Jim and Pat Ebacher - Our Life: April 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

Mom's Health Update

Still bald but is thinking about growing hair. Chemo is over after 3 not so well tolerated doses. Got home from the hospital a week ago, after 5 units of blood from a bleeding duodenal ulcer, side effect of the Chemo.

But, doing much better now. Almost eating normally. No nausea or belly pain anymore. Hoping to get back to work on Sunday, May 3rd. Taking less drugs everyday. Yeah.

We are looking forward to traveling to Missouri for Mara's medical school graduation on May 15th with Dad.

Swine Flu (Influenza A H1N1) FAMILY NOTICE

... or as the Spanish speaking humans in the world call it, "La influenza porcina (gripe porcina)." As a newly evolved virus, and one which spans human - avian - pig, it seems to me there are a number of likely outcomes;

This will become a pandemic. In the age of mass travel, it's inevitable. Think about how AIDS spread, a virus relatively hard to spread (requires blood/semen transmission). This virus is respiratory.
A 5-10% death rate for those infected, if it follows current trends.
The virus will have greater vitality in populations where there is greater medical needs.
The virus may trigger changes in Avian flu that will result in it becoming a human to human transmitter, and this is important because.... avian flu is much more leathal to humans. Currently concentrated in Asia, avian flu will intersect with this new stain.
No one is talking about Latin America, but Peru already has one case yet to be confirmed, and there is a great amount travel between Central/South America and Mexico.

So, what can we do about it? See the new widget on the left? Best info source on the net. On the macro-epidemiology level, not much. On the micro-epidemiology level, that is, your personal health... Follow Health Department warnings, limit travel, avoid those who are sick, and if you get sick, stay home. Here's the office CDC recommendations:

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?

There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza. Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

And here's Dad's advice in addition to the CDC:

The handwashing thing is really true. Whenever you go into public, avoid touching your face, eyes, nose and mouth, until you have throughly washed your hands with soap and water or used alcohol based hand cleanser. And remember to hang onto that paper towel until you have shut off the water with it and used it to open the door to exit the public washroom, otherwise known as the den of dem bugs. No kidding. The door handle is the second most infected area in a public restroom. Can you guess what's #1? Yup, the toilet flush handle and that little knob on the stall door.

When there are known cases in your area, wear a N95 mask rated for bodily fluids (I've ordered a case), whenever you are going into a public area, and especially crowded areas and medical facilities. If you want to buy some, don't look at a pharmacy, go to Home Depot and look in the sheetrock supply area.

If you become sick with flu like symptoms (this is the respiratory type flu, not the stomach flu), stay home and treat the symptoms. Avoid exposing others by limiting contact and wearing a mask. Treat fever and pain with Tylenol. Treat cough with Robitussin with expectorant. Maintain fluid level and rest. Call your Dad or Dr. Mara if you have any questions.

If you (or anyone you know) has significant symptoms, call your health care system or your doctor, and follow directions. DON'T JUST SHOW UP AT THE CLINIC OR HOSPITAL. You will either be told to stay home and heal there, or if warranted, mask yourself and come into the doctor for an examination, or mask yourself and go to the emergency room. Significant complications to watch for are: difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, chest pain, and dehydration.

Pax Vobiscum

Fr. Roger's Eulogy

Roger Joseph Ebacher, OCSO
May 19, 1919 – April 15, 2008

Eulogy

My name is Jim Ebacher, and I am Fr. Jerome’s nephew. My father was Fr. Jerome’s kid brother. They called him Bill, and we call Fr. Jerome, “Roger”, and his Medicare card calls him Joseph. It’s all kind of confusing. But, had my father lived into his old age, I’m sure he would have been here today at this lectern, also finding a way to make you laugh a little bit. So, I guess I’ll speak to you in his place.

Roger was born on May 19th, 1919, to French Canadian immigrants on May 19th, 1919, and grew up in Amesbury, Massachusetts. We trace our ancestry to one lone mercenary, a Frenchman, recruited by the Braunschweigers to fight the American colonial rebels in the war of Independence. The Braunschweigers lost that fight, but like many of those who were defeated, Jean-Baptiste Ebacher and his descendents the Ebacher and Baker families, settled in and around Quebec, Canada. At the turn of the last century many French Canadians we enticed to immigrate to Amesbury, Massachusetts to work on the new carriage factories, making the early horseless carriages. They needed skilled carpenters. Roger grew up as a boy in the Amesbury neighborhood called the “brickyard”, and as you might guess, this area was not known for its stunning views or fine homes. He was one of a family of four brothers and five sisters. Their mother died when Roger was in the 6th grade, naturally a traumatic experience which scarred Roger throughout his life and lead to his frail disposition. He has three surviving siblings; Beatrice, Margaret and Therese, all religious sisters in the order of St. Critienne in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Please keep them in your prayers.

