Friday, November 2, 2007

A Reason to be Thankful!

Last Thanksgiving, my sister and her family and my parents and me and my family met in Abilene for Thanksgiving. Mom was not feeling well. In fact, she was not herself at all. She had been feeling bad for a few months and had visited several doctors who weren't sure what was wrong. Our family didn't need tests run to know that mom was not herself...she didn't want to shop(!), eat, leave the house. She just wanted to sleep and stay home! From November until May, many tests were run and everything from Colon Cancer to a wheat allergy were considered and ruled out. She had had a lymph node that was pretty swollen for over a year and had asked her doctor twice to just remove it and he told her that it was fine and let's wait. Well, finally, they removed it because there was nothing else to test. Lo, and behold, that lymph node was loaded with cancer and had been ignored so long that the cancer was now Stage 4 and in her bone marrow! She began Chemo the next week.

Throughout the last five months, mom AND dad have been an example of what I hope my marriage will be in 22 years. They were on this "adventure" together and never lost sight of God and His greatness. They were ready for anything and never asked anyone for help. God was gracious and although mom did loose her hair; she never got too sick or tired after chemo treatments. In fact, she actually felt better once they removed the infected lymph node and started chemo. She started shopping and leaving the house!

On Wednesday, we got the amazing news that EVERY bit of cancer is gone from her body -- not even in her bone marrow! As mom says, "God IS Good!" Mom started this out knowing that God must have needed her to be a witness for Him to someone who was being treated at the same time. Although she may never know who that was, I am sure her light shone each time she went to treatments. And, I am so thankful that God isn't finished with using her on this earth!! I love you mom!

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