Archives for May 2016

PACE YOURSELF

May 31, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com 3 Comments

I have had to learn a new way to pace myself this past month. I thought I was pretty good at pacing myself…my “new normal” has helped me see I could do even better. This past weekend I was feeling tired. I would do something small and find myself winded and ready to sit in a chair and nap. This past Saturday one of the channels had a 007 movie marathon. I got excited, something to do to pass time and rest. I did not see one entire movie. I would start out strong and then wake up ten minutes into the next feature. My goal for the day became to see one movie start to finish, I failed. Sitting there wondering why I was unable to stay awake I began to reflect on the past few weeks.

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind.

Friday, April 29th I was in the ER with troubling breathing.

Tuesday, May 3rd they told me I had stage IV Colon Cancer.

Thursday, May 5th I was in surgery as they they put my port in so I could receive chemotherapy.

Monday, May 9th was my first chemotherapy treatment.

Monday, May 23rd I got my second round of chemotherapy.

Monday, May 23rd (late at night) I was back in the hospital (either reacting to the chemo or a virus I had been carrying and the chemo made me unable to fight)

Thursday, May 26th I was released from the hospital and told to “behave” and take care of myself.

Looking forward…Monday, June 6th will hopefully be my third round of chemotherapy.

To say that this has been a month is an understatement. [Read more…]

Chemo Round Two

May 28, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com 2 Comments

These are the “tater-tots” Nancy brought me in the hospital because for some reason it was all I wanted to eat. She is too good to me.

This has been a tough week. Monday was my chemo day. I did great during the first treatments and was released home with my pump which gives me more chemo for 36 hours. Once home I began to spike a fever, got the chills and was soon shaking. Nancy and I ended up in the emergency room Monday night.

It was a long night and by very early Tuesday morning I was back on 2 West at Chester County Hospital. The entire staff of that floor are amazing! There was all kind of blood work and efforts to figure out what was going on. Two theories still are alive and well. Theory 1: I had some type of virus and when I got chemo it knocked out my ability to fight it which escalated everything to the point of needing time in the hospital. Theory 2: I was reacting to the last piece of my chemo treatment. We will not know which was correct until round 3. If I have a similar reaction we will tend to believe it is drug related and there are steps we can take to eliminate some of those reactions. If I do fine the believe will be I had a virus and it should be a one time deal…as long as I stay healthy. [Read more…]

WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR

May 28, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com 1 Comment

hqdefault I was lying in my hospital bed Thursday morning when one of my doctors stopped by. She has a knack for stopping by when I have my headphones on and am drifting in and out of sleep. She gently touched my arm, brought me back into reality and apologized for interrupting my quiet time. She then asked, “So what music do you listen to?” She knows I am a pastor and I am sure she was expecting something different than my answer. I shared with her how U2 has been my go to group during this journey and how I find their pursuit of the sacred in their music fascinating. For the next ten minutes my doctor and I talked U2 and spirituality. It was if I did not even have cancer and we were just two friends talking about life. It was fun. That all came to an end and we went back to talking about my health and what I needed to do to stay healthy and what our next steps were going to be. She ended our time together by saying, “I have to go home and listen a little closer to some of U2’s lyrics.” I laughed and said, “It will give us something to talk about next time.

This hospital stay I found myself drawn to the song, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

I remember when this song was first released as part of the Joshua Tree album. There were some who used it’s title and deep yearning for something deeper and more to question the faith and spirituality of those who were singing it. Those who raised such questions reasoned, “If they truly had faith in God…in Christ…they would have found all they need and would not need to find anything else.” There were articles written, words spoken, commentary offered that questioned the faith of those in the band based upon the simple title of the song.

I could offer thoughts on those critiques. My thoughts would be neither uplifting nor grace filled. I have learned, or am learning, that I do not need to speak into every situation. I was taught, “if you have nothing nice to say…be still”…so I will be still.

