Month Nine

This week we hit the 9-month mark on the journey to getting our girl well.  There are times it feels like we've been on this path for eons, while other times it feels like we just heard the news yesterday.  Talk about an emotional roller coaster.  There are days I have to stop and catch my breath and thank God she is here with us.  My daughter.  My baby girl.  The child I carried for a little over nine months.  The hero I have before me today.

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2000.  Nine months then.  When this precious child was forming in my ever-growing belly, it was a time of excitement.  Ultrasounds giving us a glimpse of a beautiful face.  Hours poring through books telling me what to expect.  I was expecting, after all.  Baby showers with all the trimmings.  Anticipation of the big day.  Our lives forever changed.

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2014.  Nine months now.  Devastating diagnosis followed a joyous holiday season.  X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs gradually revealing the shrinking and subsequent vanishing of a large mass that was suffocating my daughter.  Clinic visits, procedures, and chemo administrations.  No way to predict or fully prepare for what was to come.  Benefits and fundraisers demonstrating incredible love and support.  Taking one day at a time while keeping our sights on the finish line.  Learning what it means to fully trust in God's plan, timing, and amazing grace.  Our lives forever changed.

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Nine months into this journey, and we are finally nearing the end of the intense portion of Paige's treatment.  One more high-dose chemo administration.  Cranial radiation to follow.  Up next is the maintenance phase, which will cover a span of about two years.  Compared to the giant roller coaster we have ridden thus far, I'm hoping the next ride is more akin to a kiddie park version.  Paige will still receive some chemo through her port, though in smaller doses.  Oral chemo (pills), steroid therapy, and occasional spinal taps will continue to be part of the treatment regimen.  It sounds like so much, and it really is--but for a girl who has battled some Goliath-sized giants over the last nine months, it's all in a day's work.  Paige is currently in remission and has been since February.  Cancer-free (there's that catching my breath thing again).  Keeping her that way requires another couple years of maintenance phase therapy.  In the meantime, I will never stop thanking God for the healing He has done in Paige.  I will never stop thanking Him--praising Him--for the healing yet to come.  Look at this smile--this girl deserves nothing less.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...   Jeremiah 1:5

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.   Romans 8:28