Overdue Update!

Hello All! 

Hope everyone is enjoying their 2015 so far! We can't believe it's nearly February....time sure does fly by.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, and I'm sure I'll say it again after that! Thank you all so much for continuing to check in on my dad, his progress, and praying for him.  In my prayers I continue to thank God for all of you who pray for my dad and send your love and support.  

Over the past few weeks, Dad went to City of Hope and had his PICC line removed - whoo hoo! Just as a reminder, a PICC line is a central venous catheter, also called a central line.  It is used to give chemotherapy, other medicines, fluids, nutrients, and blood products over a long period of time.  The catheter was threaded through a vein in dad's arm until it reached a large vein near his heart.  This is big...this means they don't expect to give constant blood product transfusions anymore, and if they need to, they will just start an IV line.  

He doesn't have another follow up appointment for one month.  Since the last appointment, he has had some great days, in fact one day he told me it was the best he felt since the roller coaster began.  Things change day by day.  He is dealing with chronic pain throughout his body, and is taking medicine to curve it.  The doctors say it will still take another three to four months for him to feel close to what he did before.  

Below are some pics from a recent trip my parents took over to the coast...they went to the Historic Rios-Caledonia Adobe and the Old Mission San Miguel Arcangel.

He's lookin good, don't cha think?!   

Cheers to a Brand New Year

Happy New Year Bill's Journey Readers! 

What a year 2014 has been.  As I reflect on the past year, some great things took place, and obviously one of the worst took place.  Sometimes in moments of weakness and sadness we can't help but search for a reason, but I am reminded in many ways that: that is a never ending chase.  We can't go there, ask why.  I read the following today written by C.S. Lewis and wanted to share:

"But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. 

 A needle may be necessary to prevent disease or infection; nobody welcomes or enjoys the injection, but it prevents a far greater suffering, just as what may seem like even intolerable pain now will lead to far greater happiness later."

2014 will not be the year that my dad nearly died from leukemia.  2014 will be the year that he BEAT leukemia!!!!!  Those of you who have fought or watched someone else fight cancer know that it is an inexplicable experience, such an aggressive one as my dad's is almost unbearable. The only reason it is not unbearable is because we are still standing, still receiving blessings from God through this.  Dad still has a long road ahead, but he is still in remission and we celebrate this every single day.

Big cheers to my mom for the care, love, and support she has provided to my dad through it all.  Cheers to all who have sent cards, posts, thoughts, prayers, dinners, visited, supported our Leukemia and Lymphoma Society walk, everything.  Here's to a happy and healthy 2015!

Mom and Dad enjoying the night out at the coast on NYE watching their favorite local band, Unfinished Business