We've continued to home school this year. I went through a training to be a Doula (assisting woman in labor). The business struggled to the point of almost losing our home. Luckily we didn't and were blessed to keep it. Kids are well and healthy and I'm NOT pregnant for once in our married lives. Lol.
Our faith was tested and our troubles were scary.
There was heart ache and tears, prayers, fasting and laughing.
The Lord taught us much but most importantly love.
Love for our Savior our friend up above.
Our trials were hard and life seemed to stand still,
but the comforter comforted all who prayed to Thee above.
Adam was diagnosed with Acromegaly this year. Here is the
definition of what this is... It is “a chronic disease of adults marked by
enlargement of the bones of the extremities, face, and jaw that is caused by
over activity of the pituitary gland.”
A tumor on this gland is what causes it. Adam went in to surgery on May 4th 2011 to have this tumor removed. This was a very emotional time for me and our children (as well as the rest of the family). So many "what ifs"…for awhile that’s all I could think about. I’d like to say that I handed my worries and fears over to the Lord and had complete faith that everything would be okay but I let myself worry more then I probably should have. About a week before Adam went in to surgery he received a blessing from his father and in that blessing we were told that everything would go well. When those words were spoken the spirit spoke to me and confirmed it. I then asked myself why? Why didn’t we ask for a blessing sooner. This was such a comfort to me as well as I’m sure it was for others but it would have saved me many restless, tearful nights. I am so grateful for the priesthood and have since learned that it is there for us for a reason and to make it a part of our lives without question. During this time I was wondering if we should ask our ward to do a fast for Adam but Adam and I didn’t know if this is something we should ask for. Shortly after deciding to not ask for one our Bishop, our wonderful and inspired Bishop called us in and told us that they wanted to do a ward fast for him. My prayers had been answered once again. Our Bishop gave us a personal example of the power of a ward fast and shared his amazing testimony of this great blessing with us. He knew that this fast could change the outcome of this surgery. The Sunday before his surgery everyone we knew was fasting for it to go well. And guess what?? It did. It went as well as could be expected. The doctor came out and said that they were able to get everything (tumor) that was up there. Which was such a great relief! One of the big worries revolved around this surgery was that they were afraid they weren’t going to be able to get the entire tumor out because of the placement of it (some of the tumor was located behind the pituitary gland). A few weeks after the surgery they did another blood test and MRI to make sure the tumor was completely gone. The MRI specialist said that there looked like there might be a little left but that it could also be scar tissue and that as long as his hormone levels went down then there was no need to worry. Normal growth hormone level are anywhere from .00 to 1.00. Before his surgery Adams was 21.00. After his surgery, 3 weeks later it was down to 1.96. A few months later it was down to 1.46. So we are almost there. Normal range is not far away. We are currently waiting for results for his last MRI scan. They say it could take a year or more for things to go back to normal. The growth that has occurred won’t go away but all of the swelling will. The symptoms that lead us to diagnosing this were these…growth in the hands, feet and jaw. His feet were growing wider. His hands were getting wider and had horrible carpal tunnel (which we thought was just carpel tunnel at the time). And the thing that got him in to the doctor in the first place was his jaw. It locked up on him for a few weeks and kept popping. It happened a couple of times but the last time his jaw unlocked he no longer had an over bite. When he bites down his teeth hit right on top of each other. His jaw had grown
.
We have been blessed through this experience. We grew closer together as a couple and as a family. I am thankful for this and am thankful to all those that prayed and fasted for him and for us.
A tumor on this gland is what causes it. Adam went in to surgery on May 4th 2011 to have this tumor removed. This was a very emotional time for me and our children (as well as the rest of the family). So many "what ifs"…for awhile that’s all I could think about. I’d like to say that I handed my worries and fears over to the Lord and had complete faith that everything would be okay but I let myself worry more then I probably should have. About a week before Adam went in to surgery he received a blessing from his father and in that blessing we were told that everything would go well. When those words were spoken the spirit spoke to me and confirmed it. I then asked myself why? Why didn’t we ask for a blessing sooner. This was such a comfort to me as well as I’m sure it was for others but it would have saved me many restless, tearful nights. I am so grateful for the priesthood and have since learned that it is there for us for a reason and to make it a part of our lives without question. During this time I was wondering if we should ask our ward to do a fast for Adam but Adam and I didn’t know if this is something we should ask for. Shortly after deciding to not ask for one our Bishop, our wonderful and inspired Bishop called us in and told us that they wanted to do a ward fast for him. My prayers had been answered once again. Our Bishop gave us a personal example of the power of a ward fast and shared his amazing testimony of this great blessing with us. He knew that this fast could change the outcome of this surgery. The Sunday before his surgery everyone we knew was fasting for it to go well. And guess what?? It did. It went as well as could be expected. The doctor came out and said that they were able to get everything (tumor) that was up there. Which was such a great relief! One of the big worries revolved around this surgery was that they were afraid they weren’t going to be able to get the entire tumor out because of the placement of it (some of the tumor was located behind the pituitary gland). A few weeks after the surgery they did another blood test and MRI to make sure the tumor was completely gone. The MRI specialist said that there looked like there might be a little left but that it could also be scar tissue and that as long as his hormone levels went down then there was no need to worry. Normal growth hormone level are anywhere from .00 to 1.00. Before his surgery Adams was 21.00. After his surgery, 3 weeks later it was down to 1.96. A few months later it was down to 1.46. So we are almost there. Normal range is not far away. We are currently waiting for results for his last MRI scan. They say it could take a year or more for things to go back to normal. The growth that has occurred won’t go away but all of the swelling will. The symptoms that lead us to diagnosing this were these…growth in the hands, feet and jaw. His feet were growing wider. His hands were getting wider and had horrible carpal tunnel (which we thought was just carpel tunnel at the time). And the thing that got him in to the doctor in the first place was his jaw. It locked up on him for a few weeks and kept popping. It happened a couple of times but the last time his jaw unlocked he no longer had an over bite. When he bites down his teeth hit right on top of each other. His jaw had grown
.
We have been blessed through this experience. We grew closer together as a couple and as a family. I am thankful for this and am thankful to all those that prayed and fasted for him and for us.
*Actually updated 6/28/12*
1 comment:
Coming soon??????? Coming right NOW! :D
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