September 1

Hi, everybody!

Well. the first week of school has come and gone, and I made it through all of my classes. The combination of finishing with the treatments and being with the students seems to have energized me. Each day I feel my strength returning a little more.

Friday morning the all-school liturgy, celebrated with St. Mary's pastor Fr. Mike O'Rourke, included the sacrament of healing. After the homily (which gave perspective on why things like cancer happen to people) Father gathered Carla, our son Chip, daughter Shannon, son-in-law Doug, granddaughter Keira, and me near the altar on the stage. (Our son Dave, daughter-in-law Jenn, and grandsons Connor and Grant were unable to attend but were with us in spirit.) Those moments, it seems to me, were holy and meaningful. I am grateful to Sarah Simon, the Xavier campus minister, who planned the mass. I appreciate the students' acceptance of this special service and their active participation. And I thank Fr. Mike for putting his heart into the liturgy, homily, and sacrament of healing. I have faith that all our prayers will be answered.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering what my feelings (physical and mental) will be like when I resume the chemotherapy, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, I'm getting a little more done each day. I am looking forward to biking for longer distances and maybe even jogging again.

I hope each of you had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. Late last week Carla and I decided to go to Chicago with Jim Romenesko. We drove down Saturday afternoon and saw "Jersey Boys" that night. It's a play Carla has wanted to see since it opened on Broadway, and it was everything we hoped it would be.

We thoroughly enjoyed the music, the story, and the set design. After the show a friend of Jim's (the head electrician at the theater) gave us a backstage tour that certainly gave us a much different perspective of the enormity of a production like that. It was awesome.

We stayed at a boutique-type hotel right above the theater, so we were able to enjoy downtown Chicago on Sunday before we left for home. It was good to get away, if only for a day or two.

Tonight we had dinner with Pat and Patti Voss to celebrate Patti's birthday. I hope this blog is an appropriate time and place to publicly thank these two wonderful people for their special friendship. We've enjoyed a close relationship with them for many years, but when our world turned upside down this summer, they were alongside us each and every day. We know that they fielded phone calls and inquiries about my health situation,and they were instrumental in the letter sent to many alumni. The list of their selfless acts goes on because their generosity knows no bounds. We are and will forever be grateful to have have them in our lives. We hope all of you have friends like Pat and Patti.

My next medical appointment is September 9 with my oncologist. Blood work then will determine the strength of the chemotherapy.

A lengthy blog this time--so much to say, so little time and space. I'll write again next week.

Have a great week!

Denny