Never take our life for granted

Hi everyone, happy Friday morning. I only had a three hours sleep last night. And yet, I'm happy that I am awake and ready for the day.

My husband and I got home from Saint Joseph Hospital (Toronto, ON) around 2:30am EST. About 2 weeks ago, I got a message from my mother in law that our friend Steve needs a medical attention because of severe coughing and not being able to sleep at night. I called him right away, he sounded okay and said everything is fine (but knowing him, he's good at hiding stuffs). He said he's going to his doctor and will let us know when he needs help. Then yesterday, around 5:30pmEST his sister from Texas called me and was asking to assist Steve to go the hospital. Apparently, I was still at work and won't be done until 9pm. So I called my husband and relayed him the message. He right away brought the kids home (they were at the playground) and left the kids to my mom and went to see Steve.

When I finished work, I called Greg (my husband) to check on them. He was crying and told me how terribly sick Steve looks. He knew Steve for about 15 years and me for about 10 years. He's always been a jolly good fellow kinda guy. He was a big supporter and a mentor of me and Greg during our tough days. And while I can only imagine him while talking to Greg. I couldn't help myself to get emotional too. So I told Greg that I am coming to see them too. I bought them food on my way just so I thought they both haven't eaten dinner yet (and as per my instinct is always right, they haven't). I arrived at the hospital at 10:30pm EST.

We waited for the doctor and he didn't come until 2 o'clock in the morning. We wanted to make sure he gets checked before we get home and at least asked the doctor how bad his condition is. And we can report whatever it is to his five sisters. That's when we learned that he's actually been diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer couple of months ago (or even years ago). As I mentioned earlier about Steve's good at hiding stuffs, he probably knew about his condition a long time ago. That's even before he retired from work and decided to keep his distance from us. He never wanted to see his family doctor or any other doctors around. He is always in denial that something is wrong with him and never wanted anybody to know anything about what's going on with him.

However later today, he's really trying to be brave and did couple of tests and procedures. And Monday, they will perform a biopsy in him.

This situation is also a reminder to each and everyone of us that we should not neglect ourselves of any pain and pretend that we can always be in good shape. Never take things for granted whether it's big or small. Especially our life. Life's precious. Life is short. Live it to the fullest. There's always, always time for everything. It's okay to share our fears and pain to our friends and family.

At the end of the day, we pray for his speedy recovery, make him feel loved to lift up his spirit and make him keep his faith.

Took me the whole day to write this but I'm thankful I made it through. Thank you all for reading. God bless us all :)