Amazing!

Monte has been injecting himself with the new med for about 7 weeks now, the results are absolutely amazing to us!! He's off all other drugs, he just injects himself once every 2 weeks. We are constantly talking about how we can't even believe this is happening. He says he hasn't felt this good in the last SEVEN years. Even his best days in the last seven years don't even compare to how good he feels now! I can't even imagine how horrible it must have been for him, it's one thing to watch him, but another thing to actually be going through it, he was very good at hiding how he really felt many times. He said he just expected to always feel that way, and accepted a long time ago that that was how it would be. His weight is also back up into the 150's, he's gained TWENTY pounds just in the last couple of months. He looks so good, I took a picture of him when he was doing really bad a few months ago. I wish I could post a before and after picture on here, but I know there is no way he would let me. He reminds me of someone in a concentration camp in the picture from a few months ago - SO thin, face sunken in, a pale greenish complexion. And now, as you can see from our Easter family picture I posted before, he looks great. And if all that wasn't the best news EVER, there's one thing to top it all off even. He can have dairy products again!!! Once again . . . amazing! It's been about 7 or 8 years since he has tasted anything like milk, cheese, ice cream, etc. Do you know what this means for my cooking?!! I can't wait to try out all sorts of creamy, cheesy dishes! Even as I write this, the tears are flowing down my cheeks - wonderful, happy, THANKFUL tears. We've come a long way since that awful day at the Mayo Clinic about 4 and half years ago, when we were given very little hope that things would get better. We thank God every day for the gift of health he has given Monte. This Easter season truly is a time for us to celebrate the gift of new life, it's like a whole new season in our lives. We know there are ups and downs with this disease, but for right now we are celebrating! I have a healthy family, and I couldn't possibly be any happier. If we hadn't gone through everything we did, I can guarantee you I would not be as appreciative or so happy about having a "normal" life. I would have taken it all for granted, and for that I thank God for our time of suffering. Our priest talked about suffering in the Good Friday homily, how it does one of two things. Suffering can make you angry at God, and make you turn away from Him OR it can be a form of prayer, something to offer up, something that brings you closer to God than you've ever been before. For us, it was the latter.