Our journey begins...

December 1st marks the beginning of a new chapter in our family. As I have wrestled with my feelings I decided I need to find an outlet to express them. I have never been a consistent journal keeper but with an smartphone, tablet or laptop typically nearby, blog posts seem like something I can keep up with. I don't know if anyone will ever read this but I need to get it out there none the less.

My teenage sweetheart and husband of 37 years started feeling ill shortly after a business trip in mid October of this year. He is a frequent business traveler and thought that he was experiencing travelers diarrhea. He didn't really say much except that perhaps he should touch base with the doctor before he went on his next trip. The doctor was not particularly concerned and prescribed medication for him to take to ease his symptoms. It did not really help but Steve kept pushing through life not saying much about it. On October 30th he traveled to India. Knowing that the water is not particularly clean in India, he checked a bag full of bottled water to consume while he was gone. He ate the local fare -avoiding the usual culprits for disease and weathered the trip without getting worse. He came home on Friday night and within 6 or 8 hours of returning he became very ill. In hind sight, we realize that the Lord kept him safe while he was there so he would not end up in a hospital in India. We took him to urgent care as soon as they opened the next morning.

Now begins the series of doctor appointments and tests. More appointments with more doctors and more tests, All the while Steve is getting sicker and all anyone can do is treat the symptoms. Finally on the Friday before Thanksgiving, a doctor sees something troubling on a CT scan and suggests we need to go to Boston for a biopsy of Steve's Pancreas. There is just one problem, no one wants to take on a new case the week of Thanksgiving. Fortunately, a good friend of ours is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and as such, has a friend who is a Pancreatic specialist there. We have a few phone chats but he can't get us in for the test until Tuesday after Thanksgiving. By this time Steve has been sick for 6 weeks and can't really eat much beyond canned fruit and dry toast. Couple that with an uncertain diagnosis looming - it was a very long wait until Tuesday,

Tuesday December 1st, we finally met the doctor for the biopsy and Steve went in to have the test. Matthew flew in because he was worried about his dad. Brian, Britta and Michael all took off work and the 5 of us waited for the dreaded results. The doctors was very kind but there was no doubt. Steve has pancreatic cancer and it has spread to his liver as well. They sent tissue off to lab to verify what type of cancer cells we were dealing with so the oncologists would know how to treat it. It took until Friday to get the results.When the oncologist called he told us to immediately go for a second opinion on treatment as there wasn't time to waste.

I will continue to share the story tomorrow...