At the end of September 2015, Elizabeth flew by herself to attend her Mayo Clinic appointments; she had traveled several times by herself, independent and wanting to make the trip quickly in order to get back to her obligations as a young adult. This time, however, she called us upset with the news. Her tumor is showing growth, not necessarily from one visit to the next three months later, but rather over the past year. In fact, it had shown enough growth that the team of Mayo neurologists wanted to begin radiation and chemotherapy. Wrapping our minds around this news, Brian and I left the conference we were attending together in Indianapolis and met Elizabeth as she arrived at the airport terminal in Columbus, Ohio. This news simply came much earlier in her journey than any of us had anticipated.
Today, Elizabeth and I will travel to the oncology department where she will begin daily proton beam radiation treatments every day for the next six weeks. She left her friends, boy friend, and colleagues, cleaned her apartment, loaded up her belongings, and is prepared to settle here until her treatments are finished. The range of emotions are hard to describe, but at the core of everything is hope and the continued support of amazing family and friends who sustain us. As she goes through the next several months, we have revived this blog so our family and friends can be included in the journey.
"When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It's all a matter of perspective." - Harvey Mckay