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Humanistic on the world episode 26 rest in peace mom
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Welcome to the episode of humanistic on the world. I am Dustin and Joining me is
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Hello, all right, so
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Been a while last you heard from me was May 31 when I said we're actually I didn't say we were taking a break
0:22
I acknowledged we were taking a break
0:25
Since the last real episode was April 25. Yeah
0:30
And now that the
0:32
Situation that resulted in that has come to a close. I am more comfortable talking about it more detail
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It feels like a lifetime ago
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We've had preschool graduation Memorial Day weekend that summer almost coming gone. It feels like yeah
0:49
And this episode is going to be heavy. I
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Am using chapters
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so if you're using a podcast app to listen to this the supports chapters and a
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section is too heavy for you to handle
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skip to the next chapter
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before you skip the whole episode and so
1:11
For those of you that have been around for a while
1:14
you may recall the
1:17
September 2016
1:19
12-hour stream of thong we did to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society 12 hours
1:25
Did you do the full 12 hours, or did you just contribute an hour to the 12 hours? I?
1:29
Think I had a one-hour break. Yeah. Oh god. Okay
1:33
It's as bad as I remember it then. Yeah. Yeah, yeah
1:36
I I made a point of being there for as much as I possibly could I took breaks, but I was there for this is before the day of
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Children. Yes. Yes
1:46
Just over a year before Kylie was born
1:49
But with that that team and that wasn't the first year we did light the night
1:55
the the team that we had was the Treasure Valley Coalition of Reason team and
2:01
our honored hero was my mom who
2:05
survived Hodgkin's lymphoma and
2:08
round 1980 1981 that was the
2:13
You know Hodgkin's lymphoma was the earliest form of cancer
2:17
identified it has had the highest survival rate
2:21
basically forever because
2:24
It's the first one to be really identified like that study really helped
2:29
It's the one that Hank Green science communicator youtuber podcaster has right now and is
2:38
Not particularly worried like he's not all that worried about it because it's it's stressful
2:42
It's a really high survival rate makes a hell of sick, but the treatments the treatments do make you come out of it
2:50
the other end is just That year or two of your life is gone
2:55
Yeah, now at the time my mom had it back in the baby days. It was
3:02
You know a little bit different
3:04
chemo and radiate chemos were way more brutal than they are now and
3:09
the dosing was Way more frequent. The radiation
3:14
Was so much precise dosing has just dumped it. Yeah and see what happens
3:20
the radiation was
3:22
62nd burst chin to toe front and back five days a week for three months straight
3:29
And she did that a couple times
3:32
She survived barely
3:34
She was told she would be sterile had me a couple years later not barely sterile which
3:41
resulted in me growing up believing that my birth was a miracle
3:46
Which made it harder to leave religion. Yeah
3:49
uh the cancer had
3:53
lingering effects on her like
3:56
She despite the fact that she wasn't completely sterile
4:01
She was all but sterile and had to start on estrogen replacement therapy
4:08
very early to avoid
4:12
But periamontopausal at what like 38 or something
4:17
30 something effectively she would have carried on effectively it would have been from 32. Yeah
4:23
Yeah, that would suck and
4:26
Then a puzzle rough probably at about 36. I was 30. She was 35 when I was born
4:32
and so the the risk of
4:35
osteoporosis was a
4:37
Huge huge concern. Uh, she had her thyroid was fried her sweat glands roll fried
4:43
um it had
4:46
It had lingering effects, but she had a really good life after that
4:51
And then she got to her 60s
4:53
In fact, she stopped going to any survivor things, right? Yeah, it was lasted everybody
4:58
There was nobody else like she was going to survival of survivor events
5:02
There was nobody there who had survived cancer more than five years
5:06
And when she was at 30 years
5:09
Well, it's starting to feel awkward that was resulting in a lot of survivor guilt
5:13
Yeah, yeah And the man I can't imagine literally can't imagine. Yeah, the doctors had told her that
5:19
Absolute at the best she could expect she would survive
5:22
into her 60s She made it to 74. Yeah, which is incredible
5:29
But in her 60s
5:32
The bone degradation resulted in the lower part of her back
5:36
collapsing and that
5:38
Severely impacted her mobility And she weakened
5:43
Not even not a wheelchair though, but not a wheelchair. She even went hiking with us on a couple of games. Oh, yeah
5:48
She hiked all over, uh, and you have good genes. Yeah, she
5:52
She was She was smart in that she figured out
5:57
What she could do and maintain
5:59
The ability to feel her toes and what made her legs go numb and the things that made her legs go numb. She stopped doing
6:07
Lifting over 20 pounds was a big one. Okay, which meant no lifting children
6:12
Yeah, which I know I remember
6:15
Her making a comment when kylie was born
6:18
She wanted to hold kylie, but she was never gonna be able to pick her up
6:21
Yeah Because if she did
6:23
You know by the time a toddler is at walking age, they're not 20 pounds, but they're getting there
6:29
She never would have been able to pick her up. Mm-hmm
6:32
She might have had a 10 pound limit. I don't remember exactly what it was. It was really light
6:36
Hold a baby, but she couldn't pick one up. I remember that. Yeah
6:40
and then
6:43
She started having About five years ago. She started having some heart problems and
6:48
eventually got into the doctor and they found
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99 blockage and did emergency triple bypass
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The blockage was from scar tissue from the radiation and chemo. Yeah
7:01
From that point on
7:03
