
                           WHAT NEXT? 
     
                  RONALD "RICK" V. BEALE, 32 
                       811 Danica Place, 
                  Escondido, California 92025 


   A thyroidectomy, several supplemental surgeries in the same 
general area, followed by a lymphectomy, then a quadruple heart 
by-pass succeeded by a series of strokes. 

   Quite naturally I began to wonder what other unpleasant 
surprise might be in store for me. 

   I really believed that I had undergone all of the various 
medically technological tests that modern science could put me 
through, discounting the maternity facility. 

   However, the next looming assault came during the first part 
of February 1990, I returned once again to Scripps Clinic for 
what I was reasonably convinced was a routine checkup. 

   Nothing could have been farther from the truth, and 
certainly nothing more devastating. 

   Another biopsy was called for which came back positive. 

   Excision was out of the question due to the condition of my 
heart, since two of the four by-passes had already completely 
shut down. 

   That left only one option, a series of radiation therapy 
sessions five days a week for an indefinite period of time. 

   After extensive consultation, I was gently informed that 
there were no more than one hundred cases on record with my 
specific type of cancer.  I am still reeling from that 
devastating information. 

   To what extent my body will or will not respond to this 
selective therapy and to what degree the side-effects will 
intimidate me, both physiologically and psychologically, I 
shall have to wait and see. 

   I am most thankful, however, that I will be treated at the 
Scripps Clinic at Torrey Pines, California.  Here the doctors, 
technicians and nurses are helpful and caring.  They are more 
like family and true friends rather than people just doing 
their job. 

   There is something familiar in the overall atmosphere which 
permeates Scripps, and for a long time I could not put my 
finger on it. 

   Yesterday it hit me.  There is a distinct correlation 
between the attitude of this facility's staff and the warm 
Brotherly love which envelopes every Freemason who enters the 
Scottish Rite Temple of San Diego County. 

   I pray to the Great Architect of the Universe that with the 
compassion of my Brothers in the Craft and the care of my care 
givers at the hospital, together we will face and overcome the 
next chapter in this unpredictable saga called life. 

   One thing is incontrovertible. Although we are all separate 
individuals in the tangible sense, we are, in another 
consideration, all one, and many of those with whom we have 
shared even a short but tender time are permanently and 
inexorably tied together until time shall be no more. 

------

Brother Ronald V. Beale is a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies 
of San Diego, California and hopes these words describing his 
situation may be of help to others on the comeback trail. 

