West London Alliance Church

The Blog of Pastor Mike Wilkins

In The Long Run

"The long run" referred to in the title of this blog is, in the first place, the many years Mike Wilkins served as West London's solo pastor, and then its Senior Pastor, since he and his wife Deb moved to London (and this church) in 1984.

In these past few years (beginning November 2011,) Mike's various health challenges, particularly a serious and ongoing case of cancer, has added another layer to the "long run" metaphor, and lots to blog about. Mike is currently on an extended Sick Leave, but generally worships with the church family on Sunday mornings.

With the publication of a book he wrote in 2016 entitled "Glory in the Face" (now available electronically and in paperback from Amazon.ca, and other online venders), Mike has just launched a new website, which will serve as a sort of scrapbook for readers of the book, with relevant background photos, for example, of That Last Final Solo Canoe Trip in May, 2011, as well as additional information about the book, and--coming soon--a new set of blog posts, mostly about the peace of God and the joy of the Lord and the face of Christ and the strength to face anything. You'll find the new website now at www.gloryintheface.com.

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Archives

  • Aug27Wed

    Two swords. One hope

    August 27, 2014
    Everything is looking pretty good these days, except for the very large sword hanging over my head by a single hair from a horse's tail.
  • Aug1Fri

    And another thing?

    August 1, 2014
    Just about fourteen months ago, a bright young oncologist met with one of his new cancer patients (and the sick guy's beautiful wife) to explain just how serious a case of cancer this was, and how slim was the likelihood of the sick guy's survival.
  • Jun20Fri

    A very small snail

    June 20, 2014

    This post is a sequel to the post of February 7, which was added to this blog just prior to the surgery that I have learned to call my "liver resection" (which makes it sound like some sort of a liver repair although it was actually more of a liver removal.)

    I called the post "Less liver. More living." Today, about sixteen weeks since the "resection," I blog again on the same topic. I could have called this one "More liver. Less living," but instead I turn for a title to one of the poems of A.A Milne.

  • May16Fri

    If I were a rich man

    May 16, 2014
    Last week, I met once again with the surgeon who late in February performed my liver resection, removing three cancerous tumours, and about 70 or 75% of my liver with them. Accordingly, for two weeks in the hospital and then for the remaining two weeks of March, I lay around (the hospital) and then staggered around (the house) [like some sort of physical wreck], looking forward to recovering from this second cancer-related surgery, which I had come to call "Thing #4".  Late this April, I met with the same great surgeon for a second post-operative check-up, during which I was told to stop comparing this most recent surgery to the surgery of last Fall. "Removing such a large portion of the liver is a much bigger deal with a much longer recovery period," I was told. Good to know.
  • Apr17Thu

    Squeaky wheels and small potatoes

    April 17, 2014
    Today, the fiftieth day since the liver resection of February 26, I break my blogging silence to report on what happened at today's long-awaited appointment with the oncologist. Thanks for your patience, but this most recent surgery, "Thing #4," has turned out to be way more taxing and exhausting than I was expecting it to be. As a result, for seven weeks now, I have been mostly sleeping and napping and dozing (often with a really good book open on my lap).
  • Feb25Tue

    If I should NOT

    February 25, 2014
    What's been lolling about in my brain these last couple of weeks is the question of what if tomorrow I DON'T die before I wake.
  • Feb22Sat

    Cancelled

    February 22, 2014
    As it turns out, surgeons prefer patients with thick blood. (Something about no one in the Operating Room bleeding to death.)
  • Feb7Fri

    Less liver. More living

    February 7, 2014
    And now it's time for Thing #4, in a series of things that we were told from the outset "all have to go very well." Turns out my surgeon has a somewhat higher view of what was accomplished by Thing #3 than does my oncologist, who you may recall, considered Thing #3 only semi-successful. This last Monday we met with the surgeon to hear whether or not he is willing to take on the "resection," that is, to take out a chunk of my liver. Turns out he is.
  • Jan25Sat

    Long winding road. Strong big brother

    January 25, 2014
    Sometimes the winding turns are as unexpected as the actual destination. And sometimes all that is really unknown about the destination is the timing.
  • Jan11Sat

    Through thick and thinning

    January 11, 2014

    Late this Thursday afternoon, in the oncologist's examining room, last week's "Cloud of Not Knowing" was lifted, to reveal that in the first place, the cancerous lesions that have been loitering in my liver all through 2013 are still there, still just hanging around, despite the four Invasions of Intravenous Chemical Warfare that I signed up for in November and December. The Good News is that the lesions haven't grown. The Not-So-Good News is that neither have they shrunk.  Meanwhile, my New Bad News is that a pesky blood clot has managed to make its way into my lungs, and so I now am also a man with a Pulmonary Embolism. In my right lung. "The plot thickens." And what's that sort of man to do?