I was waiting for what's the next landmine. Yeah
7:06
in fact You did an episode
7:09
Either on the day that she had the surgery or the day after
7:13
And you talked about how weird that was yeah that you knew that her heart had stopped. Yeah, and uh, what's next kind of thing. Yep. And so then
7:22
August of 2021
7:25
She started having gallbladder pain
7:27
Which I mean line up right at that point my sister had had gallbladder pain my dad had gallbladder
7:32
It seemed like this was like the hottest craze So everybody's having gallbladder pain
7:37
My mom came close in her 50s to getting her gallbladder removed
7:42
Yeah It resolved, but that was a lingering thing that as soon as that starts hurting again, they'd go ahead and take it out
7:51
It started hurting again and
7:54
This was august september And october 2021 there was a major covid outbreak where she lived
8:02
Yeah, she couldn't yeah, so they couldn't get imaging. She was it was completely shut down. No imaging
8:07
It took forever to get her into an operating room and when the doctor got in there
8:12
He found a tumor literally instead of image because there was so little imaging available
8:16
They decided to do surgery first. Yep. Like wow the surgeon went in just to see what was going on
8:22
The surgeon went and blind
8:24
the assumption was
8:26
It was a really bad gallbladder attack. The gallbladder needed to be removed
8:30
He got in there and he couldn't find the gallbladder because there was a tumor there instead. Yeah
8:36
And so he took a biopsy did an exploratory to see how far the tumor had gone because again
8:42
It was going to be a couple months past that before
8:46
The covid outbreak subsided and they could go 24 hours without imaging a covid patient
8:52
No MRIs no cats. They were finally able to start doing imaging
8:56
It was amazing how it was we were all worried about the hospitals collapsing
9:01
In so many regards. I never thought about the effects of not having imaging. Yeah
9:06
So all the radio techs out there man hurt you
9:09
That was a rough time because the way the imaging equipment worked and those rooms worked
9:16
They had to go at least 24 hours with no covid patients
9:20
And every imager was being used at least
9:24
at enough of a pace to check lung function and whatnot for covid patients
9:29
so They she got the cancer diagnosis
9:33
off of the biopsy
9:36
It took longer to get to
9:39
the imaging to actually get the full diagnosis
9:43
of intra hepatic bile duct cancer
9:47
That's not the proper name for it. The proper name is really hard to pronounce
9:52
uh It's scientific enough that if you want to look it up, you can find it
9:57
If not liver, but it's liver adjacent it well intra hepatic means within the liver
10:03
No liver. It's it's a cancer of the bile duct lining
10:08
Like the epithelial cells that line the bile ducts can become cancerous
10:13
Just like any other cell in the body can
10:16
And if it starts within the liver, it's different than if it starts around the gallbladder
10:21
Which is different than if it's actually the gallbladder itself
10:25
Versus it's different if it's the common bile duct below the gallbladder and the prognosis
10:31
Oncologists need to be specific. Yeah, the specificity is
10:36
is intense Uh intra hepatic
10:39
Which my mom had is the most aggressive and has the
10:43
lowest survival rates
10:45
Big factor is it's the hardest to operate on because if it starts outside of the liver
10:51
It can attack a different organ and cause symptoms that result in it getting diagnosed
10:57
When it's small enough that they can do surgery
11:00
By the time Her's got diagnosed and they got a full picture of it
11:05
They couldn't surgically remove it because they would have had to take too much of her liver
11:09
You know, we all learn in elementary school or middle school that you can live with what 51 percent of your liver or something
11:15
I think it's about 20 Actually, um, I did that was the i'm telling you. Oh, yeah. Yes. Okay. Elementary school
11:21
Like you can live with half slightly more than half of your littever
11:24
Um plus or minus so like a percentage but you need to have half of it
11:29
And this was that's fair. This won't this went over that
11:32
They would have had to remove something like 80 percent of her liver
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So that was no good chance of her surviving the surgery whether or not she would have liver function was zero
11:40
Yeah, they already knew that with her heart history that there wasn't any surgical option anyway
11:45
I remember us holding on to the hope there for a little while, but I kind of
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We all knew that that wasn't going to be an option
11:52
With your back surgery the surgeon refused to operate. No
11:56
Uh surgeons no surgeon has ever liked the risk that my mom presented the the fact that one was willing to do it to
12:04
Figure out what was going on with her gallbladder was Saying something about how bad that was
12:09
The prognosis was terrible and her previous history with cancer limited options
12:15
Uh Any kind of generalized radiation wasn't available because as her oncologist put it
12:21
She'd already had a true nobles worth of radiation
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It was the only early days. They didn't know what they were doing
12:27
Like I said, they kind of dumped a bucket of radiation on her and hope for the best
12:31
It worked out thanks to her previous history with chemo the two chemos they tried actually three chemos they tried
12:38
She didn't tolerate. Yeah
12:41
There was some really cool pretty experimental treatment. She got to do one was a
12:47
Uranium 91
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beads that were
12:52
injected into the
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Actual blood supply of the tumor those did had the most effect they
13:01
eliminated the pain that she had
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and slowed the growth of the tumor now one thing I have to say for the covid pandemic is that
13:10
If you're a pulmonologist, you're booked. You're you were at working
13:14
18 hour days 16 hour days every day for months oncologists were bored out of their minds
13:23
Um, so apparently because the people at ohsu
13:26
Jumped on her case. She had professionals from all over the pacific northwest helping her in this her specific case
13:33
I will not be surprised if her name is chose up on a research paper here coming up soon because
