Prime Timers Christmas Lunch, 2017
Dear Ann,
Another year has gone by during which I had been busy making another sixty little baby puddings for my Prime Timers Club to give to all it’s members. Friend Cheryl was in charge of them all. She had them sitting in her car when she called to pick me up & headed off to the nearby venue where we were to have our Christmas feast.
It was quite a load to carry in & place them all around the table with their proud little heads covered in Christmas cellophane waiting for all the recipients. There was quite an aura of excitement & anticipation as our year drew to a close.
Cheryl is an important person in our Prime Timers group as she is a true Salvation Army Soldier & on the committee. She helps our leader, Joan in a variety of ways; something like being Joan’s right hand man.
They are always on the go & we didn’t have her sitting at our table because she is so much in demand. However, Sandra & I were sitting together & opposite us was another special lady who is very dear to me. Her name is Noreen & I received a letter from her after I came out of hospital having been diagnosed with cancer.
Our table at Prime Timers Christmas lunch.
I had no idea at the time who Noreen was, but it was a very moving letter to tell me that prayers were being said for me & to have faith. She also sent me a small medallion of St. Christopher, who is also patron saint of cancer sufferers as well as travelers. That letter meant a great deal to me especially as Noreen told me she had also had cancer & survived.
I have no idea who placed Noreen & her hubby at our table, but somehow I think that’s where she was meant to be.
I will digress a little here as, towards the end of last winter & spring was approaching I developed itchy legs & arms. At first I thought it an ordinary itch & hoped it would just go away, but it worsened.
I realised I would have been rather silly to ignore it so went off to my GP & good friend, Dr. Bourke. I wanted his opinion as I was suspicious that the itchy cancer I suffered for over over four years may have returned. Dr. Bourke took no chances & I was with the Oncologists at the Maeter Hospital the next week.
I met two new Oncologists, Dr. Mason & Dr. Gupter who had my history in front of them. They spent a great deal of time with me, sussing out everything there was to know about me that they didn’t have on record. In doing this they learnt all about my pudding making, markets etc. & so on. Of course I promised that they would receive a pudding each. I didn’t listen to their protests!
An example of the itch out in full force on my skin.
So on my next visit to the hospital I took with me a Traditional Pudding & a Macadamia Nut pudding to leave for them. Later, on more visits both Doctors went out of their way to thank me. It was nearing Christmas at the time & I am not backward in leaving a bit of goodwill behind me particularly after all the interest they showed in my ativities.
The outcome of my visit with the good men was that I was told the cancer could return to attack different parts of my body from time to time. I was not surprised & as both legs were giving me quite some trouble with the itch causing two nasty lesions.
I was sent to the radiation department to take care of the problem even though I am still looking & feeling very well. I had already voiced the fact that it was a strange kind of cancer because I have never felt nausea or pain, only an itch, which can’t be described but apparently that’s the type of cancer it is.
The Doctors’ concern was that it not be allowed to attack the nymph glands as it did before as this can be terminal. I was sent the very next week for five days of radiation plus blood tests.
Of course bad news travels fast & some members of Prime Timers became aware of what was happening including Noreen. She is a lovely lady & as soon as we became settled at our Christmas venue & after our first course she came around the table to enquire how I was & what was happening.
I had not been unduly worried at all, but Noreen was making sure so she said there & then she was going to pray for me. She put her hand on my shoulder & she prayed the most simple & powerful prayer for me.
I felt the power go through my body & I will never forget that prayer in that noisy club with people all around us. I can’t tell you what that prayer did for me, but I can tell you that two days later all the itch was gone & my arms & legs were normal.
You can make what you like of that but I do not fear cancer. I have a team of five doctors looking after me & each one is always aware of anything that occurs, when it occurs & what tests & treatment is prescribed.
My son, David asked me on one of his visits on Saturday afternoons what I thought I would die of. I told him it won’t be cancer. It is my thought that I will just die in my sleep like my Grandfather did.
I also had a visit to Dr. Walsh, my cancer Doctor at the Mater Hospital last week & he introduced me to a visiting student as our indestructible Dawn!
If the cancer attacks me again I will take it in my stride as I need to continue my career in markets with Charley.
So, as you can imagine, I did enjoyed our Prime Timers Christmas get together.
Love you heaps. Dawn X O X O