On Remission

After the first flare of statin induced illness that afflicted me in 2011, I was told I was in remission. That lasted only four or five months. I was put onto another course of medication that terminated in 2014, and I was walking, standing, sitting freely for four or five months. The time spent on the medication which (albeit with serious side effects) contained the muscle inflammation, was in its own way a kind of remission. Now they’re giving me chemo, and I’m not in remission with this yet.

            Remission is the good time between the bad times. What did I do with my remission? I finished my MA thesis and got my degree. I worked, and helped put the Carmelite Library catalogue online. I learned to play the Venetian Gondola Songs. I read the lesson at St. Peter’s Eastern Hill and volunteered in St. Peter’s Bookroom.  I homed a lovely rescue dog who spent two happy years with me. I was able to get around and photograph the beautiful city in its many layers of meanings.

            Remission also refers to forgiveness: of sins, debts, guilts. Mark’s Jesus says: ‘Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven?’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your mat, and walk?’ And for this they glorified God.