Bummer....times four

We got word this week of several people with whom are close are facing a scary diagnosis. First, my oldest niece told her kids last week that she has a malignant growth in the Eustachian tube area. Suffice it to say our memories go back to the time this fine young lady was the first baby of the next generation. We (my brother and I ages, 15 and 12 at the time) spoiled her every chance we got. I think she got a lot of attention heaped on from her mother's side of the family as well. But somehow she survived and became a strident teacher, loving mother of three, not to mention an attentive wife and a faithful, dependable daughter. She knows how much she is loved and how much we care for her...lo these many years, after we heaped all that "stuff" on her.

Second, a grandchild of some really close friends was told she has leukemia. While a few years ago this was a much more paralyzing diagnosis, it is, none-the-less serious and troubling. At twentyish and learning that you will need to constantly monitor and treat yourself for this condition...has got to be a sobering. Our hearts go out to her, her sib(s), her parents and grandparents...on both sides, as she deals with this reality. I know she will be strong because she is bright and she will arm herself with facts and fight this through, but sometimes you ask...why her and not someone nearing the end of life? And to that there is no easy answer.

We have one other family member I am thinking about as I am writing: our grand niece, who, in her mid-twenties, is working through a diagnostic no-man's-land to get a handle on her symptoms. She has been told it is a tentative diagnosis of MS. Who needs that at such a tender age? Prayers are with her as well.

And while I am spilling foul medical news, I should also mention the husband of a former associate who seems to have been "blessed" with several spots of melanoma...and will have some of his lymph nodes removed next week. Such a burden to bear during a time you should be enjoying family and looking forward to the future without worry.

I am not sure how this all plays out from a spiritual point of view. Our creator has placed us on this Earth and sets us free, I think, and stuff happens. Some of us make it through to the end relatively unscathed by disease and other maladies and some are tested. Life is not fair and equal...no way. But it is up to those of us who can, to comfort those around us who need support during these trying times, not to give us something to do to assuage our feelings of guilt, but to help them out in time of need.

So, I think...no, I pray...that they should all be given peace to face the realities of their diagnosis and that they should receive the very best care that they can be given and to expect the very best outcome. Amen.