13:38
They had seen very little of what she was going through there. They're
13:43
bile deck cancers are There's about 8,000 a year in the u.s
13:49
Sounds like a lot, but it's not that's yeah, that's that's there's a couple in each state
13:55
More than a few if you're in texas or or california because they're big states
14:00
But in the northwest there's there's not many uh the y90 was really cool
14:05
She got to do that And it provided benefit
14:10
That was great. She did an immunotherapy
14:13
And these immunotherapies are really cool because and super promising
14:17
It's an area where there's a lot of research going in where they are targeting
14:22
immune regulator
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molecules that tumors
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hijack to get the immune system to ignore them and if you can block that
14:34
that that regulation pathway
14:38
the immune system
14:40
Can have a better chance of knocking out the tumor
14:43
She was on it two months
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It did not change
14:48
Anything with the tumor, but it did end up killing her adrenal gland
14:52
Yeah, which this was this was a gonna go. Yeah, and this was a particular kind of of medication that
14:59
uh, though It was a near
15:03
basically if you survived long enough after taking it which
15:07
Nobody survived very long after taking it, but if you survived long enough
15:10
You would have some kind of autoimmune disorder
15:13
Antithyroid was the most common. My mom doesn't have a functioning thyroid. So
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It found something else. It got the adrenal gland
15:21
and It was a long process
15:25
It was a brutal process
15:27
We were lucky that we managed to be on our visits
15:31
She was doing well We didn't see her at her worst most of the time until she broke her hip
15:36
Yeah, and you know what they say about little ladies who break their hips
15:41
She knew it she worked in a nursing home for a long time. Yep
15:45
But um and everything everything she did was to prevent that from happening
15:49
But sooner or later when your bones don't hold up your body anymore
15:55
something's got to give so
15:58
That's what gave yep, so
16:01
Yeah, she broke her hip
16:03
She was hoping to get surgery
16:06
The doctor Said that there was a big chance that she wouldn't survive the anesthesia. She said that's fine
16:14
That that's not that's not bad
16:16
Like she didn't see that as a negative at that point
16:20
but the anesthesiologist
16:23
Wasn't willing to take the risk maybe an Oregon, but they're not suicide doctors. Yeah, they're not gonna
16:29
Harm a patient in any way if she had held liable. She could have gone that route
16:35
Because she was an Oregon. She couldn't go that route because she's Adventist
16:40
And that was really frustrating for me because here I see a woman a very proud woman who worked in this field for a long time
16:46
Seeing things happen right before her eyes that she never wanted to have happen. Yeah
16:50
um And in Oregon there there's an out
16:55
as long as you are of
16:57
Sound mind and have two doctors
16:59
And less than six months to live. She probably had a dozen doctors and definitely less than six months
17:05
She could have made that choice. Yeah, uh, but I didn't fully understand
17:11
How Adventists view
17:13
the afterlife so
17:16
That's okay, you know, that's not
17:18
It's an individual's decision to do that
17:20
So she chose not to for as many religious people would choose not like even non religious people would have a hard time
17:28
Signing that paper, you know, it's and it's one where
17:33
the number of people who
17:35
Would sign that paper
17:37
Be able to sign off on that while being
17:41
of Sound of mind is very few
17:45
Well, it's like saying that um mass shooters are insane
17:48
Yes, they are inherently insane because to kill that many people is an act of insanity
17:53
To end your life prematurely some would argue is an act of insanity. Therefore you can't be of sound mind
17:59
Which is why it hasn't caught on anywhere else. Yeah, uh, I don't necessarily believe that now if you are terminally ill it is
18:07
You know, there is a point
18:09
And and that was one of the things that we we got to see was there was a point when she was of sound mind and could have made that determination
18:18
and then there was the period of time where
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Her sound mind was gone. Yeah, and that was hard to see
18:25
uh since
18:28
Her diagnosis
18:30
We made nine trips thousand
18:34
60 miles round trip
18:37
Uh Seven of those were in the last year and averaging what 11 hours
18:44
Total about 10 hour travel time slower in the winter with and slower when kylie was younger
18:50
Yeah, yeah, when kylie was younger it took a lot longer
18:53
Uh when we'd have the dogs with us it would take longer than when they were staying with somebody
18:57
We got pretty good at this spring though. We're
18:59
It was dead winter. It was
19:03
It was a lot slower when going over the mountains for 30 miles an hour. Yeah
19:09
But we got those that time in yes and each visit we made
19:15
She had an improvement in quality of life. Um, she called it her kylie fix
19:21
Because as soon as she'd see kylie her
19:25
Everything was better
19:27
And that's awesome. Yeah
19:29
And i'm greatly comforted by the knowledge that we helped in that regard. Mm-hmm. Okay, let's
19:36
shift gears slightly
19:39
It's been long enough. You can't remember the buttons, can you? No, it's i don't know which one i want to play
19:42
To get that label maker
19:51
I think this is an appropriate sound this is from the schism's podcast
19:57
But i still think it's an appropriate sound for the the tone
20:02
I don't know it just makes your board look pretty The five stages of grief
20:06
No, you had The class on this right you were a theology student you actually took the class the class okay, so as
20:15
Through some of the core classes of my theology major
20:18
there was The year of preaching classes one quarter of which was weddings and funerals
20:27
half of the weddings and funerals class was on funerals and grief counseling and
20:32
helping people through dying and the ministerial side of that
20:36
Separate from that As part of a psych minor that i was one class short of finishing
20:43
You said a little better there A little better
20:46
It conflicted the one i needed to
