An early start to the Beatson yesterday for ‘bloods’ to be taken. This happens every month in preparation for a consultation 3 days later. They have to keep in touch with the level of paraprotein in my blood. This is what I call the ‘bad stuff’ which can cause all kinds of problems in other areas of my body. I already have bone lesions, not catastrophic, but worth the watching. And there is always a concern that the kidneys might be affected. To keep things as stable as possible I am on management chemotherapy but will be undergoing more intensive treatment at the end of the year.
It’s disappointing having undergone a Stem Cell Transplant. Many myeloma people have enjoyed 10 years remission before the ‘bad stuff’ begins to significantly make its presence known again. I had only 18 months or so. But we press on and I know that in the Beatson I am in the best of hands.
Back to yesterday. There were a few people in front of me in the clinic. I’ve written about the waiting experience before. It tends to be quiet, sometimes tense. In the beginning, yesterday it was no different. Heads were down looking at magazines, newspapers and books, eyes were gazing into the middle-distance, the inevitable phones were out and fingers were busy. I don’t know exactly what happened but gradually folk began to talk. About where they had come from, what time they had set out, what their past experiences had been at clinics. Then we went deeper. What kind of cancer do you have? It was amazing the variety although there was one other myeloma person. In thinking about it, we never got round to exchanging names but when when our numbers were called, the bloods were taken, and we set off back home, we carried with us a sense of other people how they were coping, how we were not alone.
Different people, different generations, different experiences but bound together by this disease which we are are told affects one in every two people. This is a kind of community. On Saturday I bumped into someone I hadn’t seen for a long time. You expect the kind of routine catch-up conversation. But then he told me he had been treated for cancer last year. Immediately the conversation was at a different level and the relationship was deepened. Once again, community.
This week in Advent community is very much on our minds as we reflect on the people of Israel who lived in hope of the coming of the Messiah and also the Church which lives in hope of a Second Coming when the whole of creation will be united in Him. Living in this hope is not easy. Scripture tells that from the earliest days the foundations upon which the Christian faith were established were being questioned even within the Church. Scripture tells us that the moral priorities within the Church were confused and sometimes scandalous. People were leaving churches where they were receiving apostolic teaching looking for something more exciting and more in tune with the moral and spiritual climate of the time.
In face of this the apostles fought hard to sustain authentic Christian community around what had been revealed to them concerning Jesus and what implications there were for individuals in believing in Him. This is why Advent is traditionally regarded as a penitential season, a time for self-examination and commitment to a more faithful walk with Christ. That’s not easy when you see the emphasis on party and payment on the run up to Christmas. But there must be quiet times for us all to consider where we stand with the One who has promised to return and how well we will reflect His glory when in His presence one day we will stand. Scary thought perhaps? But remember His project in coming into our lives is to make us more like Him. And with His Word in our hands and His Spirit in our hearts we can as a community press on in hope.