What I will do is share what I have come to hear within the lyrics of this song. Recognizing that we all hear songs differently…I offer you what this song has come to mean to me.

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Youth Sunday & Baptism

May 23, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Today was a great day at First Baptist Church of Kennett Square!

Our youth group led worship and shared a message in a special way. Instead of a sermon there were different monologues where students reflected on what it must have been like to encounter Jesus as they told familiar Bible stories through the eyes of the key characters. It was challenging to listen to their words.

Following their service we had a special baptism service. As baptists we practice “believers baptism by immersion”. This means we baptize people when they are able to make a personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. We immerse the individual because it is symbolic of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. We baptize people, “based upon their confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord” and we baptize them, “in the name of Father, Son & Holy Spirit.” Today was a great day of celebration.

It was a little different. Usually I am right there in the tank with the person being baptized. These days I do not have much strength. I was afraid that while I could lean them back I might not have the strength to bring them back up. It would not have been a good day if I had dropped the person being baptized, or if I had fallen over into the tank with them. So, one of our elders stepped up and into the tank and did the heavy lifting (so to speak) while I stood outside and spoke. It worked great and was the perfect picture of a community coming together to care for each other.

Congratulations to George Plumley! May your spiritual journey continue and may God continue to make himself known to you in sacred and special ways.

MEMORIES

May 23, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com Leave a Comment

I don’t know how it started. Thinking back I am not sure what it was that triggered the conversation but Nancy and I had a lot of laughs on our way to church today. Rayann had spent the night with a friend so it was just the two of us. We got to talking and remembering our times at summer camp. I was a counselor for a number of years. I loved it. There was a group of boys who came every summer, all summer. Each week they would show up and we would start camp all over again and after the first two weeks they new our routine better than we did. The director, Jerry, came to me and said, “Dan, I am going to give you these older boys…you take them and do special things with them…make their summer memorable, and help them grow in their relationship with God.”

Now what do you do with a bunch of 11 and 12 year old boys who are “bored” with the same old camp program? Well, we had some fun, created adventures that everyone wanted to be a part of but were special to our cabin. It started simple. We would “sneak out” during nap time and use those two hours to build a special camp area deep within the woods. We had all kinds of shelters. Over the weeks of camp we built our own little community deep within the woods. Nobody knew where it was but us. The cook was a friend of mine. We would “sneak” to the back of the kitchen and he would load us up with everything you would need for a campfire feast. The nights we spent in our own little camp were sacred. The conversations around our fire pit were special.

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HOW DO I FEEL?

May 22, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com 7 Comments

If you know Nancy you know she is a writer. She has written some amazing poems and has had some articles published in ministry based magazines over the years. Each time she writes she opens her heart and shares life experiences and how God is meeting her in the midst of life. It came as no surprise when she sent me an email this evening. The subject line was, “something I wrote”. Well, it is way more than just “something she wrote.” It captures the roller coaster of emotions that she, and others who journey with those with cancer feel. I know her to be a strong woman of faith. I know she is praying for and believing in great things for the future…but there is no denying the future is different than it was a few short days ago.

I asked if I could share her words with you here. She graciously agreed.

Btw: the picture was taken today on our deck.

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NANCY’S FAVORITE GAME

May 21, 2016 By dnicewonger@gmail.com Leave a Comment

When we purchased our new home last fall there was a period of time where we could work in the house while we continued to live in the parsonage at church. It was very helpful and allowed us to make some changes and updates before we moved in. Over those weeks I would call Nancy and play the “Good news, Bad news” game. She got to pick what I told her first. For example…Good news, you get a whole new shower surround…Bad news, we have to replace the shower surround in the master bathroom (or the shower surround is now in the backyard waiting to go to the dump). Good news, I have solved the answer as to why there is water in the basement…Bad news, we need new gutters. I thought the game was fun. Nancy, not so much. As time wore on she just simply stopped playing. I would call and she would say, “I’m not playing, what did you find now.”

I have been reminded of that game these past few weeks.

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