Roxanne and I woke up in Jasper National Park on a beautiful morning in October of 2020. To be accurate it was October 12th, Thanksgiving Day in Canada. But it wasn’t just Thanksgiving Day, it was also our 18th anniversary. What an amazing 18 years. Even as I type this I realize how blessed I am to be married to an excpetional woman that loves me unconditionally. The autumn weather in Jasper was amazing. We had spent 3 days in Jasper over the long weekend but all great vacations must end and then it was time to head back to Edmonton.

The weather for the drive home was beautiful and memories of a wonderful weekend were played out in my mind. It was on the way home that I started to feel a pain in my right side. I had never had a pain like that before, but I thought maybe I ate way too much and and had too many desserts during the weekend. All the pumpkin pie was amazing!

Move forward another week and I still was not feeling good. Roxanne and I decided it was time I went to see our doctor. Our family doctor, Dr Deb is wonderful and appointments never last only a couple of minutes they are at least half an hour, and many times even longer. I have never liked doctors appoinments but she is a doctor that I don’t mind going to see.

She ordered some blood work and sent me for an ultrasound.

That is when the bells started going off.

Some of you are thinking Gord why are you telling us a story from 2020 in January of 2022? Well at this time I am ready and comfortable to share the story of the journey publically. Am I a good writer, no I am not. But I have decided that if I can encourage even just one person by sharing this story then this is what I have to do.

I have learned and fully understand that I am not on this journey alone, Roxanne is with me and so is God. It is my faith and trust in Him that keeps me smiling each and every day. There are people everywhere that need to hear that God cares and I want to share that through this story.

Some may stop reading because I am talking about God, but I trust and I believe that people will hear about God’s goodness through the story and our journey.

As I said the bells started going off, and then it was a CT scan ordered.

Before I share further I need to go back in time to 2014, when much to my suprise Melanoma was cut out of my right shoulder. Sadly too many sun burns in my teens and early 20’s led to the finding of the Melanoma. The surgery was very succesful and regular visits to see Dr. S-1 (There are many doctors I now see with their last name starting with an S, so I will number them) revealed no concerns whatsoever.

Six years of no concerns and the only time I even thought about the Melanoma was when I went for a follow up appointment. Visits with Dr S-1 were great as we talked about many different things and always had wonderful conversations. He is just one of many remarkable health care professionals I now work with.

Back to the CT Scan…It revealed a number of different concerns. We told Dr. Deb not investigate further and that it was best to reach out to Dr. S-1.

Within a day we heard from Dr. S-1 and he set up an appointment with himself and an onocologist. He knew Roxanne and I well enough that he could share the news over the phone.

As for the time line we were now in the middle of November 2020.

I think that is probably enough writing for today, as I get to go out and shovel some snow. I will try to write at least once per week and I trust that someone will find benefit from what they read. To those reading this, no matter who you are or where you are I want to remind you that God loves you so very much and He is never too busy for you!

Have an amazing day everyone, and thanks for taking time to read my blog.