With him who fears the Lord it will go well at the end

With him who fears the Lord it will go well at the end;
on the day of his death he will be blessed. - Sirach 1:13

Christ is Risen!

We had a great Pascha! Pascha is what English speakers call Easter. It is the greek form of the Hebrew word Pesach, which means Passover.

We were able to attend the Palm Sunday service, and then we attended the Great Friday night service. And Saturday Night/Sunday Morning we attended the Glorious Pascha of our Lord. Teresa was joyous at reaching Pascha, her second since getting her diagnosis. I can honestly say it was a high point for both of us. We stayed until 4AM that morning feasting and fellowshiping with both old friends and some more recent. We then came back (late) for the Agape Vespers picnic, and again had a great time. Teresa spent a lot of that time either visiting with friends, or napping in the lawn chair recliner I brought for her.

On April 28, Teresa went for her chemotherapy treatment. Because of her overall weakness they decided to not do chemotherapy that day. We decided to stop at our cigar lounge hangout so she could rest. When we got her out of the truck, she started to fall. I was able to catch her but in doing so I went down and then she went the rest of the way down. She ended up with a small scrape on her elbow and no other apparent damage. I had a massive road rash on my knee. Through some help from some nearby folks, we got her up and into the lounge and she promptly took a nap. When we got her home and were getting her up to go to the bathroom, she started having a massive discharge from her belly button. At first, we thought it was blood, but it was actually liquid fecal matter. We immediately called an ambulance, and she was taken to the hospital.

After a number of tests, she was diagnosed with a Colocutaneous fistula. This was due to the cancer eating away at her colon. Apparently the tumors have become very aggressive. Because of the advanced cancer, it cannot be treated. It is possible but not likely that it will heal on its own. The decision was made to stop chemotherapy and put Teresa into hospice. Teresa now wears an ostomy bag on her belly button, although her colon still functions.

Monday (May 2) Teresa came home. She has great support from the hospice provider that we chose, and they have already provided her with a medical bed, table, and (some) supplies. Certain supplies will have to be purchased by us. They are also going to provide us with a wheeled walker and a wheelchair to make it easier to move her around. We have only met one of the hospice nurses, but she has been great.

Teresa loves baseball (Go Astros!) and we've been using baseball analogies a lot. We talk about how she's in the 15th inning (it's been about 15 months since her diagnosis). We are now in the bottom of the fifteenth, and we are 3 runs behind and we have two outs. It is her last at bat, but she's going to go out swinging.

Like Saint Paul, who also liked sports analogies, she can say:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Tim 4:7-8)