Serve by Design

Our summer vacation was not so much fun for an important member of the family this year! I could call this report, “The “Kidney Stone Saga” as it would likely have some of you tremoring and wincing in pain over your own memories. Over years of pastoring, I have heard some graphic “war stories” that a few of you have reluctantly shared on this subject! It's smaller than a baby aspirin, but prickly as a cocklebur! 😠 This story started the day we arrived in Georgetown for our extended family visit. Monique felt some discomfort and thought she was dealing with another bladder infection (UTI), so we dropped into the local Urgent Care to get an assessment. Meds were prescribed and we were on the way with the usual advice to push the liquids. A week to the day later, we were back at the same place. This time it was advised that we visit a nearby emergency room that could offer more extensive testing services. After a C-Scan with contrast, the emergency room doctor offered what I felt w...

I have been uncomfortable in closed spaces for several years. It has nothing to do with claustrophobia induced by elevators or large crowds of people. My issues causing panic and anxiety emerged during the advanced diagnostic testing (MRI Scans) my doctors repeatedly prescribed to determine the source of chronic back spasms thirty years ago. As it turned out, regular exercise and dropping forty pounds of excess weight were the needed remedies! While I haven’t had the need to undergo another MRI in recent years, my urologist recently recommended that I undergo a PET C-Scan to track how my prostate cancer was progressing. I immediately became anxious about that test. Although C-Scans are not as confining, they do require the patient to remain completely motionless for about 30 minutes while the scanner passes from head to toe. I thought, “Oh boy! Here we go again! To tolerate this, I may need a light sedative this time!” "Don't be a baby! Man up!" Two days out from the te...