A Community of Love and Support

Sunday, February 3, yes it was Super Bowl Sunday, but it was also a Super day for Dina.  Our church sold Team Dina gear for three weekends and everyone wore them on Sunday at the 11 Mass...or they wore purple in honor of Dina.  It was pretty awesome to see the church filled with a sea of purple to support Dina.  My 91 year old dad came proudly wearing his Fight Like a Girl T-shirt!

At the end of Mass, after Father gave his final blessing for us to go out and be Jesus to the world, he and the deacon took off their vestments and laid them on the chairs, they each wore their own Team Dina T-shirts!  It was a very touching and emotional moment to see that support and love from our pastor and deacon.  Then Father Bill took the holy anointing oil and stood in front of the alter.  Dina was sitting on the side, but she walked up to Father and he anointed her with the oil  by making the sign of the cross on her forehead and on both of her palms saying a prayer.  Dina cried, she hugged Father and walked back to her pew.  The church clapped.  Not many dry eyes in the church.  It was a very touching, moving and emotional moment.

I wanted to copy from an exerpt what the anointing oil signifies to us in the Catholic Church.  This was the fourth time that Father anointed Dina during her illness.

"The anointing of the sick conveys several graces and imparts gifts of strengthening in the Holy Spirit against anxiety, discouragement, and temptation, and conveys peace and fortitude (CCC 1520). These graces flow from the atoning death of Jesus Christ, for "this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’" (Matt. 8:17).
Mark refers to the sacrament when he recounts how Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to preach, and "they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:13). In his epistle, James says, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas. 5:14–15)."

We BELIEVE.  We have FAITH.  We TRUST in the Lord.  We pray for His will to know what is best for us.  We pray for Dina to be healed.

Friends, family, church members, even two sisters from a nearby parish who read about this event in the Catholic Sentinel came to be there on Sunday to show their support.  They told Dina this...she did not know them.  She was given a bouquet of flowers from a special lady, she was given hugs and words of encouragement.  She is loved and admired.

What a beautiful and glorious day.  People are glorifying Our Lord through their actions...through their love and support for Dina.  We must remember this moment always.  We must remember to always give to the least of those among us.  We must remember even though we may personally not know someone who is going through difficulties, it is important to reach out and touch them...to be "Jesus" to them.  I know this journey with Dina and even myself has opened my eyes to be more aware and to be more open and giving with anyone and everyone.

~ Dina news:  she started running a fever last night.  Are we surprised?  There is so much 'stuff' going around, her son who was running a fever and had a horrible cough on the day of her last chemo, is back to coughing and having a runny nose.  She is having a chest x-ray done today, she is having more blood drawn today, even though she had it done yesterday...they keep a close eye on anyone who has a fever and going through chemo.  Pray that she can get through this little set back and bounce back on her feet.

~ Lacey's family has seen this also, her little guy has had the fever twice in the last two weeks and vomiting.  Now her husband and older son have the diarrhea and fevers.  Even Lacey had it last week.  Addie has the cough, but so far no fever.

~ My cough changed last Friday...I could feel it and it was deep.  I saw the doctor on Monday and it is bronchitis.  Thankful it was not pneumonia!  The doctor was concerned about giving me more antibiotics for the bronchitis, he feared my immune system is compromised from the last 7 weeks of being on antibiotics because of the UTI.  I finished the last round of antibiotics on Sunday night, and are you surprised to learn that it is back now on Wednesday?  OMG!  I had an appointment with a urologist as my family doctor was concerned about the 7 weeks of trying different drugs to knock this thing out and it is fine while I am on the drugs but within two days it is back.  Thankfully I was able to move my appointment up to TODAY with the urologist...hoping he has some tricks up his sleeve that will kill this bacteria once and for all. You know what they say about hospitals and bacteria.  My doctor is sure it came from my lung surgery and having a catheter.

As Dina's favorite bible verse says and what is written on the back of all the Team Dina gear:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5"  this is our mantra....this is what we believe.

Thank you all for your prayers.  Did I tell you March 7 is the PET and CT scan day?  Hopefully we will get the results the very next day...which happens to be Jamie's birthday...wouldn't that be the BEST present ever?