Nothing Shall Be Impossible...

November 23, 2016

First off, I want to apologize for the absence here. I realize I haven't made a blog post since the beginning of the month. So much has happened since then. I had to go back and read my last post to see where I left off. I'll do my best to fill you in. Here it goes!

I had posted on Facebook back on November 9th that we had received the results to Ben's 2nd CT scan. For those of you who don't have me on Facebook, the CT scanned showed continued "shrinking" of the cancer in Ben's liver. His oncologist was thrilled! She sat us down and actually showed us Ben's first scan from June, when he was first diagnosed, to the scan done now and the results were significant. Ben and I sat in the room with his oncologist with tears in our eyes as we looked at both images of his liver and could clearly see the difference. I put my hands together, looked up, tears pouring down my face and thanked our heavenly Father for His work! The plan then was to continue chemotherapy the same way, every other week.

We were now waiting for an appointment in Sunnybrook, Toronto, to see whether or not Ben would be adding another line of treatment through a HAIP (hipatic artery infusion pump) I had posted a bit about this in a previous blog post. In summary, the pump would be surgically implanted and pump chemotherapy directly to the liver to try and kill more of the cancer off. November 14th Ben and I headed off to Sunnybrook for this much anticipated appointment. It was a whole day adventure. We had a good time together driving to Toronto and spending the day together without the girls. The doctors and their staff were very kind. The only issue was that we met with 3 doctors who unfortunately didn't have all of Ben's file. We sat with all three of them in a room trying to fill them in with what we knew but of course they couldn't make a decision based off our word. Ben's complete file was necessary to determine whether they were going to go ahead with this procedure. It was a bit of a let down, but of course working in the health care field I also know these things can happen. We were told we would be in contact shorty with the next steps.

Ben and I. Round 11

Today, November 23rd, Ben completed round 11 of treatment. I can't even believe he's finished 11 rounds. The months are going by so quickly. Today Ben was able to sit down with his oncologist and talk to her about our trip to Sunnybrook. The doctors in Toronto had gotten in touch and the news brought me to tears. They reviewed his images and said that Ben's body is responding remarkably to the chemotherapy. They don't think he needs the HAIP. They believe that the chemo is working and that Ben is a candidate for liver resection. I wish you could be a fly on the wall when this news was shared with to me today... This is what we've been praying for! I started to cry in complete happiness that his chemotherapy, which knocks out my husband for days, is actually working for him and he's now finally a candidate for surgery! To our prayer warriors.... He continues to hear our prayers!!!! We are now at step 2. Ben will be getting an MRI done to show a better imagine of the liver and steps will be made going forward with surgery. We don't have any details on what, how, when, etc.We will keep you up to date as usual.

As Ben and I talked about this news I could tell he was still very cautions about his excitement. He and I both know this road is much longer and I could see his mind running a bit. "Don't get too excited... we have a lot more to get through".... I can appreciate this thought. I have them all the time. But I believe full heartily that God is with us in this crazy path and that He will not forsake us. This is yet another example in my life of the power of prayer and the magnificent work of our God. How can we sit here and not praise Him for this news. If you have never sat down and prayed, I encourage you to!

Ben is home now resting from chemo today. As the treatments come they seem to hit him harder and harder. Yes it is working, but it certainly comes on full force causing Ben to be quite ill. The evening of chemo is emotional. I watch him slowly move around or can't get out of bed. His colour is usually off and he doesn't leave our room much. It's my role then to mother our babies and make sure he gets the rest he needs. I am trying to remind myself that this is the role God has placed on me during this time. It can be stressful and very demanding to be a working mother of two, making sure the house chores are done (I cleaned my entire house at 7am this morning in my pajamas...), making sure everyone is where they need to be, laundry is done etc., AND tend to my ill husband. But as I mentioned before, I frequently try and remind myself that these are my current duties as wife and mother and I pray daily God gives me the strength to get through each day. I ask for prayer for Ben as well as he powers through the days of feeling unwell. He is strong and he is fighting this thing day by day. I see first hand what he is going through and it's not pretty. Nauseousness, puking, exhaustion, headaches, body aches and pains. I can't imagine having to go through it myself. I watch him in complete awe. You, my love, are an incredible man!

I'm going to leave this post off with a song that was recently shared with us by close friends. What a coincidence that it would be sung at church the following Sunday. It's called "Unstoppable God" by Elevation Worship. "Impossible things in Your name they shall be done". How fitting for today. Impossible.... Not with Him!

Click Here for link to Song "Unstoppable"