Feeling like George Bailey...

The response to my rushed prayer request last week has been tremendous, and I have to thank you all so much for your prayers and sacrifices on my father's behalf. I know things wouldn't have gone half so well had it not been for the power of prayer.

To recap the insanity of the last six days:

Early last week, my Dad was having severe back pain that he was attributing to the compressed discs he has in his spine. However, on Tuesday the pain went away and suddenly his left leg was numb from the knee down. His doctor, becoming concerned, sent him for an MRI.

Wednesday afternoon, the doctor called a few hours after the MRI had been taken and asked my parents to come back to his office. On the MRI they found two tumors on my dad's spinal column. Thank goodness, the doctor immediately got them an appointment with the top neurosurgeon at Penn Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.

At this point, I had sent out my initial prayer request as well as posting on Facebook and emailing the members of our parish. The phone calls and emails and text messages immediately started pouring in. Our pastor immediately organized an Forty Hours' Devotion, friends came to watch the small children so that my sister and I could travel to Philadelphia to be with our parents, hundreds of rosaries were offered by people around the world, Masses were said by many priests, my teachers and colleagues took over my students and excused me from classes, and everyone just generally went out of their way to make this difficult time as easy as they could for us.

Thursday morning, my parents made it to Philadelphia, and had their appointment with the doctor, which they assumed was just a consultation. The neurosurgeon said that my Dad had to go in for immediate surgery in order to prevent any other nerve damage.

Friday morning, my Dad went in for surgery. My sister and I raced to Philadelphia to be with my mother, who was taking all of this very hard. The last time I spoke to Dad before the surgery, he told me that I had to be strong for Mom. He was fine and we weren't to worry about him, but we had to help Mom keep it together.

Dad was in surgery for 15 hours. It was the longest day of my life.

Friday night, after he got out, we were permitted to see him in the ICU ward. He was awake and lucid and already joking around. When we told him about all of the prayers and help, he was very touched (one of the few times I'm seen him teary eyed) and he said that he felt like George Bailey, and that he hoped he deserved it.

Although they caused nerve damage and filled his spinal cavity, the tumors were not cancerous, which was the biggest concern. They weren't able to remove all of the tumor, because some of it was on nerves that were too dangerous to touch, but the neurosurgeon assured us that they were able to remove 90 or more percent of it.

Saturday, Dad was required to lay on his back for 24 hours, but he was awake, and they already had him eating regular food again. Sunday morning, they had him up on his feet and walking around. The speed of his recovery is really amazing!

Dad still has no feeling in his left leg, and the paralysis has moved up to his hip. He's going to have a limp and probably have to use a cane, but we're all so happy that that's the only negative outcome of this ordeal.

We just got the results of his full spinal MRI and there isn't any sign of tumors anywhere else, which is making us all deliriously happy. I'm confident that things only have gone so well because of everyone's prayers and kindness!

Dad will be released to go home tomorrow afternoon, and I think he'll be more than happy to be home. Already, he's on the phone- business as usual!

We feel so incredibly blessed, and my Dad thanks everyone from the bottom of his heart.

God has been very good to us and the power of the Rosary has triumphed!

Thank you all again, so very much!!!

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Here are some photos from Philadelphia. My sister and I coaxed my mom out of the hospital for a bit to try and help her take her mind off of things:

The inscription from the cornerstone of Pennsylvania Hospital. I find it kind of ironic that Benjamin Franklin is who wrote this, especially considering the first, third, and fourth lines.

City Hall- Philadelphia, PA

The beautiful Bed & Breakfast in which we stayed. It was 1/2 a block from the hospital and the innkeeper, Kathy, was so incredibly helpful and compassionate.

My cocktail at lunch to help clear up my laryngitis. LOL.

