As the days, weeks, months – and even new years – pass, I become increasingly aware of the fact that nearly half of our married life has been fraught with cancer. That’s nearly six years. In fact, two years prior to her diagnosis, Annie’s Mom’s journey with cancer began (and continues today), so in that sense cancer has been around for the most part of our married life.
The transition from hospice to hospital strips us of a number of luxuries – among those treasures, a free car park. My new routine is to park the car on the driveway of some friends, who live that little bit closer to the hospital than we do, so that I can make a brief 15 minute journey on foot and avoid having to sell my car in order to meet the hospital’s car park charges!
Just a few snapshots of the last couple of weeks following Annie’s first departure from hospital – includes carol singing in the city centre, making and boxing cookies for neighbours on Christmas eve; Christmas day with my parents; post-Christmas games and fellowship; sewing, writing and constructing a frame for the poem Annie wrote for her Mom as a Christmas gift – all from the comfort of her hospice room; a late Christmas with Mom Ruth, Tim, Joy and Tabbi; oh…and just a dash of the dashing Milo.
At roughly 8pm I arrived at a packed A&E waiting room and told that Annie was docked in a corridor somewhere and that I needed to wait until she was allocated a spare bay in the A&E ward before I could see her. Â Roughly half an hour later I was called in by a nurse. Continue reading
It’s 7:44pm and I have to be brief. I write this for your information and for prayer.
O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.
Broken Chariots 