A Dream Come True-His Walk With Cancer

Sometimes in life, when you are going through a nightmare, God sends you a dream. A dream which brings peace. A dream with many positive meanings, a message, and a new friend. I am so thankful to be blessed with vivid dreams.

I am going to tell you about my dream, my dream come true. But first, I will tell you a story about a walk. A walk with cancer.

The Walk

This walk began in October. A simple blood test for added insurance, led us to today.

The blood test came back showing a high PSA count. They sent Mark to the doctor for another test. PSA was elevated even more. The next step was a strong antibiotic, followed by another test. PSA rose still.

He then walked into the urologist office for another test only to learn the PSA count was still rising.

By now, it’s December and this walk looks like it is never-ending. The walk also involved a lot of waiting.

Mark had a biopsy a few weeks later and we would learn the results after Christmas, sadly on our son’s birthday. The holidays were heavily decorated with what if’s, worried waiting and a whole lot of prayer.

The walk continued when we finally heard the c word. Prostate Cancer.

January was full of more doctors and a lot of decisions and of course-more waiting. And, February brought surgery.

In March, we walked into Mark’s post op appointment with high hopes, only to be crushed again when we heard he was stage III, due to the cancer penetrating the prostate. It was not in the lymph nodes, but it was not contained.

A longer walk was needed.

More decisions and more waiting. He was given the choice to start radiation as soon as he healed from surgery. Or, he could wait for his first PSA test, in three months. He chose to wait.

I was not happy about this decision. I thought he should be proactive. Our children and parents felt the same way. You can’t sit down when you’re walking this walk. You have to keep moving.

This all leads us to his last appointment, the first post-op PSA test.

I am happy to say I received the biggest “I told you so” I ever had or dreamed of. I got the “see, it’s okay” followed by a “trust me” because we learned his PSA was as low as it will ever go.

For now, until December, we can rest. We can breath. We can stop walking this walk because our walk has ended. At least for six months. He has to have a test every six months for the next ten years. As long as his PSA is less than .2, he won’t have to walk the walk. Ever again.

Peace. Prayers answered. He is walking lighter. Breathing more free. Today, he feels free. Finding out my husband’s prostate cancer is at a big, fat zero is the best news ever!

Today, we are both free.

The Dream

Now, I will tell you the story of the dream. The dream come true. But first, know I am a vivid dreamer. I dream in color and I dream in detail. I have dreams nightly. I also remember a majority of my dreams. I am not always thankful for this ability because some of my dreams are disturbing. This dream though, this one, is a blessing and I am most thankful for the memory and it will never be forgotten. Not only the dream itself, but what happened afterwards.

This is a dream come true.

When I tell this dream, this dream come true, I get chills every time. It also brings chills, and tears, to those who listen.

This dream occurred in March, while Mark was healing from his prostate-removal surgery.

The main character in the dream is a friend I have never met, but I have grown to love and appreciate. She is one to follow on Instagram, and on her blog, Happily Hafsa, for daily inspiration. Hafsa lives in Chicago. Although we have never met, I do consider her a friend. Especially now. Before and after Mark’s surgery, she and I direct messaged a lot. She asked about Mark many times. She has told me several times how much she prays for Mark and his cancer.

NOW to the dream…

Mark and I are asleep in our bed and it is quiet in the house. I wake up and see Hafsa. I sit up in bed to see Hafsa is on Mark’s side of the room. She places a succulent on his bedside table. I watch her with no fear. I simply watch her without questioning. I don’t even question why she is in my house. Hafsa looks at me and whispers, ”Dedra, he’s going to be fine.”

I simply smile.

At this point, I wake up. (Short dream!)

I feel a complete peace in my heart, not in the dream, but in reality. I am smiling. I even look around our room to see if Hafsa is there, or if there is a succulent on his bedside table. All I see is Mark, asleep.

The dream felt so real, it left me a little disoriented. But, it also left me completely at peace.

The next morning, Hafsa and I were chatting and I decided I should tell her about the dream. I feared she would think I was weird.

She didn’t think I was weird at all. She was as moved, by the dream, as I was. And guess what she did?

Yep. Hafsa sent Mark succulents in the mail! She insisted. She said God put the dream in my head. She believed that and she had me believing it, too. She said she was more than happy to do her part. I told her she didn’t need to send them, but she insisted. (Why didn’t I dream she placed a million dollars on his bedside table??)