When we stepped out for Mass on Sunday morning- Check out St. Paul's Parish in Philadelphia, PA! The church is lovely and the priest says a beautiful Latin Mass!- we saw this nice old Corvette on our way. We took pictures to show Dad, although I think Mom wants it more than he does! ;)

Ritz-Carlton, Downtown Philadelphia

A bit of nerdiness on my part- Darth Vader helmet in the window of a very awesome comic book shop. :D

They had Boba Fett, too! I would have taken a pic of the TIE Fighter Pilot helmet, but my battery went dead.

And finally, but most importantly, my Dad (love him SO much), as of this afternoon (only three days after major surgery!) He's already back to work!!

More Prayers...

I'm afraid I must ask my readers for their prayers once again. We just learned today that my Dad has two tumors on his spine (possibly more), and they need to be operated on post-haste. He's going to see a specialist tomorrow, and hopefully we'll got more than the vague details the local doctors were able to provide. My Mom is taking the news pretty hard, and Dad, true to form, is keeping his chin up for her sake. Please pray for him, and all of us, in this difficult time. Thank you and God Bless you!

St. Peregrine, ora pro nobis!

Prayer Request

Today I would like to ask my readership to pray for two intentions...

Firstly, the mother of a very dear friend of mine has been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, but the family is trying to get her into John Hopkins' rather than trusting the doctors around here. Please pray that God's will be done, that the surgery goes well, and for the family in this difficult time.

Secondly, please pray to St. Anthony for me. I have a lost article of sorts that needs to be returned to its rightful place.

Thank you all so much!

Of Blogging and Music...

Well, I have an awesome topic upon which to blog, but I must hold it in reserve for now, as I'm waiting to hear back from the person who has inspired the post. I would like their permission to write about said topic, as the intellectual property is theirs and not mine. So, for now, I must wait.

In the meantime, I shall leave you with another recording of our choir, which is quite lovely. It's Palestrina's Sicut Cervus, and again I will note that our full choir was not present for the session and the recording has not been altered at all. Husband and I are both on this recording, I singing the soprano line with our choir director, and Husband singing the bass part with another of the schola members. I will note that the tenor and alto lines are performed by a father and his daughter (who is only 14!!), and I think the similarities in their voices has done wonderful things for the blend of our little choir. As one choir member so aptly said, the recording "sounds like you're floating on a cloud."

Also, for anyone interested, one of the stories I was working on over the summer (another SW fan fiction) has been posted online. This one was tricky because I was inspired to write in 3rd person present tense, which brings with it all sorts of interesting complications when writing. (Oh Muse, why must you be so difficult??) Overall, I must say that I enjoyed the voicing of the piece, and I'm working on finishing the second part in my free time. Let me know what you think either here or in the thread! Permanent- http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/31285873/p1/

That's all for now, but hopefully I'll hear back from my contact later today and have the other post up by tomorrow afternoon!

Sicut-Cervus-MP3.mp3

Text to the Sicut Cervus-

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus.

As a deer longs for springs of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

(From Psalm 42)

The Joys of Being a Catholic

Or one of the innumerable joys of being a Catholic, anyway...

The music.

Yeah, all I can say is- the music. The music of the middle ages and the Renaissance and all the way up until present day that has been inspired by our Faith, by Scripture, by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, by Our Lady...

Some of it is simply glorious.

Our parish is particularly blessed with a very fine choir. Not every parish has a completely volunteer choir that has a trained musician on every voice part. For us, this means that performing the works of Palestrina, Des Prez, Byrd, Victoria, Tallis, and singing the full Gregorian chant propers (with drones and organum!!) is a regular occurrence, and not just something pulled out for special occasions.

Our choir is a rare jewel... and I've decided that the beautiful music we make for God, should be shared with others. Hopefully, it will help to deepen your faith as it has mine.

The following piece was recorded by our choir last week. There have been no special effects added, no touch-ups done. This is our choir in it's purest form. It's not the full group, only 7 of us were able to make rehearsal when this was recorded. Anyway, enjoy this setting of the Angelus... and in case any one's wondering, I'm the top voice that's floating the high notes.

Angelus-MP3.mp3