dcnovice
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Joined: 8/2/2006
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August 9, 2014
Forty Days
Dear Ones ---
“The life of a monastic ought to be a continuous Lent.”
RULE OF ST. BENEDICT, CHAPTER 49
Sounds grim, I know, but I read this sentence with a certain dark joy. Finally, I thought, a spiritual precept I can actually pull off! After all, my life has had a distinctly Lenten character for a while now, especially since my latest surgery, on June 25th. Three things have particularly gotten me down: the slow pace of healing, adjusting to a permanent colostomy, and not getting a summer break.
As you know from my last note, I’ll be undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) to help heal that lest pesky centimeter of open wound on my butt. I learned the other day that an initial HBO course consists of 40 sessions, called “dives.” I can’t help smiling a bit at that name, which makes it sound as if I’ll be viewing reefs and sharks rather than DVDs of old movies. I also couldn’t help thinking that, of course, there would be 40—one for each day of Lent. One does five dives a week, meaning that the treatment will last two months—twice as long as I’d originally expected. I’d hoped to return to work this month.
I voiced my temporal concerns to my plastic surgeon, who responded with two compelling questions: Do you want another infection? Not really. Do you want another surgery? Dear God, no. I’m still sporting stitches from the last one. So… we’re giving HBO a chance. It’s possible, I’m told, that it may take fewer than 40 dives, given the good quality of my healing thus far.
Treatment will begin at four on Monday and continue at the same time each weekday. As I gain seniority among HBO patients, I may be able to move to a different slot, should I wish to. Meantime, I’ve updated my Caring Bridge planner to reflect the need for rides to and from HBO. Given that treatment may be 90 minutes or two hours (I’ve heard both), I listed rides to and from Georgetown as separate tasks. One is welcome to do both, of course, but I don’t yet know if friends can join me in the HBO room. As always, this is a no-guilt operation. I keenly appreciate any help folks can offer, but I don’t keep score.
Speaking of guilt, I’m feeling a fair bit of it for being so slow to answer the myriad kind messages I’ve received: cards, emails, Facebook messages, texts, cmails Please know that each of them means the world to me, even (or especially) when I fail to say so. I’m truly blessed to have such wonderful folks in my life!
As ever, my thanks and love.
Cheers,
DC
_____________________________
No matter how cynical you become,
it's never enough to keep up.
JANE WAGNER, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF
INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
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