20:49
Abnormal psychology was the class that i needed to finish up the the minor and it conflicted with one of the core majors
20:57
I hate that core core classes for my major you can't afford to do a whole another semester
21:02
Just to do the one class, but yeah, anyway, so abnormal would have been fun
21:06
So i did uh death and dying
21:09
An entire three quarter hour course on on death and dying
21:14
two people teaching it one of whom
21:17
Had worked for many years as a chaplain in a hospital the other one was a
21:21
master of social work who was i think they got a doctorate in psychology and
21:27
Was damn she was good
21:30
Uh, but i went through a class learning all about
21:34
About the process I have experienced it quite a few times with cousins who died in car accidents with my grandparents dying with an
21:43
A few dying of a drug overdose
21:46
Uh an estranged father dying
21:49
I've experienced it from a bunch of different angles as well
21:52
This was totally different from any of those
21:55
uh, the five stages of grief though are
21:59
They're pretty common pretty standard. Uh, it's the kubler ross model
22:05
It's denial anger bargaining depression acceptance
22:10
I remember this from the simpsons episode
22:14
and Denial depending on who you are
22:18
Will determine how long it takes and what form that takes
22:23
Uh, I know i'm a weirdo
22:27
So denial isn't
22:30
No No, she's going to do fine. She's going to be able to get the surgery
22:35
She's going to make it for me denial was
22:39
I'm freaked out about what I don't know I need to learn everything I can about this. Okay, so you you had it, but it came across at a very different
22:48
For me, it's weird. Yeah, then the average person would have gone. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah
22:54
Uh, my my my brain is just wired differently in how that how denial works
23:00
Uh denial for me practicing skepticism for a long time. So
23:05
You you are inherently doubtful of good news anyway. Yep. Um, or hopeful news
23:12
It's like, okay. Well, yeah, that's nice. But what are the facts? That's very good
23:17
training to have yeah, uh, anchor
23:21
I definitely
23:23
Went through there wasn't really much of the the standard, you know, phrasing of why me
23:28
it's not fair or How can this happen to me or who's the blame or why would this happen? I knew the answers to all those right
23:37
It was her time statistically speaking
23:40
It was her time
23:42
Statistically speaking if she was at high risk of bad things happening. Yeah
23:46
Uh It sucked
23:49
But if anything you had a few, you know, it was easy to get angry at a doctor
23:54
Uh, I found it was there was a period of time where it was very there were several periods of time
23:59
Because one of the things with the five stages is you can go through them multiple times through the same death
24:03
Especially when it's a death that you're you've gotten a year and a half to prepare for yeah
24:09
You can't complete it without closure. Yeah, so that was 18 months of going through this
24:16
cycle over and over and over again
24:19
Denial in in later stages denial ended up taking the form of just
24:24
kind of suspension of disbelief to be
24:27
Try to be positive and supportive of whatever new treatment my mom was trying
24:31
Uh Anger
24:33
In a lot of cases and it me just being shorter with people
24:37
It was a period of time where I was just angrier
24:40
at several points. Yeah, not at
24:43
a thing but just
24:46
in general Yeah, uh bargaining is the third phase
24:51
Of course if you don't have anyone to bargain bargain with that one kind of falls flat doesn't it bargaining in this one
24:59
Okay, that's that's that's what can you do to try to
25:03
You know, there's negotiating with god. There's
25:06
Which doesn't apply here. There's negotiating with doctors. There's just trying to figure out
25:12
you know if
25:14
if we try this will it
25:16
Make it hurt less but that's not really bargaining
25:19
That's you mostly left it up to the experts trusted the experts in their opinions
25:23
My mom went my mom didn't really do any bargaining. She went with whatever the doctor suggested. She was willing to try
25:29
Yeah, if it didn't work, she didn't
25:32
She stopped it
25:34
The closest I would come to
25:37
to the bargaining would be
25:40
Making as many trips as possible over there. Yeah
25:43
In hopes that seeing her that many times in particular that birthday trip
25:48
Uh That was when the weather was the worst that was the slowest drive. It was the most stressful
25:55
Uh, but we got there for her birthday on january 5 and got to spend her last birthday with her. Yeah
26:03
Uh, really bargain not really but
26:06
Again, you're weird. Yeah, I'm weird. That one doesn't work all that well with me a lot of people do bargaining a lot better
26:12
Well, the better Give yourself some credit
26:16
Uh depression
26:18
Is a pretty obvious one
26:20
Um I came back to that over and over again in particular anytime
26:28
We left after a visit or
26:31
The newest bad new newest bad news. Yeah
26:34
And The final step is acceptance
26:37
Uh You jumped right to that one early on
26:41
You didn't know that you were gonna have to do it over and over again though
26:43
I knew I was going to have to do it over and over again. Yeah, uh, I would say for the most part. I went through
26:50
In the first nine months
26:52
I went through the five stages
26:55
Uh, it was that
26:57
Just about a year ago little over a year ago when uh, my mom sat me down and
27:02
Made sure I It was clear in my mind that she was going to die
27:07
We then went to the beach and
27:10
I spent three days going through
27:14
depression To acceptance and then we got covid. Yeah, that was fun. Uh
27:22
So I had to cycle through these a few times
27:26
That they didn't cover that in your class. They did. Oh good
27:29
Yeah It's presented as a a linear thing. It's not linear
27:34
The five stages You you move through them many times you can reach acceptance and then go back to anger
27:42
Or back to bargaining or back to depression
27:45
You have to get you know, almost every in according to the class everybody has to go through all five phases
27:51
Bargaining is broken for me. Uh, it's a higher power based one. Yeah, that's not really
27:57
Uh I went through the others several times. I
28:02
Spent a lot of time going back and forth between the depression and acceptance phases
28:07
Which definitely had a huge impact on
28:11
How many podcast episodes I was able to do?
