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Sunday Afternoon

Becca did alright last night. The nurse that came in at 7PM figured out her medication and Becca actually had a smile on her face for the first time in days. She feels a bit better and can still move her toes and fingers. She should have day 2 of the blood therapy sometime today.

I wanted to take a moment and share with you all how we got to where we are. Many asked if we knew about this prior to the last few weeks. So let me share with you some of my thoughts.

About two weeks prior to Becca going into the hospital (she’s been in there now 2 weeks today), she woke up one Saturday morning with sudden short term memory loss (I thought that was a hard day). Becca was talking in circles and had no idea what was going on. She was up the night before complaining of a headache and nausea, but simply took a glass of water. We thought perhaps she had a nervous break-down and went to see a psychologist. The Dr. did a full blood test and gave her some medication for anxiety, but found nothing wrong. This lasted about a week. Since then we have found that she might have actually had a small seizure and that all of this is related.

Then two weeks ago today, Rebecca woke up with some numbness in her legs. I was headed to Chicago on a business trip that morning. We talked about it and thought perhaps she slept wrong or had a pinched nerve. I continued on my trip and she called me hours later saying that she was still numb and was trying to stretch it out and do Pilates to work it out. Nothing seemed to help. So she called a bunch of Dr. friends and nurses wondering if she should go in. She call her Doctor and he advised that she go to the emergency room immediately that it’s something that she shouldn’t wait for. She called a friend and she came over to take her. Her daughter stayed with our children during the night.

Becca had an MRI done at the local hospital and they rushed her via ambulance to where she is now, Zale Lipshy (part of UT Southwestern University Hospitals). They did more testing and found the tumor in her tail bone. After more tests, they found a spot on her shoulder, spots on her brain, and one in her neck. When she came in she was walking around with a little numbness in her legs. As the days progressed, she couldn’t walk hardly anymore, the numbness was all over her body, and now her upper body was numb. Before the first surgery, just a week later, she couldn’t move anything and her body felt like sandpaper rubbing all over. Since then Becca has had two major surgeries in 24 hours, two spinal taps, two biopsies, one of which was a bone biopsy of her shoulder (major pain), tons of drugs, blood therapy, breathing therapy, and countless MRI’s and CT scans.

Needless to say, who would have thought? She is a healthy 28 year old that had no previous surgeries, no broken bones, no stitches, does Pilates/Yoga regularly, and three beautiful children. I suppose I share all this with you to help you understand why I know that the Lord has her in His hands. Life can change very quickly as we all know. I suppose with Cameron having Down’s Syndrome I thought life couldn’t have been better. I figured that was our test of faith and life’s challenge and we were handling it with ease, as he is a very special child. Now I’m holding on to the thread of our family. I know I’m not doing it alone. I feel everyone’s prayers love and support. I don’t think I have ever pleaded to God as much as I have the last few nights. But I know He has heard our prayers. I know she will be ok. She has had three Priesthood blessings that reafirm. Regardless, I believe in an Eternal Family and we will be together forever.

Saturday Morning

Becca is resting this morning. They removed the oxygen as they feel she is doing well enough without it. She will start the blood treatment at 11:00, which should take about two hours. We received a glimmer of good news this morning. They did a full body MRI yesterday. The spots on her brain are not radiating like they used to!  The doctor was acting like a kid in a candy store. They are hopeful that the blood treatment will help after today.

Friday

Becca is sleeping well tonight. They finally figured out her pain medication. They put in the blood tube to start the 5 day therapy. It’s a process like dialysis to try and strip out part of the blood so that it doesn’t attack the body. As far as we know, she will stay in the ICU until this process is complete. They are working on her lungs to keep them inflated and working so that she doesn’t get pneumonia. They are confident they can accomplish this much easier in ICU and help her sleep. ICU is restricted to hours and up to two people at a time… this is hard. But I know it’s for the best. We ‘should’ get all the test results back by Tuesday of next week. They sent more samples to the Mayo Clinic.

Thank you again for your prayers, she’s fighting this with everything she’s got!