Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance

This is the newsletter I sent to my support group this evening and servers as an update on my current condition.

Hello Everyone, Time again; for that monthly e-mail nudging you to attend another regular meeting of the Support Group. That’s OK, trust me when I suggest there are many worst things one could be bugged about. This month, we are talking May already, will be an open meeting and a time to catch up with each other and enjoy one another’s company. This month we meet on the first day of May at 6:00PM. As per our normal course of events, this gathering will be at the Pima County Medical Building which is located at 5199 E. Farness Drive. I hope everyone who attended the show last week had a wonderful time. It is always a raucous event and I for one really enjoy the opportunity to see us all beaming with laughter. The figures are currently being double checked and there should be an accounting of how we did with the ticket sales by Tuesday if not before. I will distribute that information to everyone once I receive the final tally. This year I sat upstairs and had a wonderful time and got that milkshake I promised I would have. I will admit that I was unable to finish it all, but I sure tried too as I enjoyed the show. I hope and trust you all had an enjoyable evening as I personally feel that humor, as well as a positive ‘spiritual’ attitude are important to OUR continued health. As is my usual writing demeanor; here comes that jaunt into the past which I hope in some way puts you in a mood to remember to attend this coming Tuesday. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884 in England and 1885 in the United States. At the very beginning, prior to chapter one, the author of the literary work, Mark Twain pens the following warning: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance Now, with all due respect to Mr. Clemens; I wish to proctor just those very ideals in order to entertain, conjoin and exhilarate each of you to continue to take another step, to accept a new day and enjoy yet one more moment as a living human being. A few weeks ago, it became that time once again to become prostrate myself before my insurance provider and humbly plea for the preferred medical procedure which MY medical professional of choice would like to have performed. YUP; time again had come for a PET scan. HA, DENIED! So, in a time when doctors are forced into doing more, accepting less and still keeping a semblance of a bed side manor; my doctor appealed and got the blessing for a Chest CT. (Which of course the over burdening co-pay still falls upon me.) Trust me; I do not in any way look for a hand out when it comes to my medical coverage.  I have no desire to sip from the cup of society. Damn it, I have had, have maintained and will continue to ascertain insurance coverage. Once again I will turn to a quote from the character Eugene Kittridge in the first Mission Impossible movie: ‘Dying slowly in America after all, can be a very expensive proposition.’ `OK, enough of that. Well, during this time I decided to take a day trip and come to peace with the fact that all this stuff is for the pondering of those of a much higher pay grade. There is little I can do about any of this so along with a good friend and his wife, off to St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery I went. Having already learned to live a somewhat ‘monastic’ lifestyle, I decided I would go and observe the ones that live it correctly for some inspiration and calmness. I am a great believer in prayer and there just isn’t anywhere as good for me as St. Anthony’s to walk in silence and come to grip with my Lord. I hope you enjoy these few pictures and if you have not experienced a trip to the Monastery, please try and fit a trip into your schedule if you can. I find it most refreshing as to my Faith and fortifying for my Soul. There are some truly spiritual places there at which to pause and pray for help in becoming whole. The point of all this, the results of the Chest CT were sent to Dr. Manning and of course Jan took time out of her busy day to e-mail me and very happily let me know that my CT was clear and my chest was in great shape with no signs of cancer. I think the exact message from her was – “YAY!!!!  Your scan is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! “See, even the Lord understands supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Well, that’s it for this newsletter and I hope to see everyone this Tuesday evening and I long to hear everyone being in high spirits and good health.  Be strong everyone because Cancer does suck.

If only my heart was so {e}intreated.

This is a copy of the newsletter I sent to my support group this morning in advance of my trip to see my daughter and her family. I would ask for prayers of a safe trip and one full of happiness. I will return at the end of next week at which time I am sure I will have some exciting (to me) things to share.

Reminder [rɪˈmaɪndə]
n
1. something that recalls the past
2. a note to remind a person of something not done

I am thinking of usage number 2 by using number 1.

I have for most of my life been a note taker, a journalist of my time and a lover of notebooks. I have years and years of old notebooks with notes, random thoughts, travels and travails. My desk and my book shelves are full of old notebooks. This is not to say I have had an interesting or a particularly exciting life. On the contrary, I just find others and other things so much more interesting that I choose to chronicle them for my own personal memory. On my person, in my car, almost never missing from me is my current ‘Field Notes‘ brand of notebook which is my REMINDER of choice. I give you it’s corporate by line which is so apropos for me:

“I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to reminder it now.” 

On January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold in the American River, causing the California Gold rush. It is thought that about one hundred and fifty thousand Native Americans lived in California at the time. The settlers, which followed from the East brought with them both disease and violence. In 1850 California passed the so-called “Act for the Government and Protection of the Indians.” Just one year later saw the State endorse the extermination of Native peoples. At five dollars ahead in some places, a total of one million dollars was invested in the systematic murder of men, women and children. By 1870, only an estimated thirty-one thousand California Natives had survived.

On or about March 11, 1854 Chief Seattle of the Suquamish gave a speech he spoke in the Lushootseed language, and someone translated his words into Chinook jargon, and a third person translated that into English. This may not be exact word for word translation, but we can get the beautiful heart which belonged to Chief Seattle.:

 “One thing we know, which the White Man may one day discover – our God is the same God. You may think that you own Him as you wish to own the land; but you cannot. He is the God of humanity, and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see.” 

I do not pass this along as a way of bashing the white man as being all evil nor to destroy the integrity of this wonderful country. On the contrary; our warts and short comings are part of who we are and what makes us really great. I offer it as a reminder of what is good and strong and what has gone into us to make us a noble nation and people. You, my friends are a part of that history and so much more. Part pretty and part pure and grand. Part dark and ugly and no doubt, something we would like to forget.

The story above was used as defined as use number 1 above. Now I offer use number 2.

Next Tuesday evening is our monthly meeting. The meeting is at 6:00 PM at the Pima Co. Medical Society located at 5199 E. Farness Drive. I want to remind you all, that coming together and holding each other up in spirit and friendship is a privilege. It is for each of us and it only works if we remember to make the meeting. I trust each of you will and can gather together this month as I want to again let you know that I will be in the far North with my grandchildren. After some consideration, I have decided not to take my laptop as I want to maximize my time with my daughter and her family. I will remember you, I will pray for you and I will look forward to March, so I can once again be in your embrace. After all, we are all brothers (and sisters) under the same sky, traveling on the same earth through the same stars; all by the grace of SAME God.

Enjoy the Super Bowl if that is your thing. Enjoy the commercials if the game is somewhat unimportant. 

Make sure you see or contact Michelle Schulter for tickets or details for the Gaslight event. Remember to circle April 21st on your calendar and the time is 6 PM.

I know you will all have a good time together. Please remember to Love one another. Hold each other up in strength and with kindness. Take a few minutes and offer a prayer for Frank. The trials we all face require our best, our most and our finest efforts; because Cancer sucks.