Blogging about our breast cancer battle takes a great deal out of me. Writing about it is therapeutic but also emotional, and can be draining. Even when there's good news to tell. That's why I've been away from the BCFH blog for a while. I just needed to give it a rest. I've had a few people email me and ask 'what happened, where've you been?', 'did I say something that offended you?', and 'will you still write about your experiences?' and while I apologize for not sharing much recently, I've just been investing that time in my wife, family, my businesses, my music and ... myself.
But that doesn't mean I've given up or I'm quit BCFH. On the contrary. I've only just been taking a break. Tonight I'm writing about some very good news we received a few week's ago. My wife has successfully beat breast cancer again! Third time. Here PET scan came out clear. Praise God for the healing we've received and the love, prayers and support from so many people. That doesn't mean the fight is over. We're continuing on the treatment plan to finish out the chemo regiment. We're also investing in my healthly lifestyles and living life how we want to live. Sure, I'd prefer living without any breast cancer but it's recent precense isn't going to deter us from enjoying our lives and sharing it with those around us.
This summer we celebrated the birth of our first grandchild, Jonas. He's now 4 months old and as cute as a pistol. Someone told me, "If I'd have known how much fun grandkids were, I would have had them first!" It's great to see the next generation unfold within the family and he's a special little guy. He's another reason, another experience, that's teaching me just to live life and enjoy it. My wife's girlfriend and our daughter threw my wife a Grandma Shower, the grandmother equivalent of a baby shower, to introduce Jonas to our friends and to celebrate the blessings in our lives. It was a surprise event, which is no small feet given how hard it is to keep a secret from my wife. The event was a smashing success and I appreciate everything that Carol and Erica put into it. That's been another special moment we've been able to experience recently
You do what you need to do to fight the breast cancer battle, endure the treatments, live life together, find special things to enjoy, and love your partner as you go through the treatments. I'm a very hopeful person and I believe in the possibilities in life. I hear news stories, what seems like all the time, about the search for signs of life on Mars (by finding water, for example), or finding bacteria in hostile areas of the earth where we didn't previously believe life could survive. It keeps striking me that life works pretty darn hard to survive, and if that's the case, all of us have a pretty big opportunity at beating cancer. And just like they say that elite athletes concentrate on the mental aspects of their sports, we can concentrate on the mental aspects of fighting and winning against cancer. Is it purely mind over cancer? I think your mental attitude is what tips the scales one direction or another, and gives you that added competitive advantage to win.
If I don't write on this blog every day or even every week, it's not that I've given up or don't want to share. Sometimes that energy has to be put into other things, living life things. A big part of it is keeping myself mentally healthy, which can be done through the blog and by being away from it. That changes from time to time. Through it all, I thank you for the journey we've shared so far and the times we'll have again as life moves on.
