Rocky gets a break today. Becky and I have our yearly physicals in Springfield this morning and we will be leaving at 6:30 am since the first appointment is at 8:00am. It’s a long day with all of the lab, mammo and doctor visits for the two of us……then Becky has to see about a tooth that has abscessed. For once, Rocky can sit in the waiting room and read his Western books while we run in and out of rooms. I’m sure he’s happy to have a break from his own appointments.

Speaking of which, we will be hearing from the CT scan any time now. If not today, then on Wednesday when Rocky has his visit with Dr. Morgan. This will tell us a whole bunch about how Rocky is doing after six chemo treatments, all of the Integrated Medicines (which he is on his second round of), the CEA and new lab results.

The nurse who takes care of Rocky’s treatments called on Friday to tell us those lab results were very good. He’s holding his own on the lab work…….now if we can stamp out the grip of the cancer on the liver…..we’ll have some time before another surprise attack comes from somewhere else.

I am anxious to find out about Tuffy as well. I talked to the Vet on Friday and he wanted to keep him through the weekend. He couldn’t find anything significant in any of the tests but said he was eating and felt good. He still had diarrhea and he was giving him sulfa-something for infection…..he seemed to think it was irritable bowel syndrome. I hope that’s all it is……I’ll take that rather than something terminal. Since we will be gone all day on Monday, I’ll call on my cell phone to see if he’s able to come home.

Speaking of physical check-ups, I read an interesting devotional the other day about a man married to a nurse who always made sure he had his check-ups on time. He would like to avoid them but she never allowed it. He got to thinking it might be a good idea to have a “spiritual check-up” routinely as well. He made a checklist that I found very helpful.

Proverbs 4:20-27

Ears…..Are we hearing God’s Word clearly and with understanding? Are we doing what those words tell us?

Eyes…..Are we keeping our eyes on the teachings that will guide us toward righteousness?

Heart…..Are we protecting our heart from evil?

Tongue…..Is our mouth clean and pure?

Feet…..Are we walking straight toward God’s truth without wavering?

Regular checkups will help keep you from becoming spiritually ill.

I hope you have a clean bill of health in every way….mentally, physically and spiritually. We live in a wonderful world of beauty and opportunity…..with a new day every 24-hours to begin fresh again…..Our bodies were made to renew themselves with proper care, our brain is a free agent to help us obtain a good attitude and we all have an invitation to live forever with the God of the Universe.

I know of no other world like ours.

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther