“Happy New Year!”
Hope each of you have had a great start to a new year!
Hello,my name is Todd!! Every now and then I put a post on this sight!!!! Wow, I continue to fail with this process very regularly. Who knows, A New Year, feeling the best I have felt since my surgery - March 31, 2021- maybe I am back at it. This entire journey has been a rollercoaster ride. I did not believe I would still be here in January of 2023.
I have outlived the typical timeline for “Glioblastoma”. Not only outlived it, but I am feeling very well, exercising regularly, walking 5-6 miles every day and starting to put a plan together to start living life again.
This journey started in November of 2020. After a huge major surgery on March 31, 2021, I believed my life was short. That never freaked me out, never created any “poor me”, how could this happen to me, where is God and how could He allow this! I was never ready to go, but I knew no one knows when they will go and life is full of wonderful men and woman who go way too soon. Glioblastoma is very aggressive and the norm is 6-18 months before death.
Dee Ann responded to one of my post a couple of times and mentioned I was in the 1-2% of people who survive this. The first time I read that I thought, “that is nice of you to suggest that but it honestly meant little to me.” She had lost an uncle to this and knew more than I originally considered. She responded a month or so later and mentioned that 1-2% percent of people survive and you are one of them. That time I thought, “what is she talking about?” That day I found a medical review and this physician said, “1-2% of people survive and live many years”.
I shifted my thinking and began to think about, “what if I am one of those guys?” It has been 26 months since this all started. Brain surgery and 12 months of chemo were no fun. It has taken a while to get my brain working better and physically I am doing very well.
No one knows how long they are going to live their lives. I didn’t before this brain tumor, and I still don’t know. Each day you and I can decide “what about today”. I am trying to continue to live my life, “ONE DAY AT A TIME.”
Let me end this with a note I wrote in my journal on the day I found out about this brain tumor. I have gone back and looked at it many, many times. This is the end of my last journal entry that day, 11/20/20.
“I will be writing more to help me navigate this journey. However this plays out, I want people to know, that God is love. He is faithful and can use any of our pain, hurts, joy, success, to help others know Him. He is a good Father, and I will need Him to get thru this next season”.
This journey has taught me many things. A big one, “everyone at some point is going through hard, painful experiences.” It is way more than cancer. I have been working with many of those people for years. This experience has reminded me this……
“You are Loved and of Great Value!”