Joel's Sarcoma Update Week 5

Week 5 Update
Hello everyone, I have just started my third week of radiation treatment…
All is well and everything is on target.
I recently did an interview with an organization called The Patient Story.
It’s a site where people can go to find hope, guidance, and learn about cutting-edge cancer treatments, and connect with people who know what they're experiencing.
I will provide a link once the story is published.
In other family news:
• As I reported a couple of weeks ago, my mother was in the ICU in Bettendorf with problems breathing and pneumonia.
Her heart is weak and not likely to improve much.
She was moved to another care facility (Lutheran Living) for physical therapy to gain her strength back.
Yesterday she was admitted again to the ER for shortness of breath. She has RSV and was put on oxygen. She is returning to Lutheran Living until she is healthy.
• My wife is the primary caretaker for her mother Alma who lives in our home. Alma was diagnosed with cancer on the same day I was. I hadn’t talked about her as in these updates. She is a bit more private, and I wasn’t sure how much she would want me to share.
She is a 15-year survivor of breast cancer. But unfortunately, it has returned in several places in her bones… Spine and her hip.
She started radiation this week and will likely require other ongoing treatments. Good news…
Jen has been a trouper, stepping up to get her to appointments and being a great support for both of us.
Between the 3 of us, there are many appointments every week to juggle.
You would think that our house would be filled with anxiety and sadness.
.. for the most part, is pretty upbeat, and positive in the midst of what is going on.
We’ve all had to adjust to a new reality. We are trying to hit it head-on by confronting the uncertainty with hope and faith.
We have been talking about cancer and death more openly. And it has helped us become more at peace with it.
This past week I have been chewing on a question that has become my theme for the week…
Question: Why do most people feel awkward or uncomfortable talking about death?
1. Emotional Pain
2. Fear of the Unknown: Most people have a great deal of uncertainty…
3. Fear of making others uncomfortable.
• Most people struggle to think about not only death but the future in general.
• We can get a false sense of security, thinking we have plenty of time…
• We tend to waste our time when we think there is plenty of it. (Parkinsons Law).
• I have had periods in my life when I felt like I was asleep at the wheel, just passing time to get through it, or feeling like I’m in a frozen state, existing but not really going anywhere.
I have had a bit of an awakening lately. I have been forced to think about my own mortality and the time I have left on this earth.
I’ve been asking myself, what I want the remaining years of my life to be about.
I don’t have all the answers to that question, but I realize I need to focus more on making every day count and appreciate each day as an opportunity.
1. I am going to work hard to focus less on trivial things, and not worrying about things I can’t control, and more on what I can.
2. I need to keep myself from getting caught up in cultural wars and falling for the bait that tells me what I need to be against. Collaboration is much more effective than an adversarial approach.
3. I ‘m going to avoid activities that lead to entertainment addiction. Entertainment can put us in a trance, into a buffer zone of mindless activity.
Eph 5:14-16 This is why it is said: "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil

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Oh my goodness, You all are going through so much! Praying for all of you!