The results of Wild Bill's PET scan, done on Dec 19th, were as best as we could hope for...
Wild Bill no longer has to do Chemo treatments -- he's done for now!
He'll do another scan in 3 months to ensure there's no residual cancer cropping up, but for now he's healthy.
We can close that chapter of our life and move forward to the next...once we figure out what it is!
Last Christmas - No Idea What Was Ahead Of Him!
We have our Christmas miracle! Remember...Just 7 months ago even the second opinion doctor at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center said there was no hope of recovery -- everyone agreed he would be gone in 8 months or 12 months at best!
They say we're here on "Earth School" to learn life lessons. It seems to me the lesson I've experienced over and over is:
"life is short -- live each day as if it's your last!"
I'm probably a dimwit since so many times the Lord has had to send me experiences to relearn that lesson. I feel like Bill's recent illness was one more of those experiences.
Mom and Pop - 70th Anniversary Party Mar 2017
In March a year ago, Bill's parents were both in their 90's and still going strong! The photo above is from their 70th anniversary party. It seemed like they would live forever and so would we! Even March 1st of this year they were doing really well.
Then his mom got ill in May, Bill was diagnosed with 4th stage terminal cancer on June 6th, and his mother died the next day.
Subsequently, his dad was doing well, but fell on Nov 8th and died 4 days later.
Pop A Few Days Before He Fell In Nov 2018
It seems crazy when I think how we had vowed back in June that if we only had 8 to 12 months, we would make it the best year ever... God sure had other plans!
I should have known better because way, way back in March1991 (in a 20-year marriage held together "for the kids") I was in a terrible wreck with two of my daughters in the car.
I could see the wreck coming, in slow motion in my mind, knowing we were going to die. All that I could think, over and over, was, "Life's too short. If I could, I would live life so differently!"
My car was totaled and the other car was extensively damaged. But both daughters and the people in the other car were safe but bruised, and except for a gash on my head, so was I.
Within a few weeks, our house was for sale. Within a few months, I was legally separated. Within 2 years, I was finally divorced! I vowed to remain single the rest of my life.
In early 1992, I met Wild Bill -- who was a "friend only" for years until fate changed that...but that's a story for another time because we're talking about life lessons here!
Wedding May 1997
One Daughter's Wedding 2004
When Wild Bill and I moved to Texas in 2005, we had a 2-person team of realtors who helped us with our relocation.
"D" was a divorcee, about 48, very pretty and well put together.
"C" was her business partner...a family lady who was a little younger, a little frumpy, a little plump. "C" worked the office while "D" was the "seller" and star of the team.
Around 2008, "C" got a divorce. "C" started riding a bicycle with a bike club. At first 5 miles, then 10, 20, 50-mile bike trips!
Subsequently, "C" lost weight. "C" got a tummy tuck, a boob lift, a little nip and tuck of her face, and a more professional hair style. When I stopped by their office, I hardly recognized her!
Soon "C" and "D" split up their 2-person team. "C" wanted to be a seller, she wasn't willing to be the office-side of the team any more.
Eventually, "C" had seemingly reached perfection. She had even bought a brand new luxury car because she was making far more money selling real estate on her own.
One day "C" was sitting in her brand new car at a 4-way stop light headed north in a lightly traveled, rural area -- probably knowing she had the life she always dreamed of -- when a south traveling car, on the other side of the road, tried to beat a yellow light just as a car with the green light moved forward right into his path.
The two cars hit at an angle, and one car was forced by the impact right into "C's" lane and hit her brand new car head on.
"C" didn't even have a chance to think, "Life is too short!" She was killed instantly.
If you think this is a strange story for Christmas, you're probably right! But, I think of "C" every time I think life is going along well. And I think of "C" when life sucks too!
And even though Wild Bill and I are hardly young, I hope I never again get complacent and forget that life is just too short!
A Little Shocked After Second Opinion Appointment
Please Remember:
- Whether you're 70 and told you're dying of cancer soon...and don't...
- Or you're 44, perfect, and think you'll live forever...and don't...
LIFE IS TOO DAMN SHORT TO TAKE IT FOR GRANTED!
Proud To Be World's Worst Selfie Taker
The merriest of Christmas to you and the happiest of New Year's. As the song says...If you get a chance, I hope you dance!
Thank you for staying with me through all this post if you did. I'm curious whether life keeps sending you a repeated message over and over? Do you pay attention or does it get ignored until it hits you over the head like a bat out of hell?
Thanks for dropping by!
