[Jackie07]

Thanks, Carol Ann and Colleen.

Took just one dose of pain pills today. (Not that I didn't feel any pain during later half of the day) Felt good enough to cook a bundt cake with spice cake mix plus one can of apple pie fillings, one cup of apple, one cup of raisins, one cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup of water. Turned out O.K. even though I couldn't remember the exact temperature setting!

Now that's a philosophical question Colleen has here. Why are we here? What's our purpose in life? Where does all these lead to ...

Everyone, (breast) cancer patient or not, asks these questions during certain stages in his/her life. Teenagers especially struggle with these while they are heading toward the 'unknown' adulthood.

I had the good fortune to have met the late Fr. Robert Ronald, SJ. just before I left for the U.S. to further my study in Library Science. He went to Taiwan in his mid 20s as a missionary and contracted polio during the epidemic. He went back to California to get treatment and returned to Taiwan in a wheelchair. There was no vocational rehabilitation for polio patients in Taiwan back then, so he returned to the States and received a master's degree in vocational rehabilitation. He worked as a vocational rehabilitation consultant in the General VA Hospital in Taipei and was buried in Taiwan when he passed in his mid 70's. (A 'Consultant' means he's not entitled to any employee benefit ...)

When I was in the wheel chair during rehab following a 23-hour brain (tumor) surgery (in 1990), I recalled the words in Fr. Ronald's book of collected speeches from his lecture tour arranged by the Social Welfare Bureau in Taipei: "Even if you can not move your limbs, you can find something interesting to think about."

"There are always people in far worse shape than us. The dignity of being a human being does not diminish a bit due to our disability."

I always thought it was not a coincidence that I had met Fr. Bob right before starting my adventure in a 'foreign land'. We all get depressed sometimes. And that's why we are here - to support each other.

Sending you good vibes.

ps. CT is a lot cheaper than PET and can pick up much smaller stuff than PET. That's just my guess.