Roger began his religious life at the minor seminary of Our Lady of LaSalette, in Enfield, New Hampshire. There, he was schooled in High School subject matter and in the languages of Greek, Latin, French and English. After LaSalette he explored his vocation with the LaSalette fathers, and I believe was quite close to ordination with them, when he felt called to the Trappist community at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass, which he then joined. While at this Abbey, he lost all his collected poems as the result of a fire, something he quietly grieved his entire life. He was part of the original foundation to Pecos, New Mexico, and he studied at the Vatican for a short time. He was with the community when they moved to this location in 1955. My apologies if I have any of this wrong.

In his final days, Roger told me quite often that he felt on the whole quite blessed in this life. He also expressed regret that he did not have a stronger prayer life and that he wasn’t a very good monk. The rule of St. Benedict has the motto Prayer and Work. Roger’s work was teaching, which he did as novice master for many years, painting, and his duties as Mass Secretary, and finally keeping everything tidy in the Sacristy. He believed all priests should be grounded in the classical philosophical thoughts of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, as well as the 20th century writings particularly of Whitehead. During the 1970’s Roger embarked on a systematic study of modern science, reading Biology, Physics, Anatomy, Psychology, and finishing with what he came to believe was the basis of all understand of matter, Quantum Physics. Naturally, there were few he could knowledgeably discuss these pursuits with. At the same time he began a study of painting with a teacher in McMinnville, a pursuit he dedicated a number of years to. Roger didn’t think he would live to see the new church, but he did, and he liked it very much, although he has his doubts when it was being planned. He expressed his appreciation for the love and support of Abbot Peter often to me, and enjoyed a warm fraternal relationship with Dom Bernard.

Roger was nervous and frail for much of his life. He was very conscious of his weak voice. He had a touchy constitution and generally kept only a few close friends in the Abbey. He had a number of secular contacts; men and women who came to him for confession and who enjoyed discussions of philosophy. These visits were uplifting to his spirits. I don’t know anything about most of these relationships, but I’m sure their stories will be told and we will learn new things about Fr. Jerome.

He was a philosopher. His writings represent a body of concise thought about the nature of existence. And, in his later years he felt that it was quite complete, that he has said all he wanted to say, even if it sadly may never be read and understood by another human being. In his final years, he often spoke of how he felt a peace with the completeness of his writings. The only spiritual connection he ever spoke of to me was with ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX, a doctor of the church, known as the little flower. He had an old black and white photograph of her in his room, and he often spoke of feeling her personal presence with him.

Roger was a beloved uncle to me, and like a grandfather to my children. Maybe this is an odd thing for a monk. I don’t know. It seems quite natural to us. My relationship began the year before my father died, when I spend January term here, having come by Greyhound bus from Minnesota. Some of you here today remember this. Roger returned my visit by officiating at our wedding in Minnesota just 4 years later. He gave First Communion to our four children, and no matter how noisy and rambunctious they were, always received them with love and joy. Like us, he rejoiced in their achievements and growth. Over the past few years he often spoke of his longing to be with God in eternal life. He was impatient with his existence and not at all sure why he was still hanging around. Roger was my father surrogate, and although I miss my father very deeply, I have always felt he was actually still with me, not at all gone. And now, I grieve the loss to me of both of these gentle men who have given me so much.

His last coherent words to me were that when it gets down to it, it’s really all about the Father Almighty. Just the Father, at the center of it all. And I will leave you with that mystery. It might be an unwritten coda to the symphony of this one monk’s life of seeking an understanding of existence. Roger felt he had come to some measure of Truth in his thoughts and writings, and also felt the presence of the devil who was trying to shut him up. I believe Roger has finally won his struggle; his struggle with life and Truth.

When we come into the world we proclaim our arrival with loud cries and complaints. When we go, life just sneaks out of us. Somewhere between, if we are lucky and we put for the effort to find it, one can find a measure of revelation. This is what I’ve learned from my dear uncle.

I want to thank you all for coming today and letting me speak briefly with you. I want to express to all of you the gratitude for the prayers that made Jerome’s passing a smooth journey, and supported us throughout the vigil and his illness these past many months.

I want to close with a poem Roger wrote a long time ago. It’s called “Imaculata”.

IMMACULATA

She rests in the clean dawn, my white-
winged Dove, in the clefted reef, cooing,
wooing the Rising-Sun.

Mine is the Morning-Glory, bright
in twilit brittleness,
lipping,
lapping the soonest Ray.

She is a Forest-Virgin, awed
to tremor and hush, yet
dancing,
clapping her atom-hands.

Mine, this clearest fountain, with
trembling sparks in glee,
leaping,
telling of full-day’s Flame.

James Joseph Ebacher
Read at Roger's Funeral Reception
4-19-08

Jim and Pat Ebacher - Our Life

Monday, April 27, 2009

Mom's Health Update

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