I'm still here...

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This is just a quick note to let everyone know that I'm still alive.  I'm just enjoying a bit of time in Canada.  It's always a bit crazy when I come home, so I don't have much time to keep the blog updated.  But hopefully I'm seeing many of you who read this, and seeing me in person is much better than just reading about me...right?

RIGHT?

I have one more week in Saskatoon, then it's off to BC for four days with my family.  I haven't seen one of my brothers and his family for a couple of years, so it's going to be nice to hang out with everyone.  Then on the 8th of July I'm on my way back south again.

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I spoke with my doctor last week.  It was good news!  The results of the biopsy came back, and there's no cancer anywhere.  =)  He told me what I do have...and yea, didn't understand much of what he said.  Which is annoying my medical friends to no end.  They want to know details.  All I needed to hear was that it was treatable and not to worry.  That works for me.  So as soon as I get back to Santa Cruz, the doctor said we'd start whatever treatment is required.  Sorry...that sounded kind of vague even as I wrote it...I'm sure he knows what he's going to do.  I just didn't get it from the phone call...

Anyhow...don't give up on the blog.  Give me a week or so, and I'm sure there'll be some kind of crazy story to report.  And if nothing new comes up, I can always write about my last afternoon in Santa Cruz before my trip when the police wanted to put Jimmy in jail for five days...

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Health stuff...

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Well, I’m back…and mostly in one piece except that it really, REALLY hurts to pee. That’s probably too much information, but I’m feeling the need to share the love…

Tuesday went fine, except that we got started late and then I had problems with my blood pressure. I have low blood pressure (thanks to Mom’s side of the family) at the best of times, but for some reason it dropped even lower after the surgery. I ended up staying in the hospital for two more days (I just got out now), so that’s why you haven’t heard from me. I did get asked if I was an athlete and if that was why my blood pressure and heart rate were so low. I said that, yes…yes I am…

Results…well, after my kidney got all famous last week, it’s not the problem and is doing just fine. The problem is at the neck of my bladder (from what I understood). There’s something blocking it, I guess. They did a biopsy and we’ll have the results next Tuesday. The doctor was very reassuring that he thinks it’ll be fine and that it's not cancer. We’ll know for sure next week. Until then, it’s just a bit of a waiting game.

Until then, all I can say is that I definitely don’t look forward to a full bladder these days. When I was lying in recovery, I told the nurse that I had to go to the bathroom, so she gave me a handy-dandy little plastic bottle. No one clued me in that it wasn’t going to be a happy experience. So I got pretty close to the moment, realized what it was going to feel like and just went, “Oh heck no…” and backed off. Funny thing though…that’s not something you can avoid forever. In the end it just made me cry a little bit.

There were a few other funny moments, but maybe they’re not so blog friendly. Take me out for coffee when I’m home, and I’m sure it won’t take much to convince me to tell you the stories. Suffice to say that in Canada (in my experience) they knock you out before they start prepping you. Bolivia…not so much. Let’s just say that I’m better friends with a bunch of nurses and doctors that I didn’t know before.  No doubt that was going to happen anyhow, but I’d rather be unconscious when they start the process…

Thanks for praying everyone! I appreciate it. I was pretty calm through the whole experience, so that was great. I’ll let you all know what I find out, as soon as I know…

Thanks again!

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Basilica of St. John...

I had never thought about it, but Paul wasn't the only one to go to Ephesus.  Others from the Church in Jerusalem traveled to different cities in and around Turkey.  The disciple John spent many years in Ephesus along with Mary, Jesus' mother.  Since John was given responsibility for her, it would make sense that they would have traveled together.

After his imprisonment on the Island of Pathmos, John returned to Ephesus where he wrote the fourth gospel.  When he died, he was burried on a hill overlooking the sea.  Eventually a church was built to protect and honor his grave site.  When that small church was destroyed, in the beginning of the sixth century, a huge cathedral was built in it's place by Emperor Justinian. 

In the eleventh century, the Turks captured Ephesus, but even then, the Byzantines stayed in the area for another three hundred years.  The basilica of St. John was eventually destroyed in an earthquake, but if it still existed today, it would be the seventh largest church in the world.

There's your history lesson for the day.  Now some pictures...

The gates...

Ruins of the church...

The Baptismal...

For me it was a moving moment to think of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had been baptized in this place. 

A model of the church...

The Temple of Artemis (Diana)...

This is the only remaining pillar of the 120 columns that originally made up the temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.  The temple site has been plundered many times over the centuries, but no one has ever touched the site of the church  of John that overlooks it.

The Isa Bey Mosque that sits at the foot of the hill...

Much of the building supplies of this mosque were brought over

from the ruined city of Ephesus...

 

The grave site of John...

When the church was excavated in the 1900's, coins were found dating back to the first and second century, showing that this was commonly accepted by Christians at the time, to be the site of John's grave.  It was interesting to see how different people responded to this.  A group of Japanese ladies posed with the grave like they were visiting Disneyland.  When I went back later to take these pictures, I thought I was alone, until I came closer and saw that a group of about 40 Anglicans sitting there quietly, not talking.  I liked their approach better...

It was a bit of a surreal experience to walk around the ruins of that church, and realize that Mary and Paul and John had all walked where I was walking, and had looked out over the same valley (granted it was all water back then).  Tradition tells us that John wrote his gospel just up the hill from here.  With the warm sunshine and breeze off the Mediteranean, it was a very peaceful spot.

I enjoyed this place a lot...

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