Catholics

frankh

Hello all



I haven't been on for a while so thank you for the good wishes and prayers that have been posted for me. I am continuing on the drug trial. Next Tuesday sees the end of cycle 4. Things are going well with the SEs virtually non existent. Tomorrow Friday (28th) I have a CT Scan at 11 10 so have to fast for 4 hours beforehand. Next Wednesday is my next appointment with the Onc so will get the results then. Hopefully I will get a good result which means that the drug is still working and we will then start cycle 5.



The Redemptorist order of priests have a monastery in west Belfast. Every year about this time of year they hold a solemn novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. In fact this year was the 70th anniversary of its beginning in Belfast. There were 10 sessions (masses)/day and at each one the church is packed and they set up a marquis in the grounds and both are packed as are the corridors in the monastery. Each day about 15000 people attend. On the Tuesday for this past number of years clerics from non catholic religions are invited to preach at the sessions. The novena finished today. As per the last many years I have been attending. It really is an incredible experience. Of course each day during the mass I mentioned all my sisters on this thread and said a prayer for you all.



Hope all is well with you all. Take care.



Frank

camillegal

Frank it's so nice to hear from u, u sound like u'r doing well--and what a marvelous experience for out Lady of Perpetual Help to be able to attend. Prayers still going for u Frank and thanks for our prays--say a special one for Penny,

feelingfeline

Frank the novena sounds wonderful. Thank you for your prayers for everyone on here. So good to hear your SE's are minimal. Please God good news for you today.

frankh

Hello all



I have some good news.



Well today (Wednesday) was my day for attending the clinic. I also got the results of last Friday's CT Scan. It showed that there is a continued small decrease in the lymph node swellings - though the Onc is not now worried about those. The main lesions in my liver have remained the same size. The Onc considered that a good result. His main aim as he has told me before is to contain the growth of the lesions (cancerous tumours). If there is decrease in size then that's a bonus. So we have moved onto cycle 5 of the trial. The research nurse was telling me that there are 20 of us on the trial -not sure if that's across Europe or across Ireland and Britain. I am the only one in N Ireland. Apparently all 20 of us are getting good results.



So may I ask that you join me in saying a prayer of thanks for good results and that the tablets continue to work. Also say a prayer that the work of all researchers who are working on cures for this accursed disease will be successful.



Take care all.



Frank

camillegal

Beautiful words Frank (((PRAYERS)))

redwolf8812

Great news, Frank.  Thank You, Lord!

- Penny

feelingfeline

Amen to that Frank and Penny. Thank God for both of your great results.

redwolf8812

It's been quiet.  How is everyone?  I just started reading "The Mystical City of God".  Anyone heard of it?

Penny

camillegal

Penny it has been quiet lately. I haven't heard of that book but I haven't been reading in so long I'm way behind on them. I used to read alot, but I don't anymore. How have u been doing, I hope better.

feelingfeline

Hi Penny, I guess sometimes quiet is good. How are you? Have not forgotten you or all on here. I say a prayer for you and Frank every night. No have not heard of that book. You will have to tell us all about it now...XXX

redwolf8812

Doing great - thank the Lord!  I seem to have a lot of neuropathy but oxycodone helps with that.  I take ativan for the anxiety.  Despite the drugs, going to adoration or mass every day is what really keeps me going.  God is my rock.  I sometimes have days where I don't want to get out of bed but then I make myself remember that the day is a Gift - get up and enjoy it.  I've been going to the beach more often.  I live @20 minutes away and I've never enjoyed the gift so near to me but now I am.  I'm still praying to Blessed Zelie Martin for a miracle (she was the mother of St Terese the Little Flower).

"The Mystical City of God" seems to be about the life of the Blessed Mother - based on private revelations to Mary of Agreda.  Very interesting so far.

Penny

redwolf8812

P.S.  How about you guys?  How you doing, Cami?  Would love an update from Frank.

Penny

feelingfeline

Well said and well done Penny. Glad to hear you are doing so well. Enjoy the beach, great that you have "discovered" it.

xxx

camillegal

I'm doing Fine and I'm so glad u'r going to the beach  it's beautiful just to be there. I went swimming this yr for the first time in yrs. (just to my dgtrs pool) it was a riot getting in and out but I stayed in for over 3 hrs one time--it felt to good to move around without pain I don't like o get out. I'm planning on going this coming weekend so hoping the weather is good. BTW I don;t wear a bathing suit, no way hahaha

michelleo13

Hello everyone,



I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't seen a post in a while. I thought maybe I had turned off the email notifications!



