Remission

Today I am grateful for Remission.

I started this blog back on January 31st because life didn't seem to start off so hot this year.

My sister had questionable health concerns.

My brother had some not so fun stuff going on in his life.

and my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

It made for a pretty shitty beginning to 2012. and nobody was happier to say goodbye to january than myself and my family.

Now it's October.

My sister has been given a clean bill of health.

Everything has worked out for the best with my brother.

and last week on my birthday my father-in-law called me to tell me the doctor said his cancer was in remission.

now, remission by definition is the state of absence of disease activity in patients with a chronic illness, with the possibility of return of disease activity, so this isn't to say that the cancer is gone. but after months of chemo and watching him get sicker and sicker, remission isn't a word any of us even really dared to breathe out loud. and yet, here he is.

It's miraculous, really. and I am so grateful.

I'm grateful that my husband gets to keep his father around for even longer. I'm grateful that my children don't have to go through the pain of losing a beloved grandparent yet. I'm grateful that in a world where eveything can just seem so shitty sometimes, good things still do happen to good people. I'm so grateful.

Now, certainly things seem to be going better than they were in January, but that doesn't mean everything is going perfect. but that's life, right? It never goes perfect. but it's getting there. so for now I'll keep finding things to be grateful for, and hope that it gets as close to perfect as it can.

Thanks for reading!
Lana