A Miracle - Hallelujah!

I just got back from several days in NYC on business, mixed with some much-needed R&R. After years of stressful living on the road, I've gotten into the contrarian habit of disconnecting when traveling. I get more sleep that way - something I badly needed amidst the recent rollercoaster of my brother's illness.

I am happily awestruck to report that our prayers have been answered!!!!! Late last week we got news that a key test showed no leukemia cells in my brother's spinal fluid or peripheral blood. None. My brother is back at home with his family, full of energy, responding well just two weeks into a four week course of treatment.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Thanks to regular readers for keeping the faith in my virtual absence - praying for and inquiring about him. I've lost track of the number of countries and prayer groups making his case with the Big Guy. It has been tremendously humbling and inspiring to all of us.

To those of you steeped in this kind of thing - for whom prayer is a regular routine - thank you. To those of you who feel kinda funky and self-conscious and doubting about whether God exists, how to pray and/or whether prayer means anything at all, much less whether it works - THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!!

If is your tentative, silent inner steps that bring giddy smiles in heaven - and here.

Sure, the cancer may still be hiding out in other places. Sure, we could call this 'luck'. Sure, he'll need a stem cell transplant, but still...

Ten days ago, the world-class super-experienced oncology docs had been telling us that the chances of this happening - of the cancer retreating like this - were infinitesimally small. Start thinking about hospice, they said. We'll give it one last shot if you want, they said. It's OK if he decides to just go home and die quietly before Labor Day, they said. In my brother's own words: "You were planning my funeral, weren't you?" Uh, well... Yeah. Sorry. Never mind.

It's almost embarassing, my sister-in-law and I have reflected, to report this news so soon after that other news. The fearful weeping seems... surreal. And yet, it was very real. We all heard the same thing from the docs. We saw it in my brother's rapidly deteriorating condition. And now...

Home. Summer. Fresh air. Famliy. A chance. A major miracle. On top of the other miracle. You have stormed heaven for a complete stranger. God has responded with His infinite love and grace. Hallelujah!

Now let's direct a few prayers towards New Orleans. It looks like they're gonna need 'em.

UPDATE: Well, that was short-lived. I spoke with my brother around 4PM and now, four hours later, he's back in the hospital with a high fever - cause unknown. That's not necessarily as ominous as it might sound. Leukemia patients in chemo are prone to opportunistic infections, nearly all of them completely treatable, but man, what a rollercoaster.

Does any of this obviate what I wrote above? Absolutely not. We do not get to set the terms of miracles. We do not get to negotiate longer ones. We do not get bliss and everlasting chocolate ice cream just because. No, other higher priority opportunities to love spring up in the place of the self-centeredness that rushes in as soon as a crisis is over. We are spending precious time with my niece, (once I finish this update, that is.) We are reminded again that life is fragile. We are reminded how precious any weekend at home with family can be, whether one is sick or not. (How many have I squandered, I think...) Treasure each of those moments. Every one is a miracle.