28:14
My creative bucket has been empty
28:17
I get a bucket metaphor
28:20
Yeah, you had a leak you sprung a leak, but
28:24
acceptance Was fleeting
28:26
without closure and when she died
28:30
June 29 And I got word
28:34
It was closed That was the closure
28:38
Closure didn't mean immediate acceptance
28:41
But it closed the loop it closed the loop
28:44
It's still sad Uh, it's it's taken until now to be able to
28:50
Talk about it on microphone and not break down crying
28:54
Never mind the hell that we were going through at the time. It's
28:57
wait
28:59
It feels a it was a bit a rough day. Yeah, yeah at least
29:04
yeah so
29:07
I love how the takeaway of that is that there are five stages of grief
29:12
That everyone has to go through that may or may not apply to you
29:16
Yep, that's like no Everything you learned in school and it is still tailored to the individual
29:22
Well, okay, everything else that you learn about in life. Okay for for for a great example
29:28
with When my grandpa died. He was 96 years old
29:34
There was no denial that he was going to die
29:38
He was 96 years old and he was getting fed up with waiting for how long he was going to take
29:44
There was no anger. He wasn't losing anything. He had lived his life. He
29:50
Spent 70 years with the love of his life. He got to hold his great great grandchildren
29:55
He died in the house. He built
29:58
Like there was nothing to be anger angry about there was nothing to bargain with and it was barely depressing
30:05
Because he was awesome and he lived a full life and yes, it was sad that he died
30:12
But it was awesome the life that he had
30:15
with my mom there's
30:18
There's some trauma from the end
30:21
Her dying process was traumatic
30:24
So as your grandpa's my grandpa's wasn't was different
30:28
Okay, the generational difference was a huge factor in how that was different. They were just long
30:34
Slow and they were long and slower than you prefer and I really hope I haven't inherited that
30:42
resistance to death
30:44
Yeah Yeah, well
30:47
My grandpa was on hospice for two years
30:49
It's only supposed to be six months, but he was less than six months away from dying for two years
30:54
My grandma had a massive stroke that she never really woke up from and it still took her five months to die
31:03
The fact that my mom beat all of the odds for everything stacked against her by at least 10 to 20
31:12
That's crazy. Yeah
31:15
And but it's the same with your grandpa if you think about yeah, it was her time
31:19
She got to meet your child not just meet your child, but get a relationship with your child
31:25
Her and Kylie were close. Yes
31:27
um What what more would she have ever wanted at the end?
31:33
You gave that to her and that's
31:35
That helped. I think that will help close that. Yeah, even more. That's
31:40
Solid the good solid landing to focus on which is why
31:44
um This whole funeral
31:48
Funeral versus a celebration of life things shouldn't even be a debate. I don't know why some cultures obsess about mourning
31:55
Um, I like the celebration of life idea much much more
32:00
There there there is there is absolutely value in
32:03
the Shared grief and support
32:07
Yes, there is but i'm thinking like victorian style like morn for four years kind of stuff. That's like that's
32:13
Azar like no wonder you guys were so depressed
32:16
uh all right, let's
32:19
let's move on to
32:21
Adventist eschatology
32:23
Lauren had a little bit of foreshadowing a few minutes back
32:28
with Some statement about I didn't understand her
32:32
And just of what she thought of the afterlife because most most of us don't
32:43
I
32:45
All right, so
32:47
My mom was a devout seventh Adventist fifth generation or semi fourth generation that was fifth generation
32:54
uh fourth generation seventh Adventist
32:57
Uh on her dad's side third generation on her mom's side
33:01
Uh, she was actually out of the church
33:04
for about two years in
33:07
About about the age of 40 and 41 and then got back as soon as she could
33:11
Uh I didn't know that. Yeah, I had local politics kind of thing not local
33:17
uh family family politics
33:19
Uh, it was uh, that was a thing to avoid divorce that didn't
33:24
Oh, okay. Yeah
33:26
Didn't didn't work out and so once that was all resolved. She finally went back. Okay
33:32
Uh, I was a little surprised that it took you know two years to go back, but yeah, it took yeah
33:37
It took what it took but she was she was
33:40
devout Adventist uh and
33:42
Adventists have a very different belief than
33:46
the vast majority of religious people
33:48
About what happens when you die?
