Observations From Hadleyville: SIXTH--AND FINAL--CHEMO SESSION

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

SIXTH--AND FINAL--CHEMO SESSION

I'm sitting here within thirty minutes of the end of my last chemo therapy session. When I first discovered I had cancer, back in May, my thinking was; there goes my summer. Ha! here it is, the Middle of fall. Chemo will be done today, but there is still six weeks of radiation therapy coming up sometime after the New Year.

In the end the process will take nearly a year from discovery of a mass to the completion of medical procedures. Then of course we have to closely monitor the situation for the next five years.

The big news of the day is the doctor wants my radiation treatment to begin in two to three weeks, rather than two months. I suppose the radiation doctor has to sign off on that as well. We'll see. That will mean I will be out of town for most of December. That means I won't be much good for helping with Christmas decorations or shopping this year. The good news is I'll be finished before I expected to begin. I like that.

All that said and done, it has been an interesting run. Not quite up there with the polite curse: may God grant you live in interesting times, perhaps. But I am constantly blessed by people I meet because of this cancer. People from around the world have emailed and facebooked to say they are praying. The Desert Christian High School Football team did a cancer walk in my honor. Others sold cancer ribbons to make money for my radiation stay in LA.

Through it all I have known God's presence and peace in a powerful way. I am not an experiential touchy-feely kind of guy, but the touchy-feeliest person could not ask for more that I have received during this adventure. Normally I prefer action; I like to jump in and get my hands dirty. "Climb that mountain God, You bet!" But not this time. This has been a season of waiting on others; a skill I do not excel at. The whole thing has been a joyous, tedious, humbling, blessing.

2 comments:

Eric said...: Glad it's (almost) over and encouraging to hear about your journey. Thanks.; November 13, 2012 at 1:45 PM
Denise said...: I remember a little boy saying to you, "You're not very patient are you Mr. Patterson?" :) it's amazing how God teaches us to be more like Him as we grow older. You seem to be handling this journey with a tremendous amount of patience and grace. "Setting our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith". Love you brother; November 13, 2012 at 10:46 PM

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WORDS OF WISDOM FOR WRITERS

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it.
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WHAT'S THIS HADLEYVILLE THING?

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain’s works might recognize my blog title. As Samuel Clemons grew older, he became increasingly disillusioned with humanity. Towards the end he began referring to the Damned Human Race; employing the secular and religious epithet at one stroke.

I find I’ve not reached that level of despair myself. I still believe in redemption and I still see signs of nobility even among we fallen, damned creatures. So, I could not bring myself to call this blog “On the Damned Human Race.” I do however, resonate with another of Clemmons stories; “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.” And viola, there you have it. “Observations From Hadleyville.”