tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39643903057862662642011-04-21T19:48:48.827-05:00Welcome to this site where I've begun to post matters for health, prayer, and spiritual reflection. It may also turn out to be a site for creative writing about issues that others might be interested in. But the central goal is that God might be glorified. Thanks for logging on!John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-74271755886141078942008-03-11T12:46:00.005-05:002008-03-11T16:32:42.571-05:00

Dear Friends,I'm finding myself in special need of prayer so, here goes.Many changes in my life have occured in the last few weeks -- some of them I've alluded to previously, but are concluded, and others are part of the ongoing tendency I have to panic when I'm caught up in change overwhelming. I find that whenever I cast those burdens out to the Lord (and in this case, I sense that I should do

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-31978820313835851812008-02-23T19:29:00.006-06:002008-02-23T21:16:46.718-06:00

I don't know if the main reasons I've avoided this is disobedience, pain, sleepiness, or some kind of closure I don't want to start, but here goes.I have been on FMLA (a government program called Federal Medical Leave Act) at a part-time level for quite a while now. This is something that my job provides as a means of both protecting my job and also limiting me from the length of time that I can

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-51613342271849942452008-01-19T19:33:00.000-06:002008-01-20T16:24:45.173-06:00

During the last couple of weeks, I've become aware of a slip in my energy and focus, so this Tuesday, January 14, when we went for the blood check and visit to the Dr., I had a lurking sense that I'd need a blood transfusion again, and some injections or IV medications. And, indeed, that was the case. The hemoglobin had dropped down to 8.8 (from the previous high of 10.0), and there was a slight

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-12340396473844331452008-01-05T14:15:00.001-06:002008-01-06T17:54:36.312-06:00

Since I have some time this afternoon, I feel a desire to add some updates to the blog -- mostly matters for thanksgiving. First, I have been progressively aware of how my entire day can be shaped by my response to its opening moments. A few days ago I got up and the first words that came to mind were "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. I sought

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-45337057085595300242007-12-29T19:29:00.000-06:002008-01-05T14:14:02.552-06:00

In the past week, I have seen a progressive improvement in my strength and health. At the same time, the recovery is certainly not complete, so I have to measure my activity carefully. But I've been able to work from the College office and from my home computer each day for 1-2 hours. It feels so good to get out, to be mobile, and to see some progress being made on major tasks. What hope, what

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-9191461998051902362007-12-22T13:41:00.000-06:002007-12-22T13:59:43.446-06:00

Dear Friends,I can only count it a great blessing for all your intercessions and care. Margie faithfully took over the reports on our family and on my health, but I owe it to you to thank God for the ways that I have day by day chances to see him carry me through cycles of pain and relief, unexpected downfalls, and reaffirmations of hope. As Margie reports, I have had definite improvement in my

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-10375308399468770832007-12-01T21:14:00.000-06:002007-12-01T21:27:25.806-06:00

Dear Friends,I am writing on John's behalf this evening. He is not able to blog right now. I am hopeful that he will regain strength and be able to include you in his process very soon. Because John is not able to get to the computer, I asked him if he would like me to write a quick post for him. I cannot keep up two blogs about our lives, but I would like to refer you to mine if you would

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-19871118949190214502007-10-11T22:22:00.000-05:002007-10-11T23:14:18.000-05:00

Margie is out tonight, my children are asleep, my parents are travelling to visit my sister in Ohio, and I have time on the computer! So here is an update.The process of radiation is over, and after that, I continued to experience some fatigue resulting from calcium levels in the blood, along with low hemoglobin (I got down to 8.4 -- the doctor would accept 10, but 12-13 are also healthily

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-6908757826525372652007-09-24T21:00:00.000-05:002007-09-24T22:08:10.251-05:00

Thanks, dear friends, for your ongoing outpouring of support and prayer. It is worthy of more frequent responses, but that is simply not always available, but thanks for the opportunity I have tonight.Recently, thanks to our church, we have been able to receive daily elements of the body of Christ, which means that we can pray a lay sacramental administration of the eucharist at home. As we do

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-39513718992926852202007-09-10T21:13:00.000-05:002007-09-11T22:47:53.939-05:00

Thanks be to God! I am surviving this battle with continued persistence, and assurance that I am not programmed to fall over and capitulate. I am learning to view even the rise of more difficulties and pain to reflect the ways that I am in that refinement stage rather than in a work of discouragement from God. If anything, it is the enemy who wants me to give up the call God has given me --

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-54454365977463153662007-08-26T15:32:00.000-05:002007-08-26T16:18:37.341-05:00

Thank you for your prayers, your gifts, your faithful willingness to give to me when I've lost so much of my capacity to give as I used to. For all of those e-mails that I wish I could respond to more individually, I also give thanks.Increase in pain. That's the primary description of my recent health. This is graduate, though, and alternates between days of freedom and days of near crippling

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-87011866444198781072007-08-09T21:25:00.000-05:002007-08-09T22:05:50.830-05:00

My apologies to those of you who have been checking for some time about my health situation. Here are some of the matters to report.After seeing Dr. Raizer back in July, he had a blood test run on the status of calcium, etc. in the blood (forgive my unprofessional descriptions of these processes!) After reading the amount of calcium, they sent me to the ER for Saline solution and the IV of a

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-83421124970655174942007-07-28T21:02:00.000-05:002007-07-28T21:39:33.108-05:00

This is Saturday, July 28th. Here's a summary of the week gone by. Monday, I was ready and in peace to go through the MRI. I got some office work done before leaving for Bucktown in Chicago, where Northwestern has a free-standing neurology center. These are much nicer than the hospitals, because they are much more accurate in keeping schedules (emergency patients aren't rushed ahead of one,

