Just last night I shared one of my favorite quotes when discussing our brain cancer journey:
"We've been given this mountain to prove it can be moved."
And today I turned to my devotional to see the following:
"Nothing on earth seems as enduring or immovable as soaring, majestic mountains...Yes My Love and My Peace are even more enduring than the greatest mountain on earth!"
How incredibly perfect!
Almost 40 months ago (y'all 40 months!!) the mountain that we faced seemed so incredibly BIG. It seemed as though moving that mountain, conquering the battle was more than we could face- but man, we were wrong.
Dad has continued to feel GREAT after stopping his chemotherapy and Avastin treatments- no more dreaded chemotherapy weeks, no more hours spent in the chemo center getting Avastin, and no more bi-weekly trips to College Station.
He has proven each and every statistic wrong- he's moved that mountain inch by inch. And for that I'm so very proud.
We continue on, living life, enjoying each day, and trying to get back to a "normal" life- one before brain cancer. It's still all in the back of our minds- we still struggle with worrying IF the tumor is back, but just this morning I repeated to myself "Today Dad does not have cancer." Because that is what I know, that is what the last MRI showed- Dad's MRI showed no signs of residual or recurrent tumor- and that is what I will continue to repeat to myself.
Tomorrow we will celebrate my 29th birthday, and as much as I dread adding another year to my age, I'm thrilled that it's another birthday with Dad. I remember January 2014, we had just received Dad's MRI results from his surgery, 6 weeks of intense chemotherapy and radiation, and we were told the amazing news that Dad was in remission. Between then and now we've had some good MRI's and some that looked pretty bad- we've had LONG days of treatments and lots of arguments with insurance companies, but overall we've survived. So with another birthday comes another reminder of how good God really is, how he's managed to strengthen our faith, spread Dad's story and remind us that Dad's job here in the physical world just isn't done yet.
Our mountain has been one that I wouldn't wish upon anyone, but the beauty of this life is that mountains come our way in many ways, shapes and forms- thankfully life is also filled with others that know your mountain all too well and are able to walk with you through it all. That's another pretty amazing thing about cancer, it gives you a perspective and appreciation that some will never know- and for those that know it all too well, it gives you someone to lean on as you see the dark mountain looming ahead.
Thank you all for loving us and supporting us these last 40 months, and thank you all for helping us BTHO Brain Cancer!
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