As you all know we have had some tough days of late. But God is alive and well and in Him we have all hope of glory. Out of our recent loss of Amber and with Rocky’s fight with colon cancer came an extraordinary day.

We were at his sixth chemo treatment today and had a visit with Dr. Morgan. He addressed each of the effects Rocky has had with the treatment and said he was “right on target”……and now it was time to begin the next phase.

A week from tomorrow he will have a CT of his chest area, abdomen and pelvis. He will begin I.V.’s of Avastin and then one pill a day for five days after each of those treatments. He will continue having the blood-work done each Wednesday as before and we will find out the CEA numbers once a month and on the day of the CT. Dr. Morgan said Rocky had made an amazing recovery and so far he knows there is no other active cancer.

I believe in Dr. Morgan because I have a simple faith. I just believe God can do anything and trust that He will. I believe He had the right people in place to care for Rocky and help in his recovery.

After Rocky was underway with his I.V.’s running I left him to look for something special. Early on, when we were in the first stages of treatment, a classmate of ours who is living in Germany sent us a gift…..I believe through his daughter. (I may be wrong on the connection.) Anyway……it was a lovely angel…..made by Willow Tree. Some of you maybe familiar with the line….they were new to me. We loved her and each time we passed by where she sat we thought of the kindness of Don and the significance of the little angel.

I found just the right one for Rocky. An angel hugging a little dog to her breast. I hid it in the car and when we came home I picked the right time to give it to him. It was to celebrate the last chemo treatment and the hope of being free of cancer for a while……or longer than a while. When Rocky pulled the little angel from the box and saw the dog in it’s arms he shed some tears. Yes, real men cry. So now the one our friend sent has another to stand beside her.

I stopped in another store to look for a card for a friend having a birthday. She is a long time friend who used to live across the street from us in Shawnee, Kansas and our children grew up together. I noticed a lady intently looking at cards up the isle a ways from me and not finding what I wanted, I went on to another isle to look further. Before long she came to the same isle and I was compelled to say something to her….. “ I don’t see my favorite cards I like to send….Helen Steiner Rice.” I assumed she was probably a local resident but she began telling me she was just traveling from Mountain Home (Arkansas) to St. Louis where she lived. She had been to her parents to help out while her mother recuperated from surgery. We talked on and told each other our names, shook hands and parted.

As I was checking out she appeared behind me with her shopping cart and we began talking again. I laughed and said, “It looks like we were meant to meet each other today”….and she agreed. I told her I was hurrying back to the Clinic where my husband was having his last chemo treatment for cancer……her eyes widened and she told me they were waiting for the results of tests her husband had taken. They feared cancer of the esophagus.

I asked her husband’s name and told her we would pray for them and she asked for Rocky’s name and said they would pray for us. I wished her a safe trip home and left the store. It was on the way home that it dawned on me their names were identical to our neighbor’s. Patty and David. I can’t explain but somehow the connection it made gave me a feeling that our paths crossed for a very special reason.

Don’t ask me why or what. I only know the brief encounter made a great impact on me. I feel an extraordinary sense of God working……..though I do not and probably never will know why.

It has been a very special day……….

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther