Our blog turns one today! Can you believe it?! I remember sitting right here in this chair in this same spot “launching” the blog one year ago. It seems like yesterday. We’re so glad that you all have enjoyed reading the blog. It has been a tremendous help for all of us. It helps keep our friends and family updated and it allows us to talk about normal things when we get together with any of you. Thanks for all of your encouraging comments about the blog - they motivate us to keep it updated. The blog has also turned into a wonderful ministry. We have received countless e-mails from strangers who discovered our blog by doing different internet searches. Kristi has been able to minister to several strangers or simply just give advice to their struggles. She has developed some very neat “e-relationships” and some personal relationships too. Very cool!
There is something else that makes today stand out…it is also the one year anniversary of when Kristi’s parents came over and told us Eric was diagnosed with ALS. Eric was diagnosed on May 18, 2007 but we were told 2 days later. You know when some major event happens in your life and people ask you “do you remember where you were when…?” This was one of those events. I was sitting right here in this chair when they stopped over and told us the news. What a year 2007 was. Forgettable, but unforgettable.
So what’s next for us? Well, in the short term we’re going to enjoy this 3 month reprieve from doctors visits and we’re definitely celebrating being chemo-free. Kristi will still have to go in for monthly blood work to get her CA125 level checked – but that’s just at a clinic, not the doctor’s office. Dr. Downey won’t call her “in remission” until her CA125 stays level for a year. At that point he said he would be willing to call her in remission. He hesitates because of this cancer’s tendency to come back. For now, we’re just enjoying what I said above…no doctors and no chemo for the summer! Last year we lived day to day. Sometimes hour to hour. Every time the phone rang last year we held our breath. More bad news? Another trip to the hospital? To be able to go 3 months without seeing a doctor is a huge blessing for us.
We’ve had some people ask us “are you going to keep the blog up?” Yes, we are. We will still have monthly CA125 results to report (next one being the week of June 9) as well as Kristi’s overall health. It’s a great way to keep in touch with all of our out-of-state family and friends. We pray that all the entries going forward will be positive.
Kristi asked me to put a video together of the past year and a half reflecting on her battle. So, in my quest not to disappoint her, I made the video below. Hope you enjoy it. Oh yeah, there’s a little surprise at the end of it. Take a look…