33:51
the standard Christian concept
33:54
non-adventist standard Christian concept
33:58
Is that there is a immaterial soul that cannot die and a physical body that is mortal
34:06
And that immortal soul
34:08
Has to go somewhere when you die. Yeah, and so it either goes to heaven or hell
34:14
Or in the case of catholics purgatory. Okay. Yep
34:18
Or in some yeah some traditions it might get trapped on earth to haunt people
34:25
Adventists
34:27
recognize that as
34:29
the the concept of the immaterial soul as
34:33
not being something that's very well supported in the bible and it
34:37
Isn't like there's one verse you can kind of read that way, but you can also easily read it not that way. Yeah
34:46
Okay, and the immaterial soul concept really fits better with
34:52
the with neoplatonic philosophy
34:56
That was common in the Hellenistic world of the first century roman empire
35:03
uh greek people
35:05
The greek peoples that became christians already believed in an immaterial soul. Yeah, the the eternal divine soul
35:15
And they kept that concept when they became christians and christianity
35:21
kept it Since I never grew up with that that was that's a concept that has never made sense to me
35:29
I think that's largely one of those things you have to believe in like you have to be raised believing it or else
35:35
It's absurd Yeah, that there's this other this this immaterial other and see that there's no proof of it
35:44
It's not even mentioned in the bible. I love that
35:48
not very scholarly
35:50
now there are plenty of verses that
35:52
Read fine either way. Yeah
35:55
That don't actually refer to the souls. Yeah
35:58
Um the the the verse about the resurrection where
36:01
You know the dead in christ or raised first
36:05
It doesn't talk about their their
36:09
souls being Sent from heaven down to their bodies to be raised up just that their bodies are raised out of the ground
36:16
Uh disturbing when you say that part out loud
36:19
Yes, but so is that entire chapter the whole book the whole book. Yeah, uh, I don't recommend reading it
36:27
Uh, it's it's it's garbage. It's it's very old garbage
36:32
uh but but yeah, so the
36:35
that concept though is that
36:39
Yeah without an immaterial soul
36:41
When you die you are dead
36:44
In the ground when the second coming happens
36:47
Which this is where you start getting into sanctuary doctrine which despite
36:53
Graduating college cum laude with the theology major and
36:58
minor is in biblical languages and history
37:01
and coming in third place in the greek proficiency exam wait a humble brag
37:06
I barely pulled off a withdraw passing
37:12
on the doctrine of the sanctuary class
37:15
I could not wrap my head around it. Well
37:20
I have no idea what you what it is. It is
37:24
So frickin bizarre. I explain it, but just maybe the key point for this part of the discussion
37:32
Yes, there is a crazy framework that makes no sense
37:36
Underlying all of it but the part at the surface that
37:40
That we need for this to make sense is that on october 22 1844
37:45
When jesus didn't come to earth and the great disappointment happened
37:50
to the millerites Jesus the day was right. The event was wrong
37:56
It was not jesus coming to earth
37:59
To cleanse the sanctuary. He was going to the heavenly sanctuary. Oh
38:03
Okay, that explains it in that the heavenly temple he was going into the holy of holies
38:11
To do the the actual work of atonement
38:15
And has been there doing the investigative judgment and the investigative judgment is where
38:22
the books of everybody's life since
38:26
either creation or jesus's resurrection
38:30
Are reviewed to see if based on what they knew
38:35
They should be saved. I like that there is a caveat for um
38:40
uh ignorance, yes
38:42
uh, which
38:45
did come up pretty early in in
38:48
Adventist circles with uh, if
38:52
Jesus couldn't return until everybody on earth
38:56
knew about his name. Yeah, hence the evangelical
39:00
spreading of there was a
39:03
So there was some efforts to send pamphlets out to islands
39:07
Which worked exactly one time when some pamphlets arrived at pit karen island and everybody on the island converted to adventism
39:15
Oh, there you go. And then they wrote back and asked for a pastor
39:19
And so they sent a pastor from california
39:22
Uh To this day pit karen island is at least nominally
39:27
100% Adventist
39:29
Uh There's the added factor on that though that
39:33
if you half-ass
39:36
That evangelism
39:39
It Dams people to hell. Oh shit
39:44
Whoops Because they know but if you did a bad job of telling them about Jesus and they aren't converted
39:52
Well, then they're damned Okay, okay. So, uh, maybe the pamphlets weren't such a great idea. No, no, but then there's also the the version the the concept that
40:03
Well, if you got a bad presentation, then you're not held accountable by that
40:10
And you're still held to the example
40:13
To the standard you would have otherwise like just were you a good person
40:18
an Adventist Do you believe that that if you're a good person that saves you if you're a good person who has not rejected christ
40:27
You're saved. Okay. If you're a good person who has rejected christ, then you are not
40:33
Whoo, which is where the whole if fun club
40:36
if you're ignorant your chances of being saved are higher than if you're
40:40
