JC's helper: A "Plan" for the journey

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

A "Plan" for the journey

Chemotherapy/Immunotherapy

Last Thursday I had my first session of Chemotherapy/Immunotherapy treatment. You take appropriate medication, then sit in comfortable lazy boy chairs and receive the infusion through a tube in your arm. The nurses were wonderful, friendly, with a good sense of humour, but not flippant. They warned me of side effects. It made the reality of what I face sink in a bit more. This treatment may slow my decline but this is it, I am facing the end of my life and there is no escape from it.

While sitting there I got to thinking about how I am going to handle this journey? I am learning not to plan, not to dream, that I have to be in a slow shut down mode. I had been receiving steroids and I find that when I have ever been given steroids it gets my mind going. So I decided that I need "a plan". I need to think this stage of life through and highlight important things to concentrate on. So while sitting there and since I have evolved a "plan". It has already been tested.

Effects

On Friday I did not really feel any after effects. The nurses were surprised. On Saturday my daughter and son-in-law drove us home to Dunedin again. 350 plus kilometres through the centre of the South Island of NZ with beautiful country and mountain scenery. I felt washed out and tired, but no real side effect. Sunday I began to feel the impact, with all sorts of uncomfortable side effects to cope with, and absolute weakness and tiredness. I recalled that I have been fortunate in that I cannot remember the last time I ever vomited. Now I was having eye watering, stinging episodes. I could not eat safely, and my stomach perpetually hurt. That continued Monday and Tuesday and just yesterday, Wednesday I began to feel "human" again. I can tell you that "plan" made on steroids was sorely tested, and I began to say, "Is it worth it? Just let me die!"

I recall when I was running half marathons an experienced runner said to me that whenever you decide you are going to train for one, tell your friends and family, and that will keep you on track. So I have decided to share my plan and hope friends and family will keep me on track on this journey to the end. Below is my "plan".

I guess I am boasting but I discovered this on the Dunedin Fire brigade facebook page...

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The Blog's title

I am a Workplace Chaplain to the NZ fireservice.

At the firestation every time one man sees me he yells, "Here comes JC's helper!". I guess I am happy to be called just that... "Jesus' helper". I am a follower of Jesus.
A a quote from Dave Andrews in his book, "Not Religion but Love".
"Being a devotee of Jesus is not a matter of subscribing to a certain set of dogmas, obeying rules and regulations, and getting others to subordinate themselves to them.

The essence of being a devotee of Jesus is to live in sympathy with God as Jesus did; feeling the throb of God's heartbeat, and teaching our hearts to learn to beat in sync with the love that sustains the universe.

It means developing our capacity to sense intuitively what causes love pleasure, and what causes love pain, and doing everything we can to enhance the pleasure, and diminish the pain."

I love this charter.

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.