My Christmas Struggle 2015

On Sunday, December 20, 2015 JeriAnn and I flew to Las Vegas and then rode to St. George, Utah, for Christmas.  Our plan was to spend a couple days in St. George and then drive to California on Wednesday to spend a few days, including Christmas.  We were going to return to St. George on Saturday and to Las Vegas on Monday, December 28, 2015 to fly home.

Life is what happens when you’ve made other plans.

When we arrived in Las Vegas we were picked up by Mama Evelyn Bosh and our nephew Jerry Gentry.  The first thing we learned was that, because of some unforeseen circumstances, we would not be making a trip to California after all.  We were going to have a nice week in St. George.  OK! Well that was a great idea.  St. George is a beautiful place to spend a week. I have always enjoyed being there and it was fun. I thought that maybe I could even try stopping by the Temple there.  I went through the Temple in St. George first and that was also where we were married.

Monday we had a nice day.  We watched some stuff on TV.  I tried to fix Mama Evie’s Apple computer but I really didn’t know what was wrong with it or how to make it work. I tried a couple things and then shut it down.  We went shopping for stocking stuffers and food for a dinner on Tuesday.  The original plan had been to have an early Christmas dinner in St. George with some of the family that wouldn’t make it to California. We got lots of good food and treats. It was fun. I got done with the day feeling a little pain in my sinuses.

On Tuesday my sinuses were still hurting and Evie got me some Sudafed to take for my sinus headache. I took some right away. Shortly after that I went to pick up baking soda we had forgotten to buy on Monday. I went to the grocery store and I had a moment as I was leaving the store that I was badly hurting and confused and I swore I could smell something burning (I still don’t understand this part). After a minute I felt better and went home.

By Tuesday night I was really feeling bad. I took some more Sudafed and had dinner with the group of Gentrys, JeriAnn’s sister and her family. After dinner they were going to play for a while and then go home. I felt bad so I went and laid down in bed.  Within an hour I ran to the bathroom and all of dinner came back out. I thought I was just a little sick so I went to bed the rest of the night.

On Wednesday, JeriAnn and I were allowed to go shop for something for ourselves for Christmas. We went and shopped for a little while and then I said I needed to go home and rest some more. By the evening I was still feeling bad and my side was hurting. I asked Evie if I could get priesthood blessing. She called one of her neighbors and asked him to find someone else to help him. I love that kind of response. I got a blessing quickly and it was somewhat assuring and also mentioned I may need medical attention. After the blessing I felt really a bit better, for a few minutes. I thanked them and they went home.

We started talking and then suddenly my good feeling went away, all the way. I was again experiencing the feeling I had at the store the day before.  This time it didn’t clear quickly and the pain in my side worsened. I suddenly paled and was staring in the distance. Evie asked if I was ok and I simply replied “No.” She told me and JeriAnn to get our shoes and coats on and we immediately left home to head to the Emergency Room and the hospital in St. George. 

When I got there they asked a lot of questions and took samples of my urine and blood. After the samples they told me I had a very little blood in the urine and they wanted me to get a CT Scan to see my urinary tract. It took about 45 minutes for someone to come take me to the CT Scan Room. He did the scan and wheeled me back to the Emergency Room. When we got there he said it would be an hour or maybe an hour and a half to check the CT Scan. We settled in to wait. 10 or so minutes later we got the answer. My left kidney has a 8mm stone in it. It is completely impossible to eliminate a stone that large through the usually urinary tract.

I was immediately admitted to a room. I was scheduled for a doctor to try to break the stone up with some sort of laser treatment. Later on Christmas Eve afternoon he took me to a surgery room. When I woke up I had a tube draining my urine into a bag. The doctor came and said he was not able to do anything to the stone and I would need to see a doctor when I got home. He gave me several medications and various sizes of bags and instructions how and when to remove the tube. I got my medications for full price (I have no insurance) at the last moment of the last open pharmacy on Christmas Eve, but I got out of the hospital.

Christmas Day was not fun for me at all. I was taking medicine and draining my urine all day long. Yippee. I ate a few things but not much. I drank some cranberry juice, which I probably should have done to not get such a stone.

