Kathy Manning Gronau - Eat Ice Cream for Supper: A Story of My Life With Cancer. a Guide for Your Journey

Eat Ice Cream for supper

Kathy has written this book as an inspiration to others. She faced cancer twice, first with the diagnosis of her husband with rectal cancer, and then a few years later with her diagnosis of breast cancer. In this book, Kathy shares useful advice and words of comfort with her readers. Her book is a faith-based practical approach to coping with the diagnosis of cancer and loss. It is a realistic, heartfelt description of the cancer journey and the inspiration that can be found in the Bible.

Hilah Sue Perkins, ARNP

Kathys book, Eat Ice Cream for Supper, is one of the essential resources you need in your toolkit when fighting cancer or supporting someone through their journey!

Joy Huber, Author of Cancer with Joy,
Stage 4 Young Adult Cancer Survivor,
Huffington Post Blogger & Professional Speaker

Eat Ice Cream for supper

A Story of My life with Cancer

A GUIDE FOR YOUR JOURNEY

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear
Psalm 46:12

Kathy Manning Gronau

Eat Ice Cream for supper
A Story of My life with Cancer.
A Guide for Your Journey

2014 Kathy Manning Gronau. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing. Morgan James and The Entrepreneurial Publisher are trademarks of Morgan James, LLC.
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ISBN 978-1-61448-814-9 paperback
ISBN 978-1-61448-815-6 eBook
Library of Congress Control Number:
2013945994

Cover Design by:
Rachel Lopez
www.r2cdesign.com

Interior Design by:
Bonnie Bushman

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Get involved today, visit www.MorganJamesBuilds.com.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory and life of Orin P. Gronau 19452007

Your Greatest Gift

Some men spend time on earth building great wealth, fame, knowledge, and degrees.

Not so was the man I marriedwhen I was too young to even know the true gift that God had chosen for me. It was to be many years before I would have the wisdom to truly understand.

Orin was a man who took care of his home. He did what needed done. The filters got changed and the eaves troughs were cleaned. He always remembered. He was faithful.

Orin took care of his children. Their needs were met; they were loved. His children were the center of his world. Little league and pigeon shows were always more important than golfing or such. No need to buy a batting pole, daddy made one.

When his sons brought him new daughter-in-laws they were as his own, he helped them with whatever was needed. It was always the same, the boys were busy and it needed done.

Orin loved his grandchildren; every one of them was precious to him. He loved them all and enjoyed them immensely. You didnt go to grandpas without sharing his M&Msbut you behaveduntil almost the last day grandpa was known to say KIDS, PICK THAT UP!

Orin loved his wife: at fourteen he met her at the county fair, at sixteen he gave her an engagement ring, and at nineteen made her his bride. On August 25, 2007, we would have celebrated forty-two years of marriage. Some years were hard. Orin knew how to stay. He learned how to love, and he did it daily with his heart and his life, showing it as much in the things he did as the words he said. He always worried more about my needs than his. Even in his last days he would refuse to wake me in the night because I needed my sleep.

Orin was a faithful friend. When help was needed, help was given. It was how it was done and now I watch with pride as his sons do and give as they were taught.

Orin belonged to the Lord. When he decided to follow Christ, he loved Him like he had always known to love. He served as he had always servedwith his heart and his hands. In the church building, examples of his work remind us: the welcome bench in the foyer, the sound equipment station, and a basement remodeled.

But the greatest gift is that of a gentle man who got itwho understood that LOVE was not a feeling but a DOING. Quietly, without asking for notice or praise, he exemplified what Gods Word says in the book of James: a faith that works.

Thank you, Orin, for teaching me how to love. Your dearest wife,

Kathy

Foreword

Cancer.

Few expressions in our language evoke a myriad of feelings as this one simple word. Panic, fear, anger, denial, unbeliefthey go on and on. Few people in this world have not been touched by it, either directly or indirectly. Ultimately we will all have to ask, What do we do now? When confronted with this most ominous of words, we need to step back, get a grip on the vast scope of what is to come, and begin to walk forward. That is precisely what Eat Ice Cream for Supper can help you do.

It is poignant, it is practical, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, but most of all, through the pages of this book you will find the courage and the know-how to go on.

Karen Manning Wilson

Preface

I have a great family. I was raised in a two-parent farm home with two sisters. We attended church on Sunday, had chores, worked hard, and played paper dolls, cowboys and Indians, and chased fireflies on warm summer evenings. Mom, at ninety-five, remains the matriarch for us and our extended families. My two sons, Scott and Mike, and their wives have blessed us with five biological grandchildren and several more step grandchildren, all of whom bless my life.

We are a close family, so when cancer strucknot once but twicefirst my husband and then me, it changed our plans, our dreams, and our lives, not only in our household, but in every one of the others. Those cancers, occurring in 2004 and 2007, were enclosed almost like parentheses by the sudden death of my father in 1996 and my nephew in 2013.

This is our experience. Written to be a guide through the medical process of diagnosis, treatment, and end of life, my desire is that it will give you comfort, a smile, information, and encouragement.