Dear God...please send me a sign....

Today I went back to the gastroenteroligist for my second appointment. The first time I went I left feeling a bit discouraged and confused, as you can tell from my previous post. One of the most amazing things about this journey so far is that there are roughly  4 million people in the United States that are infected with Hepatitis C and yet as best as I can tell each person is trying to individually negotiate their way through treatment. While their are some online and national resources out there, many of these are tied to drug manufacturers. At the local level it seems very hard to feel like you have a clear idea of what is happening or what to expect. It is like I am on a personal quest for information and that I have to gather and try to sort out and make sense of. I could not do this with out Lauretta's help.

....anyways....I'm digressing a bit......

I have been praying a great deal lately that I would feel guided and that God would help me to know the right thing to do. Lauretta has also been praying and asking that I have clarity and be guided as I try to decide what to do in regards to treatment options.  So today I was given the go ahead to start treatment. Treatment is kind of brutal...a year of interferon injections and daily doses of ribaviran, both pretty heavy drugs. Some people are unable to complete treatment due to the side effects, but most make it through. I am pretty confident that I will do well, but I would be lying if I did not say that I was a little scared. After we left the doctor's office I did not know whether to jump for joy (because I was going to start actively fighting the disease) or to cry. I asked Lauretta to drive because I was feeling much more inclined towards crying. We drove up the street and stopped in a parking lot where we started to talk and I started to cry.

Suddenly Lauretta laughed and said look, pointing across the parking lot at this:

 

I had been a little bit afraid of the next year, thinking that it was going to be a tough one. But I know now that it will be a Good Year and God will be with me every step of the way!!!!!

I know your thinking I made this up...but honest...it happened just that way! 

God is Good All the Time!