Last christmas was very diferent in our family. My 42 year old husband had just been diagnosed with stage 4 tonsil cancer. Our world changed without warning. A non-smoker and non drinker for over 10 years my husband was strong and healthy. I will never forget leaving the ent office after the fine needle biopsy and my husband saying" well no matter what I am sure it is not cancer" We went to eat that day, I could not even speak to order, I knew it was cancer. I had seen the ent's face when he had examined my husband, and I knew. For the next 6 months our world revolved around medication and MD visits. We found out his cancer was HPV positive and I rejoiced. Later after treatment we went to Johns Hopkins to see about the HPV trial and during the interview the question of fertility came up. we have 1 son ,but have never ruled out having other children. We were told in Baltimore that with the type of chemo that my husband received fertility would be unlikely. We were sad to hear that news, I kicked myself for not having him store sperm. Well, we returned home and that Monday I received a call from my lifetime friend
and she asked us to adopt her 2 nieces ages 2, and 3 . We discussed it for about a second and said yes. The girls have been in our home 3 months, I started to cry today when I thought about where we were last year at this time. My husband plays hard with these girls daily, I think they have been his greatest medicine. Some may say this was a risky move after all we have been through this year, but we saw this a true sign from above "when God closes a door he opens a window" We love children so much, our house is always full of kids, and the thought of being told that we could only parent 1 was hard. This Christmas we had santa come, dolls, and magic. We will continue to take one day, month, year at a time and hope for the best, but this has showed us how quickly all of our well made plans can change, sometimes for this worse and sometimes for the better. I know some of you out there are just starting you journey with this beast, and I hope that this post will encourage you. I found great comfort in this site after dx, I was on daily. Merry Christmas to all .