A Small hiccup in the road of life.

Hello Everyone!

I know how everyone feels about mass emails and as much as you dislike receiving them, I really don't like sending them. I know you are all really busy and some we haven't even been able to keep up with in the past few years. But we know the power of prayer, the power of friendship, and our need for support. So here's the hiccup...

Rebecca and I have been battling with trying to understand why I've had an on and off cough for nearly 9 months now and also why I've had a bit of a swelling in the right side of my neck since the fall and now the left side too. After various doctors appointments I was referred to an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor who prescribed medicine for acid reflux. After a couple of months of different medications we knew that acid reflux wasn't the answer and we started over. In the past week I've had an MRI and a biopsy of one of my lymph nodes. Today we received a call from the doctor that I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This is one of the most curable cancers - in fact its typically spoken of with a 95% cure rate. We don't have a lot more information right now because it isn't until later this week that I have a PET scan of the rest of my body for staging and then on Monday Rebecca and I are meeting with the oncologist we were referred to. Monday is also when we believe we will get our recommended treatment plan.

As you can imagine this is a shock to Rebecca and I. We think back to the first appointments back in the fall when we started dealing with this. At that time Hodgkins was already on our mind as two friends were recently diagnosed with similar symptoms and we even mentioned it to the doctor but it was quickly dismissed as not being cancer. Looking back we are a bit disappointed that we didn't find out then but at the same time can't imagine what chemo and newborn twins would have been like and we truly believe that we found out in God's time and that everything happens for a reason.

So we don't want to go on about all of this, but we do know that if we keep a positive attitude and have people praying for us that that will probably be even more powerful than what the doctors could do by themselves. Rather than sending out a bunch of mass emails Rebecca and I will try and make a more concerted effort to keep our blog updated and share our experiences, victories, and fears on our blog.

Nothing is impossible with God, and we just ask for your support, prayers, and love throughout this process.

Peace,

Jeff and Rebecca