Time + Remission

I was doing some homework for preschool the other night, making a scrap book page of Luke's family for his class photo album. As I was flipping through stacks of pictures I ventured into the During Chemo months. Dave and I both had to take a few minutes to study those pictures of him. I was like the paparazzi during that time, so his progression through treatment is well-documented.

It was amazing. And quieting. And strengthening. To see how sick he was from the chemo, to see how God carried us right through it without us even realizing how hard it was on him.

Oh, it was hard, and we knew it was hard. You knew it was hard. But we didn't know it was a hard as those pictures make it look.

Thank God. I thank Him for the shelter and the strength and the peace that surpasses understanding. And I thank Him for the reminder of During Chemo. Sometimes it's good to think about it and remember the focus we put on every day as important, and the attention we paid to the things that matter. Life is distracting; sometimes we need to be reminded to focus on important things.

As time passes and life goes on, we don't mark the time like we did then. We did remember the anniversary of the last round of chemo - it was somehow more memorable than the official remission date anyway. But after sorting through that stack of pictures the other night, I realized we had passed right by his second cancerversary without even a mention of it. He probably remembered, but I didn't.

He's had normal PET scans and blood work. He changed oncologists because his is retiring. He has regained his old habit of putting hot sauce on his chicken fingers, so I know spicy stuff doesn't bother him anymore.

Time and remission have done a lot of healing.

Praise the Lord.