I couldn't let this day slip by without reminiscing. January 20, 2010 was when we first met EZ's local oncologist, Dr. Alan Kritz, and began this journey of life with Multiple Myeloma. We hardly knew what was about to hit us then, and it feels good to be six years down the road and looking forward to the future with great hope and expectation. We are so blessed to live in an area where two hospitals do stem cell transplants (Duke and University of North Carolina), and where there are many excellent myeloma specialists available to treat patients. We are thankful NOT to be in an oncologist's office today, but rather at home in front of the fireplace, waiting for some snow flurries to begin falling.
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| Lucy, our newly adopted English Springer Spaniel |
As I think back to a time of deep uncertainty with EZ's cancer diagnosis, job/insurance loss, a 31 day hospitalization, huge financial concerns, radiation, chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, and a scary future, I am reminded that none of this came as a surprise to God. He holds our future in His hands, and He helped us get through each and every day with His strength, not our own. We hardly knew how to put one foot in front of the other, but He loved us. He helped us. People prayed for us. Friends and family supported us. Doctors cared for us. We are grateful.
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| EZ's Mr. Clean look |
We don't know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future. We will continue to be educated about all things MM. We will be involved in our Triangle Multiple Myeloma Support Group. We will give to wonderful organizations such as the IMF, MMRF, and LLS, in the hope that research and advances in treatment might continue to improve and prolong the lives of patients. We will pray for a cure. We will live life with hope, and treasure every day. We will try to show love and support to others who are fighting the good fight with MM. We will do this together, hand-in-hand, one step at a time.
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| Bacardi Beach, Samana Dominican Republic |
Please leave a comment if there is any way we can encourage, or be of help to you today.
Happy 6 year anniversary to EZ! I am so very happy EZ is doing so well and MM is staying very far away from him! Such a treatment success story he is!!! And I just love your beach pictures of your anniversary celebration!!! So much in your life to celebrate!! And I love the sweet picture of your cozy house and Lucy!!! She's one lucky doggie to be adopted by your family!! So cute how she "matches" your decorating theme :) Happy 6 years of success EZ!!! You and I have the 6 in 2016 theme going! How about 66 more to come :)) xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you Julie! We did have a perfectly magical trip for our anniversary, and as I said, 6 years ago we never imagined that we would be able to ever do something like that...EVER! After an emotionally exhausting period from August through October, it could not have come at a better time. Adopting Lucy as our very special Anniversary/Christmas gift was icing on the cake, and proof that we were looking forward to a future filled with new hope and memories. (I never noticed how she "matched" our decor...haha!) Wishing both you and EZ a year full of feeling well and venturing off on new adventures! 66 more to come sounds good to me! We appreciate your West Coast love and friendship...that's the one beautiful thing about this diagnosis! If we ever make it out your way, we WILL meet face to face! XOXO
DeleteWe are so glad to hear that everything is going so well for Ernie! How amazing that you can look back to 6 years ago and be where you are now. Thanks for sharing that. We missed your blog (although I have taken a long vacation from blogging myself) - hopefully, I'll be better about it too. Your vacation must have been wonderful - happy 40th! We celebrated our 40th in August. It's hard to believe all this time has gone by, isn't it? We're looking forward to seeing Leah and Kyle and the kids ate the Bayly family reunion this summer - we love keeping up with them on instagram - social media has a way of keeping families connected that we didn't have 40 years ago! All the best to you both! Kathy and Dave
ReplyDeleteI have missed your blog as well...looking forward to both of us being able to keep updated in 2016! I know you must be so excited about the Bayly reunion coming up...the Guenther families sure have grown! Here's to our 40th anniversaries...God is good!
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