April 20th - 29th, 2012

On Friday, April 20th Gloria and I had the opportunity to go to dinner with some close friends the Vasquez and Arreagas. We hadn't seen Aaron Vasquez for quite some time since he was doing medical school in the Caribbean.  Talking at dinner Gloria mentioned that I was really thirsty and had been going to the bathroom a lot. He suggested getting tested for diabetes. I thought to myself diabetes no way, I've been losing weight, exercising 3-4 times a week, and eating healthy, nevertheless we took his advice to go see the doctor the following week.  Little did I know that this would be the start of a journey that has been guided by the hand of the Lord. People many time talk about things happening by coincidence, I believe that nothing happens by coincidence and that the hand of the Lord is present in all aspects of our lives. 

On April 25th I went to go see Dr. Stuart at the Tanner Clinic.  My regular doctor was out of town and so rather than waiting and letting too much time go by, I went with Dr. Stuart.After testing my blood sugar, Dr. Stuart was certain that I have Type I Diabetes. He didn't stop with just those tests, he decided to check my pulse and noticed it was a little high. As a precaution he ordered a chest x-ray just to be thorough since he had never seen me before. I went down the hall and did the chest x-ray and within 15 minutes the results were back that there was an unusual gap between my lungs.  Dr. Stuart decided just to be safe, he ordered a CT scan to make sure everything was good with my health. The next day I went back to do the CT scan and I had a follow up with Dr. Stuart on Friday, April 27th.

On April 27th Gloria went with me to find out about the results of the Type I Diabetes and the CT Scan. It was there that Dr. Stuart gave us the news that I was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.  We were okay with that diagnosis as my grandfather had diabetes as well as my uncle Kriss and my older brother Ben. Dr. Stuart said that was not all the news.  He said I had a mass near the heart and the left lung. He stated that is why the chest x-ray showed such a large gap between the lungs and he said in the cases he'd seen, this is usually lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes) but that there is a high success rate of treatment with chemotherapy. Dr. Stuart also stated that because he isn't an oncologist or cardio-thoracic  surgeon, he had made an appointment for us with Dr. Goff for the following Monday, April 30th. As I stated before, the Lord's hand has been in this since the beginning. Had I not gotten the diabetic symptoms I would never have gone to the doctor.  The fact that my pulse was high and that Dr. Stuart wanted to do a chest x-ray just to be safe is no coincidence either. For that I am very thankful because I could have gone months or years without this being detected.

On April 28th, we shared the news with most of the family and did so knowing that if we are going to kick this tumor's butt, we'd need everyone's support, love, and most importantly, their faith and prayers. I believe with all my heart that miracles do happen but it requires faith and trust in God and Jesus Christ.  On Sunday, April 29th, I received a blessing from my father Jay accompanied by my brothers: Ben, Josh, Nick, and Dave; my brother-in-laws: Jefferson, Hugo,  and Jake; and my uncle Kriss. In that blessing it was pronounced that I was foreordained to come to the earth and perform many things, and that I have yet to perform many of those things.  That was very comforting to receive and there were many other beautiful things pronounced in the blessing.