“The Lord will keep you from all harm — He will watch over your life.” -Psalm 121:7

Well, the big meeting with the oncologist has now come and gone, and at the end of a pretty long day, in looking back, once again, His faithfulness is so evident. I am so in awe of it again and again, and while that might be a bad reflection on my lack of trust (to be somehow surprised that He would be faithful) it’s still the case that I am amazed.

I was talking with my roommate Rachel tonight and we saw how, in looking at all of this, it’s totally a situation where “coincidence” happens far too often to attribute it to some mere random force of fate functioning in this broken world. Instead, I go back to the verse that made me cringe when editing our high school yearbook since just about every parent wanted their senior’s page at the end to list it: Jeremiah 29:11. While probably overquoted and made to fit any and every situation, it is nevertheless TRUE! Only He knows the plans for us, but they are to prosper us, NOT to harm us. Furthermore, these plans, despite their first impressions at times, are to give us a hope and a future. If nothing else, I cling to that verse and its hope, knowing that God’s got something bigger than me or my family going on here, and while cancer might be uncomfortable, painful, and just plain hard to deal with short-term, His plan is for our good, which, in the long run, I’m ok with–in fact, I want that. (which reminds me of Romans 8:28–shoutout to my TCA friends who could probably STILL sing that song from “The Great Race of Faith” from 4th grade with me).

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“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life” -Psalm 119:50

Well, my return to Wheaton was a fast reminder that I was no longer in the comforts of home as everywhere around me was–and is currently–covered in white. Welcome back; hope you like the snow. 🙂 This post will be shorter, as I’m dealing with the consequences of taking my Thanksgiving break very literally, but there is some great news and praise to report.

This morning, after what would have been a movie-worthy succession of phone calls and messages between my dad, Dr. Santi, 2 hospitals, and myself, (all within the span of about 45 minutes), we got an appointment scheduled with the oncologist. So, Wednesday at 3pm, my parents and I will see Dr. Leo Gordon, the doctor Kirsten Friedl used and who has done TONS of research while specializing in Hodgkin’s disease. Fun fact for you: he works out of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago, which is the same hospital featured in While You Were Sleeping (we watched it last week and decided it was an omen). With this appointment, we should know more about when treatment will start, what it will look like, and what else to expect. I want to thank you again for all of your prayers–the hospital said that Dr. Gordon is very booked but likes to see patients if they’re within a week of the biopsy and results, so he wants to see me. That is a huge praise!

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