Later that night, I told Mark about the dream. He was also moved. But, when I told him what Hafsa was sending him, he had tears.
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The Reality

This dream came true. This dream meant a lot to Hafsa, Mark and I, but now, now that the dream came true, it is so much more special. It gave me peace at the time. He continued my faith. It showed me that a friend, whom I had never met, could gift love. She gave us so much more than succulents. No, Hafsa didn’t come to Waco, but my husband is fine! I know God did this for him and I believe Hafsa is our angel on earth!

I continually thank her over and over. We both appreciate her gesture and her faith in God. I will never be able to truly articulate to Hafsa what the succulents mean to us.

The Succulents

What do the succulents mean?

Our bedroom is on the dark side, and the wall of windows are on my side of the bed. Because of this, I put the succulent in the sunroom several times a week. I always try to remember to put it back on Mark’s bedside table before he comes home from work. If I don’t? He gets panicked, in a lighthearted way. He questions me, “where is my succulent?”

Another friend of mine, whom I have never met, is happy to be finished with the dreadful walk, too. Her husband has fought, and won, against this dreadful c word, too. We have bonded over rallying our husbands on their walk.

Sarah Brown, from Kingdom Calling Blog, is also a woman of God. She asked me if I had looked up the meaning of succulents. The significance?

I asked her if she was talking about in the Bible? She replied there would be a meaning, something significant, if I researched.

So I took to Google.

What I learned brought more peace. More chills. Sarah told me, “God always wants to show us more and invite us on a journey of discovery with Him.” She got me thinking and searching.

“Succulents symbolize enduring and timeless love,” Sarah explained. How did she know this is what I would find in my research? She continued, “It is something about the fact that succulents are hardy and survive in the most extreme desert like conditions.”

“They also provide life because you can drink the sap in their leaves. I think it’s Gods provision in a seemingly time of drought. You guys, like the succulents, can survive it. You do have that nourishment you need within you. You can still nourish and feed others, too, through this time and through this situation as you freely share what God has done.”

And she would know. Her husband, Tim, went through a tough walk, but because they both have God in their hearts, and invited Him to walk alongside, Tim is cancer-free today.

I also learned succulents symbolize protection, endurance, love, and spirituality. God directed Adam to tend, guard and keep the Garden (Genesis 2: 15) and the plants in the Garden.

Tend is to care for, watch over; apply oneself to the care of; cultivate; to take charge of as a caretaker. Guard, in verb form, means to protect from danger through watchful attention; make secure; preserve; protect. And keep means to have custody, charge or maintenance over; to be faithful to.

To me this all relates to Hafsa, sweetly bringing the succulent in the dream, bringing peace in the dream, and doing both, in real-life, when I told her about the dream. It also signifies God doing all this for Mark, through the succulent and Hafsa. And through healing. And now, we both take care of the succulent with love and gratitude. As well, as each other.

We are rooted in God, our gardener.

The closest plant to a succulent I could find in the Bible was a cactus and an aloe. Because the succulent has no spears, I am going with an aloe.

Traditionally, aloe has been associated with healing. In the Bible it was used for healing and even today, aloe is still commonly used to treat burns, sunburns, heal rashes and moisturize the skin.

I believe Hafsa brought a succulent in my dream, because it symbolizes healing for Mark.

I already have a lot of succulents. I love them, all types of them. I have learned how to take care of them and they thrive in my sunroom. This succulent is babied, this succulent is royalty amongst all the others.

On a lighter note, in Feng shui, succulent plants symbolize money and gold. Neither of which my plants produce. It’s very possible that I’m not fertilizing these guys enough.

If you read this all the way to the end—I thank you. I thank Hafsa. I thank her for doing what she could to make sure my dream came true. And it did! So, I thank God, as well. I always thank Him, no matter. Prayers answered, or left unanswered. Because I believe in His will. No matter what.

I also thank Sarah for pushing me to research succulents. I have so much more respect for this dream and what it means. And the dream maker.

I thank you for your prayers, your love, your calls, your notes, your gifts. I thank Mark for being strong and for showing me what it looks like to walk the walk with your head held high.

I hope for you never, ever to walk this walk. I pray so. I pray for those who have won the race. I pray for those who are beginning their walk. I pray for those who are in the middle, for strength to continue, and for the long road they have in front of them. I pray for the families who have lost loved ones in the walk. It is a horrible disease.

I am going to tell you about my dream, my dream come true. But first, I will tell you a story about a walk. A walk with cancer. #zerocancer Click To Tweet

love and blessings, ~dd

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