Some Planetary Pilgrims are STARTREK Fans

I know I am! There is a lot of good stuff in StarTrek, and today I will remind you of the StarTrek IV movie. In the fourth movie Scottie, who was the engineer, tells Admiral Kirk (who is an admiral by then!) "Admiral, there be whales here!" Yesterday I was able to confirm what I always suspected about St. Mary's General Hospital: There be Angels There! Some of them you can even see and hear.


One of the angels asked me if I preferred to be wheeled in to surgery, or if I wanted to walk. I walked.


Then, as I was lying on my stretcher in Surgery Suite # 4, I felt a profound need to say, "Oh, Siht!" If you don't know what that means, it means "Excreta!" If you don't know what that means, look it up in your Funk and Wagnalls (I hope I spelled that right!)


I lay there, feeling very apprehensive about the loss of control involved in surrendering to a cold operating room, anaesthesia, shiny metal, bright lights, masks, and talk of which scalpels are more effective for this or that. Then, two nurses came close to me and said: "We both know you. Once when we had a really difficult case, you came and spoke with us. It was good." That was the last thing this chaplain heard as she drifted into the arms of sleep. There be angels there, and I did not know it!


Soon, I was awakened by other nurses calling my name and telling me that I was in the recovery room. Without opening my eyes, I asked if Florence, my nursing friend who used to work on one of my floors, was working that day. In next to no time, Florence was near me, inviting me to trust in a loving creator, and encouraging me to hope. There be angels there, too!


The lump was malignant.The lump is now out, and there is some of  lymph node material being tested as I write this, to discover what other little cookie monsters might still be hiding under my bed. If that should be the case, the excreta will  hit the fan, and we will participate in more aggressive treatment. As Josh Martin, one of my heroes, wrote me, "that lump doesn't stand a chance" with so many of us walking together on this journey.


Of course, it doesn't stand a chance! This grandmother has three grand children in Ottawa, and five beautiful grand children who have adopted me in Kitchener! Lots of stories to tell, songs to sing, trips to the cottage to take. That old lump does not stand a chance. Do you know why? Because I am not alone. We are not alone. None of us needs to take this journey alone, when there are so many of us walking together.


I believe radiation is on the agenda. We will know more concretely within the next three weeks. Before that,  I will go back to work. I miss my work family already. Staying busy is important to me; making sure that we are ready for spring, if it ever stops snowing, is important. Making more homemade pasta with my grand children is important. Having coffee with my friends, signing in my choir, and having special conversations with my children are all important and beneficial tasks that help my healing.


And so is spending time with David. Spending precious time with a lovely man who makes me feel special, and who tells me several times a day that he loves me, is not only special and healing, it also keeps the little cookie monster under my bed getting smaller and smaller. So, have another cookie, little monster. As for me? Pass the broccoli, please, isn't it the most delicious broccoli you ever tasted?


I am indeed fortunate to live in Canada, where health care is a right, not a special privilege for just a few. I am blessed with family and friends. I have received the gift of love from family, colleagues, neighbours, friends of my children, church members, pastors, and so many others. 


To all I say, thanks, and, "It is time I got going. We will see each other around, most assuredly, on the way to Santiago."