Notes from Norman

STAY OF EXECUTION

If you know me, then you know I’m going to poke fun at grim things, although what I have to report is not grim at all.

Ann and I saw Dr. Nanda this afternoon. We were highly impressed with him. When he walked into the room I was reading from The Wounded Healer by Henri Nowen. He said, “Oh, you read Nowen. He’s my favorite author.” We had a discussion about Nowen.

Then we got to my situation. He is quite familiar with my problem, and he is not concerned about immediate danger. He says the pressure now being exerted on my spinal cord is minimal and barely affects my motor skills at the moment. However, the tumor does need to be removed. He just doesn’t think we need to be in a hurry about it. He’s about to be out of town for a couple of weeks.

He gave me two options. One was to wait until I experience significant symptoms and do it then. The other was to do it while I’m still healthy. If I do it while I’m still healthy, the probability that I will have a satisfactory post operative life is much better. To me it was a no brainer. Now for all you folks out there, who questioned whether I have a brain, I can assure you that I do. I’ve seen a picture of it. We agreed to wait until September which is after Ruby’s wedding celebration. In the meantime he has removed all restrictions.

Thank you for your prayers. I never realized that I had so many friends. Don’t stop praying. I think your prayers are doing good. Without them I would never have connected with Dr. Nanda.

That’s a story within itself. He arrived home from London on Sunday night. Jan Elkins, who worked as a health reporter for a local television station for many years, is a personal friend. She caught him between surgeries on Monday, and he agreed me to day. A referring physician couldn’t have done that. When I saw him he said, “Oh you’re the man Jan Elkins called me about. You’ve got friends in high places.” He’s right, but the places are higher than Jan, and that doesn’t take anything away from Jan.

Just before we parted, Dr. Nanda told me, “My mantra is from Paul.” Then he quoted these words from 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.” Pretty amazing, consider the guy is a Hindu.’’

Now we move on to the next chapter.

posted by Norman @ 4:06 PM