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-1381716819125334292007-07-23T18:35:00.000-05:002007-07-28T21:02:15.842-05:00

Many of you are interested in a simple report rather than a long historical narrative (my profound apologies for the verbosity of some of my autobiography!), so here is a recent update.Thursday, July 19th, Margie and I saw Dr. Jeff Raizer at Northwestern in Chicago for his proposal for the next step to be considered. As I assumed, he saw chemotherapy as the option, and he had very little to say

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-4770039494767781152007-07-15T10:23:00.001-05:002007-07-15T16:41:33.601-05:00

I have considered posting this blog for quite awhile, and now feel that it is right to do so. It has long been close to my heart, and I believe it the call of God to speak it out. So here goes.One of my earlier blogs (A Foundation in Faith) recounted the story of how God spoke to me regarding my marriage to Margie, and how improbable it seemed at the time we broke up that we would ever get

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-32152086599455798732007-07-08T21:37:00.000-05:002007-07-09T18:44:16.817-05:00

Wow, what a drain this last week afforded me. As I had expected, I would be dealing with post-conference lows along with the conclusion of radiation. As I look back at the many years that I led worship at PCM (Pastoral Care Ministries) in my twenties and thirties, I can still remember reaching the end of a week like that with a desire to sleep for a couple days. Add to that my age (45), my

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-90624917766806182132007-07-02T10:58:00.000-05:002007-07-02T11:22:08.379-05:00

As you can tell, I have not been able to blog for over a week. Beginning on Sunday night, June 24, I took on the responsibility of worship leadership at the Pastoral Care Ministry Conference here at Wheaton. It has been many years since I've done that, but this one was clearly a call of the Holy Spirit. It was one of the passions of my heart to lead all of the people there into the presence of

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-52365164796465387552007-06-21T22:50:00.000-05:002007-06-23T19:16:30.873-05:00

Life has been so busy I haven't had time to update this blog for a couple days. Here's a brief report on the state of my health at this point. I have a list of other items in mind to write about from a more personal and spiritual level, but at least this effort will keep you up to date on how I'm doing these days.First of all, thank you for the incredible support and prayers we are receiving.

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-45290880701670064762007-06-19T22:26:00.001-05:002007-06-19T23:29:39.125-05:00

Today's weather was beautiful, and I somehow felt full of energy for work and activity. I felt far less pain today, and was able to accomplish many goals at work. And there are indeed many projects to accomplish there. I often refer to my desk as an archaeological dig -- if I simply lift up a few pages of paper, I'm reminded of some pending activity from last fall that could easily eat up half

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-43692509332879802462007-06-17T22:04:00.000-05:002007-06-17T23:34:42.678-05:00

Margie and I were given a great privilege this weekend to take a retreat together. I left work early (after Friday radiation), and headed northward with her to Woodstock, IL. There is a Catholic retreat center there that has quiet rooms with no TV or computer. We dropped off our overnight belongings, and went into town for a meal. Woodstock happens to be the village where the film Groundhog Day

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-8994410567282581832007-06-14T22:17:00.000-05:002007-06-14T22:46:08.546-05:00

A quick update: I drove myself to the hospital today for the third treatment. On the way, I got some Aloe Vera juice to drink, since my larynx has already begun to be a bit more raspy. I'm also taking some wonderful natural herbs and medications that have been given to me.The radiation is going fine otherwise. Lying still is less painful, I think I sense an ease in breathing, and my shoulders

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-51641991847531624562007-06-13T22:56:00.000-05:002007-06-16T23:01:22.631-05:00

I have had a few instances of words from the Lord that simply "dropped out of the sky." By that I mean, that I wasn't expecting these "communications," nor was I consciously seeking them. The two that come most to mind now occurred in my dating relationship with Margie. As many of you know, we had a dating relationship that was divided into two periods: "Act I" and "Act II," as Margie likes to

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-84400790477551984832007-06-12T20:32:00.001-05:002007-06-12T21:11:03.763-05:00

Surprise -- on Monday, the hospital called to ask us to arrive early -- 11:30 instead of 12:15. Margie and I drove to Naperville to start the radiation process. We arrived at about 11:26, but within 5 minutes, were informed that the computer system had crashed. By 12:30 or so, we had been released to return today (Tuesday). I joked on the way out that perhaps they would comment today, "Now, why

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-80465348940286151142007-06-09T22:45:00.000-05:002007-06-09T22:57:30.913-05:00

I must head to bed on Saturday night, but I want to make note of how richly I have been aware of the prayers and support of literally thousands of people. I hear daily of people praying for our family who may not even know us. That is humbling, and also produces a celebrative awareness in me of our union with the entire worshipping church. The ministry of the Holy Spirit flows through us to

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-34085030156879082732007-06-09T22:23:00.000-05:002007-06-10T17:53:45.091-05:00

So many things have crowded into my thoughts that I'd love to write down, but I need to keep them manageable and short. I hope the titles will be clear enough to help direct those of you who are interested in reading.On Thursday afternoon, June 7, I was able to get together with my long-time friend Dr. Jonathan Limpert, a radiologist, to read through my CDs of the reports that Northwestern

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3964390305786266264.post-27683578795192906232007-06-04T21:27:00.000-05:002007-06-13T22:18:29.499-05:00

I wrote this back in May, and am just putting it out now. It's kind of long. Feel free to read as you wish or discard.To begin with, I was not shocked entirely by the recurrence of this cancer, since Margie and I were warned in 2004 that it was common that 80% of the patients with hemangiopericytoma see a recurrence within 5 years. We are at just over 2.5 years since the original treatment, and

John Fawcettnoreply@blogger.com2