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Miracles Along the Way #2

This past Saturday, April 30th, 2016 was a rough and emotional day for me. It marked six months since my beautiful, Beth, left this world behind for the glory of heaven. It is hard to believe I have gone that long without hearing her voice or seeing her face or holding her hand. I am so thankful for every little video I took of her on my phone so I can at least play them and feel close to her. Every video and every photo tell a story. When I look at them the stories come to life on the screen of my phone and on the screen in my mind. I am so thankful to have so many great memories.

As we moved into June of last year, I had a feeling deep in my soul that the summer was going to be tough. I had no idea how tough it would be. The highlight of the summer was the week of June 15 when Beth’s niece Lisa arrived from California with her husband, Jim, and her boys, Jake and Ryan. I told this story in an earlier blog, but I’ll just say here that I wanted it to be a wonderful, memorable week and it was. Cole loved hanging with his California cousins. They all slept on mattresses on the floor in our basement and thought that was the coolest thing ever. Jake and Ryan never saw fireflies before, so we caught them, placed them in a jar with holes in the lid in a jar and marveled at their ability to light up the night. Of course, we let them go soon after. The boys swam in the pool practically all day and all night. We roasted

marshmallows, made S’mores and sang by the fire. Beth felt good and savored every minute. I can still see the look of happiness and contentment on her face. I remember thinking this is what life is all about. These are the good times that we need to drink up when they happen. After they left, the next Wednesday Beth’s other niece from California, Kim, came by with Chris, her husband and spent an enjoyable day with us, as well. Beth had no idea they were coming so this was a delightful surprise for her.

On Thursday, July 2^nd Beth had a procedure done to insert stents into her ureter.  This helped to relieve some of the pressure from the tumor. I’ll never forget bringing her home. She was extremely uncomfortable and I thought we were in for a long night. As early evening rolled in she told me rainbow sherbet would help her feel better, so I took off on a mission. I went to three different grocery stores until I found the treasure. As I was on the search for sherbet I prayed the entire time. I remember asking God to take away her pain and help us have a nice night together. When I got home she was on the phone with her cousin, Mark, whom she hadn’t heard from in at least ten years. They had a long conversation filled with laughter and tears. By the time Beth hung up the phone she was feeling tremendously better! Our wonderful evening ended with Beth and I watching a movie and eating rainbow sherbet. Thank you, God, for a direct answer to prayer! In the course of an hour Beth went from enduring severe pain to being completely pain free. Thank you Lord for another miracle (#4).

Two weeks later we had an appointment with her doctor whom I will call Dr. S. She is the most compassionate and capable doctor I have ever met. It was interesting that about a year into Beth’s three-year battle her original surgeon left UPenn for a position at another big cancer hospital in Philadelphia. We decided to meet his replacement, Dr. S. before we decided if we would follow him or stay at UPenn. We both knew after our first meeting with her that she was a Godsend. While our first doctor was an outstanding surgeon, he wasn’t the best communicator for us. So, we had the best in him for the surgery and the best in Dr. S. for most of her care. She is an amazing communicator and she fell in love with Beth. Dr. S. gave us the very best care for the next two years. (miracle #5.)

I’ll never forget the day we arrived at her office at 7:45a.m (we had to get up at 5a.m. to beat the traffic into downtown Philly.) Dr. S. showed us all of the images of Beth’s tumors and said she was fairly certain the large tumor was loculated which means most was fluid not a solid mass. That was the root of Beth’s pain. Dr. S. was confident that by removing most of it, she would experience relief. We walked over to UPenn Hospital via a walkway from the Abrahamson Center where her office was.  They began the procedure about noon. Kirstyn was with me but she couldn’t stay for the entire procedure. After they prepped Beth we went into the waiting area.  Kirstyn and I prayed and then she left. I’ll never forget feeling all alone in this big waiting room. I decided that the best thing I could do was to get on my knees and pray. About a half hour later they called me to come into the room where Beth was recovering. The doctor who did the procedure told me he was able to remove about twice the amount they hoped for. We rejoiced and went home extremely happy and humbled by yet another miracle (#6.)

When you have faith and you see such specific answers to your prayers, you know that it is more than coincidence. I believe these were all miracles which were meant to let us know we were never alone on this amazing journey. There are so many more miracle ahead………so stay tuned!!!

Thank you for reading my blog and for all of your support, love and prayers along the way. If you would like to read any of my past blogs click here and to keep up with my daily happenings, I'm on Facebook here. 

God bless!

Dan