Saturday after Christmas I got to remove the tube and urinate normally again, except a bit sore and irregularly. I started feeling a bit better, but not great. Sunday morning I went to Church with Evie. I had a good time there, with 2 talks by recently returned Sister Missionaries and a High Council speaker. The messages I heard were full of gospel faith and the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I didn’t stay for classes but I was very happy I got hope and took the sacrament. Sunday afternoon I walked to the Temple grounds and took some pictures and posted to Facebook.

Sunday night we packed and got ready to head home. I still didn’t feel fully recovered and I still don’t. We flew home today, Monday, December 28, 2015. At the airport I had a ride in a wheelchair from the airport entrance to the plane and again at the end from the plane to the baggage claim.  I got home and I was so happy to get here.

The future is still a work in process.  I have a huge stone and apparently I also have a huge amount of calcium in my blood stream.  I probably need part of my parathyroid removed to get my calcium normalized.  I still don’t know how to pay for this.  I can’t afford the medical attention or the insurance costs.

The "Christian" Thing To Do

We live in a complex world and it is only becoming more so. Nothing is more complex, it seems, than Christianity. It seems like everyone who claims to be Christian has a different opinion of what real Christians do, and everyone else must be wrong. 

Homosexual Marriage

One camp believes that marriage is a thing that can be defined any way the participants want. Another camp believes that marriage is and always has been defined as one man and one woman. There are some that believe multiples of one gender can be married to one of the other gender. I am in the second camp (which actually came first chronologically). I don't believe marriage between two individuals of the same gender is valid to God or his Son, Jesus Christ. 

That said, I believe Christianity teaches us to love sinners. We are not supposed to love the sins, but the sinners we are commanded to love. This means we need to be willing to let people make bad decisions. This goes both ways in the current debate. 

When two people want to marry against God's law we do not need to support the decision but we do need to approach the situation in loving ways. A church that will not perform such weddings is definitely within their right to refuse. When those same individuals want to worship in the church they should be allowed to.

If a business chooses to withhold their services it is probably a bad decision but they should be allowed to. In today's social and economic climate they probably are damaging their chances of success in business. They should be willing to serve those with same gender attraction for other events in any case. 

The Muslim Question

Another place where a lot of Christians seem to have lost their bearings is in relation to those of other faiths, particularly Muslims.

Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good to those that despite fully use us and persecute us. When asked how many times we should forgive he said not 7 times as the law of Moses said but 70 times 7. This doesn't mean we should keep count until 490. It means we should forgive so much we stop counting and just keep forgiving. 

The Muslims who perpetrate terrorism are not the ones we regularly see on the street. I do not believe that all Muslim people are out to kill all Christians or Jews. 

I also believe that the evil forces in the world rejoice when they see people of faith cutting each other down. If they can get Christians to cut down Muslims and Jews and get Muslims to cut down Christians and Jews and get Jews to cut down Christians and Muslims then their job is a lot easier. The real battle is, and should be, people of God vs. godless people. Instead of fighting each other Christians should join forces with Jews and Muslims to win the war with evil. 

Christians vs. Christians

The hardest one to understand is the fight between Christians of different sects. In Rome Christians were persecuted, until they became the dominant religion. Then they started persecuting and they've been doing it ever since. 

Protestants were persecuted by Catholics then Protestants persecuted Reformers and their new churches. Reformers and Protestants then persecuted Quakers in the new world. I have Quaker ancestors that were persecuted by Puritans in Massachusetts just a few short years after the Puritans fled persecution in England.

When my religion arose through the Restoration through Joseph Smith they were persecuted by all types of Christians. Now that we have the 5th or 6th largest Christian denomination in the world members of our religion have learned how to persecute others. 

Why? What is the justification? It certainly is not in the words of Jesus Christ or his Apostles after his ascension. There is no mention of how to persecuted your neighbors in the Bible. 

I'm Wrapping Up Now

The bottom line is that the Christian thing to do is to love people. Love your family in all their weirdness. Love your friends, even when they turn on you. Love your enemies, especially when they hate you with a passion. Be kind to everyone in every way you can. 

I am not perfect in any of this. I want to be someday and I am trying to be more each day.