No tooth for you

Today I was supposed to go to the dentist to get a permanent crown to replace the temporary one my dentist put in last month. I called and cancelled the appointment because my throat is sore and I am so stuffed up I am pretty sure I couldn't manage to breathe while she did what has to be done. Besides, I have so much to do before I leave for Arizona (and it takes me so much longer trying to get stuff done when I don't have energy and am not feeling my best) that its better if I just put it off a bit.

Besides, I have to work at the reference desk today. I exchanged my scheduled Sunday so I could meet with a gentleman who has worked for hospice here in Rochester for over twenty years. We explored how PrayerSong and Jairus House might best minister to those dying of cancer. Once again I encountered that wall of defense carefully surrounding the dying. There are rules and regulations about how to talk to someone who is dying, how to help them, how to not aggravate them. Give people a pleasant death, for crying out loud! (Does that seem as absurd to you as it does to me?)

Everyone agrees that music could be a good part of that, but its the 'how-tos' that need work. So I am willing to jump through those hoops to explore how best to. I have some homework now, some followup steps. If I could just find time to do them! And also somewhere in there, manage to get the tooth thing settled. Life is a juggling act.

My friend Laura told me today about her mother who was just diagnosed with advanced leukemia. She has in one short weekend, gotten some palliative care, moved out of her home and in with her sister, orchestrated visits from her children from across the US, called her husband an old fart and told him to bug off, and barked orders about how things will be. Still juggling, but on her own terms.

Sometimes cancer is good for helping people come to terms with how to live life. Harder to come to terms with death, and that's the area most necessary. If ever there were a time to think about your spiritual condition, its right before death. But today, I am not thinking about death, just all the trivial details of life. Like laundry and packing and getting a new tooth and somewhere in there finding time to call the hospice people and set up an appointment.