Here is the back story as to where we are today:
In August of 2009, we took a trip to California for baseball and while we were there Josh got pretty sick.....and was never able to get back to 100% . That was the turning point that would forever change our lives. For the next year and a half Josh was in and out of the doctor's office trying to get help. He was originally told that all his symptoms were from his allergies and asthma. In November of 2009 they took a chest x-ray and found some spots on his lungs. They told him he had pneumonia, gave him some antibiotics and told him to take the week off of work.....which is what he did, but that really didn't make much of a difference. From then on it was an everyday struggle for Josh to get out of bed, make it through the work day and then come home and make it through the night running our kids from one end of the valley to the other. He went to the doctor almost every month with the same symptoms, that just seemed to be getting worse. They started to give him prednisone, which made a world of difference to him, so he kept going back to get more. I remember the last time he went in, in July of 2010, the doctor he saw was really hesitant to just let him go home. He was there forever! In the end, he gave Josh a prescription for prednisone and sent him home. That was the last time he went into see a doctor. At Thanksgiving, my family couldn't believe how bad he looked. He weighed almost nothing, his cheeks were all sunk in, he was really pale and totally exhausted. I then knew he needed major help!
I made him a doctor appointment at a new facility, with a new doctor and made sure that I went
with him. On December 9th, we went to see the new doctor and I told him all of Josh's symptoms. I also told him that none of the other doctors had ever done any blood tests.....and he seemed as if it that was out of the ordinary. He ordered a list full of blood tests and told us he would have the results in a week. On the 15th, the doctor's office called and said that they got his results back and wanted us to come back in. They scheduled him an appointment for that night at 7:30. We went in hoping that they had any answers as to what was going on with Josh.....and that they did. We were told that his white blood count was very abnormally high and that it was cancer. We were referred to an oncologist/hematologist to help determine exactly what type of blood cancer it was. After more blood tests, a biopsy, a bone marrow test and a PET scan, he was officially diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. From his PET scan, we found out that there was a lot of the ugly "C" word inside him......his lungs, spleen, lymph nodes from the waist up, there was fluid around his heart and there was a huge mass in his chest that was crushing his airway. Well, no wonder he looked like death was knocking at the door!
His 1st chemo treatment, out of 12, was on January 20th, 2011 and his last treatment was June 23rd. Thank goodness the treatments fell during the busiest part of basketball, during dance competitions and baseball season so that, to me, made the months fly by. We waited 3 weeks after his last treatment and then made a trip up to Huntsman for another PET scan. The results came back and things looked pretty good. There were some small things that his doctor was going to watch, but she seemed pleased with the results. Because of the things being watched he would need another scan 3 months later, but this time the results would show that the the tumors were growing and some new stuff was being seen. A little over two and a half months later we made another trip to the Huntsman for another PET scan. This scan would show that everything had gotten bigger. His doctor wanted to do another biopsy, just to make sure everything was all the same. We scheduled the biopsy for January 12 and on the 20th we went back to the doctor to get the results, which turned into something we didn't expect. His doctor told us the biopsy results showed that there was no signs of cancer in the lymph node samples they removed. We were scratching our heads a bit. She wanted to take his medical case to a cancer conference that was took place on the 24th. We made an appointment for the day after to see what new information she had for us. when she came in the exam room, she told us that she got her answer without even going to conference. On the 23rd, she had meet with the top radiologist at the Huntsman and went over his biopsy report. They focused more on the stuff going on in his chest and abdomen, than the lymph nodes in his armpit. So with that news, here we are today. We meet with his doctor tomorrow afternoon to get a finalized treatment plan. I will let you know what she says.....
