Hallelujah

Guest post
by Suzann Darnall

We have much to give thanks for as this week and month come to an end. Although it has been a bit more than just one calendar year since we started Pete's cancer journey, it is to me as if a very long year has come to an end. Truly a reason to say, "Praise the Lord!

We have experienced blessings, answered prayers, tender mercies, and even miracles as we have traveled along this very difficult path. Friends, family, acquaintances, medical personnel, and even hospital support staff have been with us all along the way. People have cried with us and celebrated with us. And, yet, in some ways it has been just Pete and I all alone . . . except that we never felt like the Lord was not right there as we moved forward a step at a time.

There have been sorrows along the way, but joys as well. One very definite sorrow was the loss of our dear Great Dane, Blue, just last month. But, it was with a tremendous amount of joy that we welcomed our new Great Dane puppy, Jake, just this week.

Jake's arrival was so perfectly timed. Another of those tender mercies of the Lord. At least, that is how I choose to view it. I just do not believe much in coincidence when I see how often it dovetails with needs and is in answer to prayers.

Pete completed his cancer treatments a little after 9am on Wednesday. Our children and grandchildren showed up about 6pm on Wednesday for a pizza and puppy welcoming party. But, we all knew it was also a celebration of the end of radiation and chemo for Pete.

We were not just waiting for Jake to arrive, but also for Jake' brother, Blaze. Not only did Pete and I buy a puppy, our oldest daughter and her family bought one, too. And, at a little after 8pm on Wednesday evening, the puppies arrived with their transporter, a very nice man named, Frankie, who greeted us with hugs and passed along our new baby dogs.

We are still not completely done with Pete's cancer issues. He has been declared clear. Nevertheless, it will take a while for his body to recover from the effects of chemo and radiation. Then, we will have an ongoing series of checks to make sure it has not come back. But, for now, it is officially done in the main meaning. Pete has rung the bells is both clinics. He has been sent off with hugs and a few tears. We do not have any standing appointments, just the occasional follow-ups. What a feeling of freedom that is for him!

Of course, we have traded freedom from the hospital for servitude to a four-legged dictator named Jake. Where our week began with our lives dominated by the hospital, our week is ending with our lives revolving around what the puppy needs. Instead of running out the door for a treatment, we are running out the door for a puppy potty stop. Instead of eating, again, in the hospital dining hall, we are prepping puppy's meal with him anxiously dancing about with wagging tail. We sleep and wake on his whim, rather than the alarms set for hospital visits. I think it is a good trade.

We are still counting our blessings. Still looking for the tender mercies. Still giving thanks. We are just a little more joyful about it all, 'cause Pete is a little less sick, a little less stressed, and a whole lot happier. Ending cancer treatments and getting a new puppy can do that for a man.