Karen is continuing to do well and her spirits remain high but that is in spite of the fact that she feels, as she calls it “puny” all the time. She’s running a discomfort marathon of sorts, punctuated by intermittent obstacle courses of gagging and clogged drains. The gagging is due to the radiation causing her throat to become very sensitive and sore. The clogged drains are due to the chunks of hair that are falling out through the day. Through it all Karen continues to be as steady as ever. I catch myself shaking my head in amazement sometimes. I'm not so sure I'd be so steady.

I did take some pictures to try to give you all a better idea what Karen experiences each day.

This is a picture of Karen after she's just gotten suited up before treatment.

This is a picture right after Karen took a shot of "soothing citrus" chloraseptic to help sooth her throat. That turned out to be a bad idea. She hasn't done that since.

This is a picture of the radiation machine. the big arm actually swings around to shoot at different parts of the patients body.

This is a picture of Karen laying face down on the radiation machine. The techs are maching laser lights that are projected from the walls with tatoos on Karens back and with marks on Karen's helmet. In this picture you can see the helmet that is locked onto the table. There are marks on the helmet on masking tape that show you exactly where the radiation is projected. You can also see one of the lasers on the far wall that projects the lines onto her back thatthe techs use to line her up with the machine.

After the treatment yesterday I took Karen out to a matinee. We went to see “Stranger than Fiction”. It’s the new Will Farrell movie billed as a romantic comedy. I personally thought that the movie was great. The characters were very interesting, the plot was creative and captivating, and the themes that the movie explored were very appropriate to what we are experiencing right now. The movie dealt with the question of tragedy in life. It made me think again about how we try to make sense of suffering.

As we explain the pains and discomforts that Karen is experiencing I hope that you are all putting these things into context in at least two ways. The first is that it is important to see these things in contrast to what Christ had to suffer. What he suffered he did so willingly as a righteous man., What we suffer we do so as guilty men who in our hearts beat our chests and ask “why?!” deceiving ourselves that we deserve better than what we’re getting.

Secondly, we must appreciate that this pain and suffering is part of the great story of history that God is breathing out over time. All of its comedy as well as its tragedy are perfectly placed. He is the master author and we are the characters that he loves. That he loves his people means that the tragedy is not capricious, mean or pointless. That we are characters means that we are his creation and we are not privy to know all the reasons why he has written our particular parts the way he has. We can be confident, however, that for those who love him, when we are finally able to look back at the whole story we’ll see that each part of the plot was necessary to make it truly beautiful.