Of course I have the usual daily stresses. But I've never really had any hard trials. That all changed a few weeks ago.
On Wednesday, July 15th - 2009, I woke up enjoying my day. It was summer time and I let myself sleep in. I spent some time with the kids - helping them do summer homework and chores so that we could go to the park later. At 10:30am my life did a back flip, and I landed on my face.
My husband had just come home from a Dr.'s appointment. I was sitting at the table with the kids when I saw his face. It wasn't happy or relaxed - it was tight and holding a lot of emotion in - but I couldn't tell what kind of emotion - sad or mad?
He didn't say anything, just looked at me. So I said, do we need to talk? He nodded yes. I stepped away from the kids and into the TV room feeling both curious and scared. As we stood face to face he told me the Dr. had just told him he had cancer.
CANCER?!!!!!!!!!!
Not what I was expecting to hear. My mouth dropped and I think I even stopped breathing for a moment. We both just looked at each other and started crying. We then hugged and cried some more.
Cancer is a scary word. So many words and different scenarios flooded my mind. I was a wreck, to say the least, for the rest of the morning.
I'll rewind for a moment to recall what lead up to us discovering Chris' cancer.
Chris hadn't been feeling real good for several months now. He was more tired than usual (but we blamed that on track and his church calling). He started loosing weight (but again - he was working so hard - of course he was burning off more calories). He also started having pain in his stomach, chest and back. (I thought for sure he was going to give birth to more kidney stones). And he started breathing weird at night (figured his snoring was just getting worse).
As soon as school was out I made an appointment for him at the Doctors because he still just wasn't feeling good. They gave him an exam, took some blood for lab work and then sent him to get a chest x-ray.
A couple of days later the doctor called back saying that Chris' thyroid was low, that he was anemic, and that his testosterone was low. No problem - there was a pill that he could take for everything and then he should start feeling good again. The chest x-ray was a bit of a puzzle. It came back showing fluid in his lungs - but they didn't know why and had already ruled out pneumonia. They wanted to have Chris go for a CT scan to show them more.
Unfortunately they couldn't schedule the CT scan before our trip to Utah. While in Utah Chris took his medicines but didn't feel any better. In fact he stopped taking the thyroid pill because it was causing his heart to race and couldn't sleep at night. A few more days later he broke out in a rash - probably due to an allergic reaction to one of the new medicines.
We drove home from Utah on Monday - July 13th. After arriving home we checked our phone messages. One message was from the Dr. saying they were ready to schedule a CT for Chris. The next morning Chris called and they arranged for a CT scan that same afternoon.
On Wednesday Chris had a scheduled appointment with the doctor to talk about his medication and his new symptoms. The doctor came in and told Chris that the results from the CT scan were in and that it was bad news. He had cancer. (That is how she said it). She then said that there was a 90% chance that he had lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). They would refer us to an Oncologist and take it from there. And then he came home.
After breaking the news to both of our parents we waited all day for the phone to ring to take the next step. Finally at the end of the business day they had made an appointment for Chris with Dr. Bruce Cutter of Northwest Cancer Care for the following Tuesday (July 21).
Tuesday was a whole week a way and seemed like forever to wait when you had just been told you have a horrible disease. Chris tried getting an earlier appointment with some other doctors but no one could fit him in any sooner.
We were a little discouraged and in major limbo - not knowing much about the cancer and not knowing about what was going to happen to Chris. But during this time we talked to several other people that we knew had been through cancer. The good news is that Chris' doctor came highly recommended.
Tuesday (July 21) finally came - although it seemed like the longest week of my life ever! We were so anxious - hoping for more answers about Chris' cancer diagnosis and what we should be expecting our lives to be like the near future.
We meet with Dr. Cutter - he seemed like a good doctor. He couldn't give us much more information on Chris' diagnosis but was very good about explaining about lymphoma. He told us the next step would be to have a biopsy of one of Chris' lymph nodes so they could determine the exact kind of cancer it was (he explained that cancer comes in many different "flavors.") Once that happened and the lab work was done then we would know exactly how to treat Chris. (Most probably chemotherapy). Chris may also have to have a bone marrow biopsy and other test depending on the results.
Life has become a waiting game now. They told us we needed to schedule the biopsy. As we went to the scheduling desk, all their computers had crashed and they said they would call us when they were fixed and could make us an appointment. We were told surgeries were being scheduled a week to two weeks out.
We were happy to hear back first thing the next morning and that the appointment was just one week out. But disappointed to be told that our appointment was for a surgical consultation - not for the actual surgery. So now we have to meet with the surgeon (this Wednesday - July 29) and then still schedule the surgery.
Despite all this we are doing fine. Honestly! The shock has warn off and we are just ready to get to work in making Chris better. Plus we have learned that if you are going to get cancer then lymphoma is the kind to get. It is very treatable and Dr. Cutter seemed to think positive about Chris' prognosis.
Our Bishop, Bishop Porter, gave Chris a blessing soon after his diagnosis. It was a great blessing. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us and loves us. I know that it is going to be a rough road for Chris but that we will get through it. I am so thankful for the gospel, for the priesthood and for the level of technology we have in medicine today.
