3 years later

It was Valentine's Day 2017.   I was a day out of a surgery that was stopped due to the discovery of non-small cell lung cancer in my chest cavity, along with an 8cm tumor in my upper left lung, of which no one in the medical community could figure out what it was.  As any good surgeon would do, she took a look around in my chest cavity via the VATS Da Vinci robotics surgery machine and located strange cells, which were immediately biopsied and declared NSCLC in the OR by Pathology.   that stopped the surgery in its tracks, they sewed up the 4 holes in my side for the machine and put me in a room.

Late morning Feb 14th, 2017, one of the Oncologists from Va Oncology came by to speak with me about the cancer discovery and what plans would be.  As I will always, do, I just asked him to "Give it to me straight.  How long have I got?"  I appreciated his directness in saying 6-12 months.  We obviously did not like hearing it, but always best to have the facts and work from there.   So my future would be medicine, eventual hospice, and Christmas 2017 would be a long shot.

Tons of people came by, tons prayed, and interestingly labs and pathology became conflicted and confused on what is normally an obvious and diagnosable issue (150k x / year in the USA alone).  We headed for MD Anderson, they found no trace of the odd cells that were sampled, nor any cancer.    Mega loads of steroids, some additional appointments, and a trip back in August resulted in a surgery to remove an unknown tumor where no cancer had been found in 2 biopsies.  Open chest surgery this time, they removed the tumor and discovered Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Blood cancer.

After 5 months of chemo, endless blood tests and long appointments, it was Valentine's Day 2018.  Through God's provision and a strong supporting Kelly, I had survived.  Protocol called for quarterly PET and CT scans for 2 years.  If I could make it that far without a relapse, I would officially land in the 97% cure rate for the chemo I was on.   As of last Friday 2/7/20, I am happy to report landing there.  All praise and thanks to God for His healing hand and directing our path.

However, today Valentine's Day 2020, I wanted to reflect on the last 3.75 years of marriage to Kelly, 3 of which has had NHL cancer at the forefront a lot of times.  I have talked about her throughout the blog and all that she did with being a tremendous advocate in my darkest, weakest hours.   But I have to reiterate that she is truly a blessing from God.  I have never met anyone so kind, understanding, accommodating, with such a servant's heart.  In fact we are doing a dinner in Kill Devil Hills tomorrow night where she will cook, what I am sure will be another awesome meal, for 12 people, because that is what she loves to do...Love her neighbor.

We have worked to build a Christ-centered marriage on the premise of Ecc 4:12 .  "Though one may be overpowered,  two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."  We consider it a blessing to have gone through such trials since ultimately it was for our benefit and good as we grew closer together faster and on a deeper plane with the potential for such a bad outcome.  James 1:2-9 and Romans 8:28 both speak to this.


Happy Valentine's Day Kellygirl!  I love you.