July 25, 2022 — Today, we give thanks

Monday Morning Magic, August 25, 2022 — It’s with tremendous gratitude that my family and I thank you for your love, support, and good wishes as our daughter Anna Paige Gibbs underwent spinal surgery last week. I am thrilled to report that she is home and doing remarkably well!

She had been self-managing pain in her mid back for several months before alerting her doctor, who ordered an MRI and referred her to a neurologist. He determined she had a nerve sheath tumor around the second vertebrae of her lumbar spine and recommended she have it removed as soon as possible. While Anna and I are yogis and deep believers in alternative healing methods, taking the western medical approach seemed like the appropriate course of action.

And so, on Thursday morning, July 21, Anna underwent a laminectomy. And it hurt! Just sitting up 30 degrees seemed impossible, much less throwing her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. But today, four mornings later, she is walking, showering, cracking jokes, and with the help of some amazing narcotics, much closer to embracing the next phase of her magnificent life.

I open my heart to you for all parents who have endured a similar experience and those who have struggled through much worse. For everyone who has extended their love through texts and calls, we cannot thank you enough. At times like this, we see the hand of God at work. We fall to our knees. We pray for health. We appreciate the littlest, perfect, glorious moments. In the end, I believe this is truly all we have.

I leave you today with this parting thought from photographer/videographer Anna Paige Gibbs: “This was the year I grew a tumor in my spine to keep me company / keep me humble / keep me awake. It’s 6mm round and perfectly shaped. I’ve grown to love it, and tomorrow at 8 AM, they’ll remove it. Till then, I talk to it, place things I’m ready to release into it- so when it’s gone, there’s a lightness, a wave from afar, memories to be biopsied.  I think I needed a place to store what I couldn’t yet face.” Click here to read more about Anna’s journey.

Until next Monday: I send you love. — Hope Katz Gibbs, founder, and president, Inkandescent® Inc. Inkandescent.us

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