Still journeying...

At this time of the year we are all talking of the journey. Joseph and Mary went to Bethelehem. The Shepherds found their way across town to the stable. The wise men started their trip from the east. Eventually Joseph and Mary would head to Egypt. In each case the cause of the journey was clear: To Bethlehem for taxes, to the stable for worship, to Judea for adoration, to Egypt for safety. Some causes were mundane, others sublime.

Our journey is set right now in the context of this more eternal and historical journey. Ours seems mundane, and slowly we are getting used to the idea that changes we are experiencing in the journey are changes that would come in some form or another with time anyway. There are the body changes. Yes, those are profound, painful, unpleasant. But some of them would have come in time anyway. Our bodies wear out, they don't function the same. My knees are stiff with arthritis, I pick up things with two hands that formerly I managed easily with one. And our sexual body parts eventually change too. So the journey was a little ahead of what we might have expected some years ago. Of course some journeys, when taken for a longer time are actually more pleasant ☺

Deb finished her course of "chemo" applications last week. What a relief to be able to walk without discomfort--talk about joy in the journey! And then she had another appointment that showed more redness and itching on the other side NOT related to the chemo application—it probably needs biopsy. Anxiety in the journey.

Research and conversation with the plethora of doctors has revealed that the Pagets can easily spread to every adjacent gynecological body part. Considering that the surgery did not give any clear (negative) margins, this probably means that there has been a spreading action for some time. Uncertainty in the journey.

It does not appear that there is much more we can do about any of this. Although Pagets is the “early warning sign” of cancer, there has been no underlying cancer found. God is able to keep it that way. Hope in the journey.