into the faces of those present, I realized that the pain that was so fresh in my heart was also fresh in theirs. It didn't matter how long ago, or how recently, we joined our hearts as one in memory of those who are no longer with us.

During the Mass, I recalled the numerous times that I had seen my grandmother enter the church - always in her quickly paced steps. I recalled as a young girl how she would occasionally pick me up to assist her in doing some cleaning in the church. I recalled her being a Eucharistic minister. I recalled her stepping up to the altar in reverence to prepare for the Mass and her passing a little wink at us as though she were saying, "See, it's good to serve the Lord." It was almost as though she would step onto the altar at any moment to do that once more, but then I glanced over at the pew that had once been her place to sit during Mass. Although that pew could have been filled with other people, it will always look empty to me.

Going back to St. Peter's church will never be the same. Driving down the road in front of her home will never be the same. Going back to her home will never be the same. Christmas will never be the same. No holiday will ever be the same. Our lives have changed because one whom we love has passed from this life and entered into eternal life.

Each day that dawns, opens a new page in life. Each day that ends brings the close of a chapter from the past. As the chapters close, we learn to live with the events on those pages, and sometimes we return to them for a brief visit. No new page will ever return to us those that we miss so dearly, but as we turn the new pages we can hope that the sadness that fills our hearts today will one day be replaced with hope. Hope that we "shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isaiah 35:10)

We arrived at the hospital on Monday around 6:30 AM for the removal of the foreign object. The normal admitting processes took place and then we waited for his turn to be called. The waiting took far longer than the actual procedure did. The time of waiting turned out to be somewhere near four hours. The procedure took less than 15 minutes.

When all was done, the surgeon came to share the results with Mom and I. The foreign object that was removed from the skin on Dad's chest turned out to be a piece of the wiring that was used in the by-pass surgery. It was a piece about one inch long. I asked where this might have come from and was concerned that perhaps the wiring had broke. He said that he felt that the wire was still secure; no concern there, but was not sure how to explain the small piece coming to the surface of the skin. Our conversation ended with a chuckle after I said, "We'll just chalk it up as the usual unusual Roland kind of stuff."

The incision was small enough that no stitches were needed. He returns to the doctor in a few weeks for a follow up visit so they can make sure that the skin is healing.

Walking into a hospital knowing that someone whom you love deeply will be having surgery is never a comforting occasion. The feelings that I had the first time that Dad was going into surgery can never be put into words. The fears of the unknown, yet the gratitude for the blockages being detected in time to be corrected sort of run into one another making a jumble of emotions that are hard to sort through. On Monday, entering the hospital with Dad's minor procedure ahead of him was still a time for concern because of my care for him. Being able to drive the car up to the exit door and bring him home that very day was a time of excitement and a time worthy of praises to our God in heaven.

Dad continues to do well. During his first week back at work, there was a cold virus spreading around his work place. That very first weekend, he woke to find that the cold had attacked him as well. He had the sniffles, frequent nose blowing, and coughing that everyone else had. This tired him and may have set his recuperating time back just a bit, but he is back on the mend and kicking up every bit of dust that he possibly can.