Straight up like yeah
40:43
Uh So all that's at play and then Jesus is there in the temple in heaven
40:50
going over all the books determining who's saved and who's not
40:54
and Once he finishes that and didn't want to let he didn't want to be an accountant. He just wanted a life and adventure
41:01
Here he is getting old. Once he gets caught up on that
41:06
then probation closes
41:09
Uh, there's persecution of of the true christians while all the bad christians join the catholics in the us government
41:16
slash new world order
41:18
To persecute the the the true christians who worship on saturday
41:23
So we're persecuting The true christians. Yes, who are the Adventists the Adventists plus
41:30
A bunch of people who go to church on sunday will will join them at that that moment
41:35
Okay, they'll make the decision the right decision. Yes. Okay, the ones that who are saved among them will
41:41
Well, the rest just join the mass persecution
41:44
and become dark shadowy
41:46
Government agents. Yeah, and then then run by the pope the the time of trouble is a seven-year period halfway through
41:54
uh, god's grace gets removed from the earth
41:58
and those who are still alive and are saved are
42:03
Uh, get full temptation of satan without any protection from god and will be
42:08
Going through the most horrible torture and torment. Okay
42:13
That's really odd words. Yes, really odd choice of words. So okay, so we have the persecution of the true christians
42:22
So they're being tortured. Yep, and then he has even worse and then we get the people who aren't saved
42:27
Who are being 10 10? No, the people who aren't saved are fine
42:31
They're they're just living life. Okay, so they live in life through this time period
42:35
So normal everyday life. Well, meanwhile the people who were saved
42:40
are On their way to heaven still have to go through torture. Yes, it means temptation
42:46
I love that temptation and
42:49
It all past sends getting you know brought up to them by satan and like yeah, it's
42:56
Okay, so they get tortured until finally finally finally at the end of that
43:00
uh Jesus returns to earth and
43:05
All wickedness dies instantaneously upon looking at him. Okay
43:10
So all bad people drop dead
43:13
What about sunglasses? Does that no no no because when it went when Jesus returns, uh, you'll everyone will be able to see him
43:22
Which I don't know how that works starting to sound like crazy person talk. Yes, everybody on the earth
43:29
Uh, at the same time at the same time. It's going to look upon him. Yep, like the god from monty python
43:35
Northern and southern hemisphere eastern and western hemisphere
43:39
All of a sudden he can do whatever the hell he wants
43:42
Um Okay, so then all the wicked people who've just been living their life. Yep. They all died quite happily. They die instantly. They're dead. Okay
43:49
then the
43:52
Sounds like the better of the two options at this point the the righteous dead
43:55
Uh, so people who are saved that had died previously. Okay, they are resurrected
44:01
Their bodies are reassembled as they were at the moment they died. Okay, so cremation is taken care of yes, okay
44:08
Wondering about that and decomposition is also taken care of. Thank you. Oh jeez
44:13
Nice, uh, nice detail. Yeah, so so as you were at the moment you died
44:18
Which is her sucks. That's horrific. Yeah, right?
44:22
The moment of death is Horrible for a lot of people. Yeah
44:27
Like that's gross. That's just could have gone back six months or something, but no the moment of death
44:32
Moment of death, uh, or perhaps maybe a moment before death so that you know the car accidents
44:38
The how you were before the accident. Yeah, or
44:42
You know without the gunshot wound 18 months. Like nope. They're how they were. They're how they were. Okay. Yeah
44:49
uh So they get raised up and start ascending to join jesus in the angels and then okay
44:55
They get their just rewards. They're there and all the the in heaven not yet
45:00
All the the righteous people who are still alive then start floating up
45:05
Into the sky and join jesus in the angels
45:08
Okay, and then they travel for seven days through a riot stuck on an airplane
45:13
They get taken out of the airplane. Okay before it crashes because the pilot is probably dead
45:19
Okay, because everybody else has instantly died. Yes. We're got that detail. Okay
45:24
and so then they they they fly through through space for seven days
45:30
and Enter heaven through its gate at the center of a ryan's belt
45:36
We're getting weird here again. Okay again. This sounds like the the the ramblings of a mad person
45:42
She said it's Ellen white was mad mentally. She was severely ill and sure
45:48
I've seen this amend in black. It looks pretty cool. Yeah, so so they go through a ryan's belt
45:53
uh Interheaven where they stay for a thousand years now, that's different. That's not the usual eternity
46:00
Oh wait, there's more. Oh after the thousand years. Okay
46:04
the the thousand years is largely
46:09
so that the people who are saved
46:12
who are all upset about
46:15
in some cases People are there that shouldn't be
46:19
And people that should be there aren't yeah, okay
46:23
they get to they get to
46:26
judge the judge
46:28
on that and Ask the judge all the questions and find out
46:32
Why those decisions were made?
