A Jewish Blessing

Day 93 or exactly 3 months on the list..........

Today Anna had a CF clinic appointment. The last one was 6 weeks ago. We really did not think she would be going to this one but there we were. Nothing has changed. All her numbers have stayed stable. She is doing great and they are proud of her. We asked Dr. Dhillon (a CF physician and a lung transplant physician rolled into one) if there had been activity around Anna's name. He said that she has been discussed for lungs recently, he did not say how many times but it certainly seemed more than once. The main issue that he said was of concern with the lung offerings was the size. There has not been a perfect match yet. He said that when a patient is being discussed regularly it means that it will be soon. Now there is that word again, soon, such a relative term. Even so he was encouraging. Anna is getting excited. Since her friend Steve got his lungs yesterday she has gotten very excited and more ready than ever. Ready to get on with the show.

Because we have had some very special spiritual experiences during this journey Anna's interest in the experience of healing blessings and prayers has been peeked. One type of blessing that she felt that she wanted prior to the transplant was a Jewish Blessing. She has a lovely prayer quilt from her friend Courtney's prayer group, a special and personal blessing from the Dalai Lama, all of the prayers from everyone out there offering up to their God or spirit energy for Anna but because of her heritage Anna really also wanted a personal Jewish blessing.

When she first requested this I immediately thought of my friend, Chaplain Bruce Feldstein at Stanford. Bruce is a medical doctor turned Jewish Chaplain who I served with 10 years ago at Stanford. He is a wonderful and very healing man. Well of course as our days go, right after the clinic visit as we walked down the hall there was Bruce! I had not seen him for a year. We told him of Anna's desire and he took us to a quiet waiting room and sung the most beautiful Jewish blessing prayer for Anna. He invoked the archangels to give her loving kindness, strength, light and healing for this journey. Bruce also prayed for the transplant in a way that honored the unfolding of life's events and the gratitude that will come through intersecting with someone's life who has the compassion to donate organs to some one who needs them to live. It was sweet and beautiful and a completion in a sense. Ask and it shall be given. As a blessings collector, Anna has collected a wonderful bunch.

So many blessings, so much good energy. We can feel it all and are just excited. We are letting it flow and letting it go.............

P.S. transplant number 6 for October at Stanford is being performed at this moment. Amazing, 6! We are on a roll........ Anna would love to be 7. We shall see............