kathleen sheridan: Changing moons...

It's been awhile, a long absence from sharing here; a flashback through several months;

February; taking some of holiday time in

Tanzanzia, Kafero and I hiked Mt. Meru, overlooking

Mt. Kiliminjaro with impeccable timing, in amazement hiking during the night to reach the summit by sunrise, we were lit by the full moon, and guided by the southern cross above the summit. Winds howled, rocky ledges, alpine temperatures, the full moon was whisked away by the lunar eclipse, and as we reached nearly 16,000 foot summit, the sun rose over Mt. Kiliminjaro as if it was rejoicing in the triumph of making the journey.

March; Lake Bunynoni near the border of DRCongo and Rwanda on our R/R (rest/relaxation) week from the field, bordering. Relaxing tents with views overlooking the water and mountains, boat rides, wonderful fruit salads, coffee and chats. A decadent week of breathing and reflecting.

March 14th, departed for the US to return for my second thyroid cancer surgery, a much anticipated return, which was expected to only be several weeks at home proved to reveal more medical attention that any of us anticipated. Time with family and friends was just lovely and I’ve learned much more about asking for support when feeling the need for it. April; The medical world feels overwhelming and intimidating when every day you are faced with more information, studies, recommendations, treatment plans, percentages of this and that, sign this, take this pill, surgery here, body scan for this, lymph node uptake, other cancer risks. It felt like a full time job, that I didn’t apply for, nor wanted. However, I must show up for this job every day, and for the 2 months of medical mayhem, I learned how to make the most out of it. After the tears of frustration and fear are dried up, what do you do next? Maybe yoga in the backyard with Jason?

Paint portraits with Amanda? Write poems? Draw? Call friends? Pray? Make a cancer documentary ? Try experiments with your radioactive treatment beams ? Laugh about it ? Giggle with baby Eli ? Ask my dad how he coped with his cancer ? Watch 1950 films with mom? Cook African soup with Jill ? call Kafero to feel how life and love is nurturing? Support from Alissa with social stories? Listen to Annas encouragement about prayer ? Open up a letter from Katy? A book of poems from Lovella ? Analyze life with Garee and realize through the power of question, what my future path may hold through clarity and learning with art? Connect with others that have cancer? Read about nutrition and make changes to what I’m putting in my body ? Also, through the contemplation of life and choices of how we spend our time, refined a bit of my focus perhaps. Connecting with people and sharing moments has always been dear to my heart, but had a new sense of what that meant.

I still feel blessed, and somewhat guilty about having the choices, to have the choices in this medical care; because I realize some of us are of the few percentage in the world who have access to medical care, insurance, and options for treatment. When finishing my treatments, scans, bloodtests and maximizing what could be done in those moments, I organized a Creative Healing Celebration at the Joy Center in Ishpeming, which was a touching evening of family and friends sharing stories of hope and healing. It was such a positive ending to this part of the cancer journey at home; and realizing that the support around us is so meaningful and necessary at times like this. We gather for many reasons in life; graduation, birthdays, births, weddings, deaths, baby showers....what about healing? It was a lovely time; and a sense of closure.

A short time after that ceremony in May, came shock to our family. My maternal Grandpa Withers, passed away on the morning of 15 May, and my paternal Grandpa Sheridan passed away 24 hours later, on my dad's birthday.

So, as I was thankful I was not back in Africa when this happened, with mourning also comes family connecting; and with both funerals the following week came both tears of sadness, and joy of having a deeper understanding of their lives, not just as Grandpas, but in the eyes of childhood friends, husbands, fathers, and loved ones. As they are greatly missed; they touched so many lives here; and that will live on.
June; Being back in Patongo IDP camp now for about 4 weeks has been a joyous time of reconnecting with my work team here, community people and friends.

It also means so much to be able to come back to Uganda in the healing process, because it represents 1) my life to share with others is continuing and 2) I am healthy to come back to the calling and purpose I feel ; refining that calling and what I'm putting energy into is changing though. I have felt this is the right time to move into psycho-social work with children in Northern Uganda; so I will be leaving Medair July, and connecting with some organizations around that I can contribute with the children of this area.