Wednesday, August 19, 2009

It's good to talk about life!

Last night I was at a family friends house, helping her out. We got to talking about everything from the economy, to real estate, family, our anniversary trip to Hawaii, and just life in general. She remembered that our oldest, Tanner, had cancer when he was younger and asked how he was doing. I told her that he had actually had a check up with his oncologist today! The doctor said he looked great! He grew 1 1/4 inches in ten months, all his lymph nodes looked good, his blood test came back normal, and this December he will be 4 years out of treatment. He then told us that he wouldn't need to see him for another year! As I was telling her all that the doctor had said my mind began flooding with so many memories of Tanners young life. The story of how we had overcome one of the biggest hurdles we as a family had ever had to experience. I told her how we knew something was wrong but the doctor just kept on telling us he was fine. How our baby at the time was not growing as she should and that they were concerned and thought that she could possibly have cystic fibrosis. How I was 3 months pregnant and on the day the doctor told me of Tanners diagnosis I miss carried. I told her how hard it was to see my sweet boy being poked like a pin cushion for every kind of test they could perform. And how hard it was to see them hooking him up to a bag of POISON just to keep him alive. I told her about how they made us sign a paper before they would start him on chemo telling us of all the things that could happen to him because of the chemotherapy. How it could make his heart and kidneys fail, how it could make him sterile, how it could cause brain damage, how it could make him develop other types of cancer down the road, just to name a few. As I was telling her about having to teach a 2 year old how to swallow a handful of pills, and the endless amounts of throw up we had to clean up, she said to me, " how did you ever do all that!" My response was "It was our trial that Heavenly Father had given us. Because of everything we had to go through we are stronger because of it. We are more loving toward eachother and so grateful to have each and every person we have in our lives with us. We love life more now, and realize what a wonderful gift it is to be able to see this world and all the beautiful things out there and to be able to meet new people along the way that have made life so much brighter." After I left her house I started to think about how lately life has been very difficult in so many ways, but after telling her our story of what we have already overcome I had a realization. I, no we, can get through anything. No matter what tomorrow brings everthing will be alright, no matter what the outcome is.

2 comments:

The Nelson Family said...

Now if I could only see to type you a comment...I don't know how you guys got through the trials that you have thus far. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you and Jeff not knowing what is going to happen to your baby. I only saw things on the outside and never really knew a whole lot about what was going on with Tanner, but as I look back now, I just keep thinking about how strong both of you had to be for his sake. I'm just glad that everything has turned out for the best that it could of with him. He is truly a miracle. I know life is difficult now too, but just be strong together. This is the time that you both need each other the most. I love you guys and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

Kris Ann

Charmaine said...

Wow, you are amazing Robin. I had no idea about any of this. Thank you so much for sharing, it's such a sweet story. And I hope things get easier for you guys.