clean scan!!!

hello all - as jen and i sat in the doctor's office for our check-up a few weeks ago, we knew we were not alone. i could feel all of you there with me and the elation that i felt after being told the scan was clean caused me to take a moment and reflect on how far we've come. that appointment could not have seemed further away during certain parts of a cycle and as it got closer the opposite began to happen. for the better part of 5 months my only job was to get food in me and walk around - now as we leave the treatment behind and the body continues healing it's about a return to normalcy. even though i realize this takes time, all of the subtle everyday aches and pains bring about a certain anxiety [ i.e. - i have dry skin, is the lymphoma back? ] as irrational as that sounds, thank God for jen's patience and love, those thoughts popped into my head every now and then. to calm myself down i went to a quote from The Alchemist [ great read if you haven't already ] - "Your fate and the fate of the world have been written by the same hand." i find that it helps take worry off my plate.

we will have our next check-up in february and as we approach the new year my main goal is to keep getting back into shape. jen and i had a wonderful time in san francisco visiting my sister-in-law laurie and the rest of the shields [ including kim trunko ] and evans clan for thanksgiving. it was just how i imagined it when my dad and i first talked about an outdoor excursion during cycle 2.

this process has been tiring and at some points extremely hard to communicate with the outside world. i thank all of you for your continued prayers and well wishes - can't wait to see most everyone over the holidays. hope you all had a happy turkey day!