46:35
And by the end of that the judge will be exonerated and everybody will be happy
46:40
Who's the judge satisfied? God. Oh, okay. That's odd. It's the same
46:45
God's gonna change his mind the saved get to judge God in this. Yeah, it's not gonna change anything. No
46:50
Whatever because in the it's the airing of grievances the prophecy is already that in the end the rest of us
46:58
God proves that he was just and he is
47:02
found to be just and then male comes to comes to be useful. Okay, and then
47:09
the heavenly city of Jerusalem
47:13
travels physically through space coming back out through a ryan's belt and a cross space
47:20
And starts to descend down through earth's atmosphere
47:23
And at some point it stops in the atmosphere nice
47:29
while Satan and his angels have been on earth this whole time barren wasteland for thousand years
47:37
roaming with all the
47:39
Bad people, right? No, the bad people are dead dead dead. Okay. So at this moment all of the dead bad people
47:48
Rise Oh, they get theirs
47:51
And join Satan's army Nice and then as the city touches down on earth
47:58
The Satan's army tries to attack the city
48:01
But then a jumbo trom goes trom that goes up and shows everybody
48:06
Why they were lost and then everybody's sad and feels bad and God out of mercy burns them up
48:13
But the amount of time it takes to burn up the wicked depends on how wicked they were
48:18
And specifically napoleon will take longer
48:23
To burn up that's hilarious then typical people that is that is written by ellen white that napoleon will take longer
48:32
Satan will take the longest okay
48:35
At least it ends at least you burn up for most it's instantaneous if you are particularly bad
48:42
Presumably seconds or minutes Satan minutes or hours
48:48
Got it got it, but then you're gone and then you're gone. Hey
48:52
So you're walking around your daily life drop dead nothing
48:57
You raise up. Oh, I'm part of Satan's army now. Hey, let's go attack that city. Uh burned up. I'm dead. Yep. I like that
49:04
It's not like being a sinner ain't so bad. The the hell version on that is
49:09
The the wages of sin is ha ha told you so
49:13
Yeah, that's all it is. Isn't it? And that's not even on the sinners. That's on the good righteous people. It gives them
49:20
They get to say ha ha told you so I told you so and that's that's all that this is about, huh?
49:25
Sounds rather egotistical and narcissistic and self-centered, but
49:29
so we're most religious people
49:32
not all but obviously not all there's so a lot of good people, but did that is convoluted and not
49:40
in Anyway related anything anybody else at least here in the us would remark as an afterlife. Yeah or future
49:49
um Are in line with people who think that the end of the world is coming? Yes
49:55
And are actively trying to have that happen whether it's by spreading the word or whatnot the
50:02
For what happens after the thousand years the Adventist version
50:07
For the saved is pretty similar to the Mormon like middle kingdom
50:13
Okay, except the Mormon one is with lots of sex and babies and the Adventist one is no sex or gender
50:21
Okay Adrogynous everybody in heaven is genderless. Oh, so when you come back and you come back as your body as the moment you die
50:29
You stay like you don't stay like that forever
50:31
No as you eat from the tree of life
50:34
Your body has changed into perfection, which apparently is genderless. Yes like that. Okay
50:40
I would also assume completely devoid of any unique features
50:45
Basically turning into a stick figure
50:49
Barbie and kendall
50:51
Nope, that's no that's way too. That's everybody turns into a Barbie or everybody turns into a kendall
50:57
Yeah, yep non-binary is the future according to Adventist or just on that a little bit sooner than others. Yeah
51:04
Appreciate that. All right. So so that's
51:08
That is what I grew up believing. Hey, that is what my my mom believed
51:14
So you mentioned her being at rest
51:17
Yes, and that that is a term that you have brought up many times through this whole
51:23
Endeavor. Yes
51:25
That was another one that I hadn't quite I mean, yes rest in peace that kind of thing but not quite
51:31
as much as
51:33
the Adventists seem to use it in the
51:37
the Adventist view
51:39
death is a timely death is when you are
51:44
allowed to rest until the second coming. Okay
51:48
So, okay. Yeah, so Adventists who are
51:51
ready to die old age or
51:55
terminal illness
51:57
They want to rest that is a very easy thing because when people are dying
52:03
They are very tired. It makes sense and they're struggling
52:07
And it's easy to want that person is he that's an easy comforting thought for the survivors to say I want this person to be at rest
52:15
Yes, that's yeah I like that and that was that was a metaphor that I was comfortable using through the process
52:21
It was when I was comfortable communicating with my mom about because
52:25
You were on the same page. I know largely
52:28
Immediately that means the same exact thing to both of us. Yeah
52:32
Wow It's rather beautiful actually that's probably one of the
52:37
nicest things that I've gotten out of this whole
52:40
18 months was that metaphor of being at rest. I like that
52:45
But also flying through a rinds belt. I I want to do that. That sounds awesome
52:50
All right, that was not the best organized
52:55
We're back. I I am not certain I will get another episode out this month
53:00
Because I'm camping to do I will try
53:03
We will my best to get another episode out this month. There will definitely be one next month
53:09
I need to get back to normal Yeah
53:12
Life has been crazy and the podcast is a part of my normal
53:17
That I have let go And I need that back
53:22
Yeah, it's eager. I know it's egotistical
53:24
to feel like To be a whole person. I have to talk into a microphone and have people listen to it, but
53:33
Yeah, it's it's part of your shared human experience. Yes, it is
53:38
and and the the the relationship that
53:41
that we have and we
53:43
Including all of the listeners and the patrons
53:47
That is that's a part of my life that
53:50
I don't want to lose. I've needed to kind of
53:54
distance myself from it some
53:57
I I need to get back into it
54:00
Yeah And I don't yeah, I don't know the pace of getting back into it
54:05
I don't want to rush myself
54:07
I am out of practice and I need to get back into practice
54:12
And I I thank all of you for your your patience
54:16
Through this
54:29
All right, you can find the feedback forum at htotw.com slash contact you can leave us a voice message at
54:35
208-996-8667
54:39
Or use the speak pipe button on the website
54:43
You can support the show on patreon or just wants on
54:47
PayPal or with a credit debit
54:50
card apple pay or google pay
54:53
at htotw.com slash donate
54:56
And uh, we'll be back in
54:59
go back soon
55:01
Remember not all those who wander are lost
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