WOW

After having to drink 1.4 litres of medicinal-tasting water within a 2 hr period while waiting in the diagnostic area of the Peter Lougheed Hospital, Charl's name was called for his X-ray. A few minutes later, Charl bounced back into the waiting room, hurriedly suggested I leave my book there and follow him. The X-ray tech agreed to allow me to come in and take a look at the X-ray that had just been taken of Charl's chest.

We looked first at the screen that showed the X-ray that was taken back in January, when the tumor was first discovered. It was a big white mass on the screen. But when I looked over at today's chest X-ray, I immediately choked up. We have been praying for a miraculous result and we feel that is exactly what we got. The mass is virtually gone. Incredulous, we looked at each other with big teary smiles. Wow. Charl was going to be ok.

While we were so thankful for such a clear picture of the chemo working in Charl's body, we know that this is not the 'final' analysis of his cancer, and that a radiologist, and Charl’s hematologist, needs to inform us of what the CT scan results are. An X-ray is a one dimensional image; a CT can is not. It shows you multiple angles of the same image. We are well aware that there could be more to this story - i.e. more tumor left in his body - but the joy at seeing the chemo doing its job was undeniable. The CT scan results will be revealed to us next clinic, May 5.

We walked out of the hospital with a hope even more fierce, a feeling more exuberant and an outlook more positive than before. We are not out of the woods yet, but we will be soon. We thank God for the gift of modern medicine and the impact it has had in Charl's life, and we thank you for your prayers.