I'm doing well. I can't believe how quickly summer is flying by. It feels like school just finished and here we are getting things organized for my girls to go back to school again.



Penny, glad to hear you are doing well. You, Frank and everyone else here are in my prayers each day.



God bless.

Michelle

redwolf8812

Magnificat Day

See www.magnificatday.com

Saturday, November 9, 2013, Philadelphia

The relics of Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin (parents of the Little Flower, St. Thérèse of Lisieux) will be available for veneration all day. Blessed Zélie was a mother with breast cancer, like me (and most of us), and we've been praying to her for intercession. Relics of St. Thérèse will also be there.

Just thought some of you may be interested.

Penny

redwolf8812

Please keep an acquaintance of mine in your prayers, especially Tuesday morning. Her name is Karen and she has 3 tumors (metastasized from the breast) in her brain - one is 3.2 x 3.4, and two others are 1.0 each. They're going to remove 2 of them - the big one and one of the 1.0 cm ones and do gamma knife in all after surgery. The cancer has also spread to her bones. She needs prayers, prayers, prayers! Thanks!

 

- Penny

 

kslansky

Prayers heading her way!

feelingfeline

May Karen be ever and always in the palm of God.

camillegal

Karen has my prayers.

Anonymous

You all remain in my prayers daily.  May I ask for some too?  

My 92 year old father Allen who was living independently and driving himself to and from his campsite an hour from his home thorough New York metropolitan area traffic every weekend as recently as late August has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to his liver with "innumerable" lesions.  He is now bedridden, and having difficulty eating and drinking.  

He is the most quietly, deeply religious man that I know, who wears his miraculous medal constantly, keeps his rosary with him always, and lives his religion always.

He has moved in with us in North Carolina, but this week, we have to put him in respite care for a few days to get the important papers from his house, and a few things that should stay in the family and complete the sale of his house in New Jersey that he started before his diagnosis. 

Please pray that he is able to be calm and comfortable in the respite care center, that he holds on until we can get him back home to honor his wish to die here, and that when the Lord calls him home, his passing is as easy and as gentle as possible.  

One thing this experience has done for me is to learn that saying a quick decade of the rosary is a very calming and helpful way to deal with long lines, traffic lights and being put on hold on the phone.  I still find it extremely frustrating that so many roadblocks are thrown up, but it does lower my personal stress and anger levels immensely.  

redwolf8812

Praying for all of you. I find that the only way to get a full rosary in is to recite it in the car.



- Penny

feelingfeline

PatMom, may God bless you and your father. May Jesus call him softly and tenderly.

camillegal

Special prayers going for u'r father and u'r family.

DiamondGirl

~ Patmom,

Sending up prayers for your dad, Allen.  Please keep us posted.

Anonymous

My Dad passed away on Tuesday afternoon, just as I was leaving the house I grew up in to get back down here.  My kids spent the morning with him, came home to care for the dogs while he took a nap, and got a phone call from the rehab facility he was in for respite care that he had passed away before they got back for an afternoon visit.  He was frustrated that he was so weak, but he was not in pain, and he was lucid until he fell asleep.  

I've spent the last few days having a "Irish Wake" on the phone hearing and telling stories about my Dad and his siblings with my last remaining Aunt, Uncle, 13 first cousins and my niece.  Since most of them will have difficulty traveling to the funeral, we have been celebrating his life in phone conversations with lots of laughter and a little weepiness around the edges.  

Thank you for your prayers.  They have been a great comfort.  My Dad had a long full life, and a gentle passing with enough time to say good-bye, but not to linger, and now he is with our Lord.  We can't ask for better.

camillegal

Pat mom My condolences to u and u'r family--u were blessed with a wonderful father and now he is home.

feelingfeline

Sincere condolences PatMom. Thank you for telling us the good news that your Dad went home to God so peacefully. XXX

redwolf8812

Condolences. Soon your memories of your dad will overcome your grief.

- Penny

kslansky

Patmom, so sorry for you loss, but so happy that your Dad's passing was peaceful and your kids were able to be there with him.