Done, finished, complete, caput, concluded, through, all over, a wrap, terminado, vollendet, законченный, 終えた, THE END

Suzanne was so ready for this day. Despite all the hope this clinical trial provides her, trips to Chicago every three weeks for this past year has been a life-controlling event.

After blood work and the waiting game for results, her appointment with her oncologist was finally called. He has been a little pessimistic the last few months so when he came in happy and even jovial, I had to ask. “You seem happier than normal today, is there a reason?” Paraphrasing his response:

Reflecting back to when you finished radiation and chemotherapy, the size of the tumor and its limited response to the treatment, I never expected that we would be having a conversation at this point, over a year later.

Dr. J

Those words he spoke were not even in our realm of consideration. We knew from the start that this was serious, even life-threatening, but not in our wildest imagination nor at any point did we ever feel like Suzanne had less than a year to live.

As the session continued, we discussed the trial, other participants, and how the trial has most likely helped Suzanne. He also shared how her cancer team looks to her as a success story and she comes up in conversation quite often. The whole time, he seemed more upbeat about her prognosis, but you can still feel his guarded optimism for the future.

By accident or by design, during her appointment, her Radiologist, Nutritionist, and Speach Therapist all stopped in just to say ‘Hi’. It all seemed very unusual as we haven’t seen her Radiologist since the fall of ’20. Each one of them should take some credit as they did their part to get her to this point.

The one thing they don’t share or say, something that we all know, is that the healing hand of God has guided them all along this journey. It is also that hand that has somehow personally touched my wife and kept her in my life thus far and as I, you, and many others pray, for many days & years to come.

Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.

Proverbs 15:30

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