Reflecting on 11 Years

At Thanksgiving, 1996, Adrienne showed me the lumps at the base of her neck. Since then, we've had 11 years, 132 months, 572 weeks, 4004 days of worrying and fear. Adrienne has been through more than a dozen chemotherapies, 21 weeks of radiation, two transplants, and too many procedures, surgeries, scans, and doctor's visits to count. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it would be possible.

People often ask how I do it, how I cope with having a sick child. My answer is always that you do what you have to do. My emotions have ranged over the years from sheer terror to simply being thankful that Adrienne is still here, that she's had the best doctors and medical care possible, and that we've had the privilege to meet the most amazing people. I am continually in awe of the parents who are there for their children no matter what the situation, who get by with no rest and always full of worry, and who sometimes have to hold their children while they take their last breath.

We have a lot of uncertainty in our future. Adrienne's cancer hasn't been this big since her original diagnosis and it's obviously concerning that three treatments haven't worked. Conventional chemo with its side effects are definitely not what we wanted to do but we are desperate to get this back under control so Adrienne can live her life without fear as a normal college student. At least for the next few weeks, Adrienne can be that college student. Today I bought her plane ticket to come home on December 19. We are excited to spend this holiday season with our friends and family, and are thankful for the blessings in our life.