Sending my Love

Four years ago today, I married my true love.  We knew on the day we said our vows that "in sickness and in health" already was a reality.  But, I demanded that Tyler marry me that day, whether he was released from the hospital or not.  He spent the week before the wedding at Stevens Hospital, recovering from pneumonia and getting his white blood cell counts down.  We canceled our honeymoon cruise, but still had the big party and officially joined our lives together.

Initially, we kept Tyler's diagnosis a secret from the many people coming to join us at our wedding.  We wanted our wedding day to be one of joy and celebration at the fact that we LOVED each other.  With apologies to the many loved ones who joined us there, I still think that was the right thing to do.  Our wedding day was filled with joy and love.

Tyler started to share the following week, which prompted a great deal of shock as people heard the word "cancer".

One of the things that amazed me over and over again as we fought this battle was the outpouring of support that we received.  We could never have fought this battle on our own, but had friends and family who went above and beyond to help.  People visited us in the hospital.  Coworkers from both of our jobs made it possible for us to visit doctors together, regardless of the impact to their own workload.  Friends and family helped us to raise thousands and thousands of dollars to fight this disease.

And through it all, we had each other.  When I stop and think about how much I have lost, I can't stop the tears.  Tyler loved me and knew that I loved him.  In that one fact, we were very, very lucky.  Although he often felt like he wasn't living up to what I needed in a husband, I would not have traded one day of our time for anyone else.

I would have happily sent the leukemia packing, but know that if I had to take CML to have the blessing of Tyler, it was well worth it for me.  I just hope that he believes me now.