Diagnosing Josh

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to write about all the stress that has been happening in our lives.  Don't get me wrong, I'm in not trying to complain.  I just want to document our recent happenings.  If I had to summarize it in one word, it would be "STRESS!"
It amazes me how we have been able to see tender mercies and feel God's love through all of it though.  Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start....
Remember when Josh had his seizure back in September?  It was scary and confusing and physically difficult.  Before we really were able to get a grasp on things, my mind would race a million miles a minute trying to diagnose him, figure out solutions if this was a bad sign of something else, deal with every day life with kids, stress, and travel, all while trying to hold it together and not melt into a puddle.  It was quite exhausting.  After things got settled and he was medicated, our emotions calmed down, and we went about life.
Life was super busy after that.  We went to Utah to see my brother get married.  Josh got invited to one of the biggest conferences in the nation to present a paper, (super big deal).  My sister-in-law got remarried but I couldn't leave Josh because of all he was going through.  Sad to miss it but so happy for her.  Then Josh went out of town what seemed like every week until close to Christmas break.  In December, Josh got a call from Arizona State University and from the University of Georgia.  They both wanted to interview Josh for a job.  We knew we wouldn't stay here in Florida forever, but we certainly didn't think the chance to move would come so soon.  Christmas happened and all that goes with it.  Then, Josh and I flew out to Arizona to see if that's somewhere we would want to move.  We absolutely fell in love with the area.  It seemed like the perfect place to be.  We finished interviewing there on a Wednesday and on Friday of that same week, we left for the UGA interview.  We loved Arizona so much that we didn't even really want to go to Georgia.  We just knew if we were given the chance, we'd move to Arizona.
To our surprise, our weekend in Athens was eye opening.  The University of Georgia's accounting department is excellent!  Josh was extended an offer, and we were torn.  Arizona said that they had to interview all five applicants before they could make a decision.  However, we felt pretty confident that he had agood shot of getting the offer.  It was going to be four more weeks before we would hear back from them.  When everything was said and done, the choice seemed to to come down to should we go with the better career move and live in a small town or should we move to where the day to day life would be amazing but the school isn't as strong.  We weighed every option and discussed every detail in depth over and over and over again.  We prayed.  We fasted.  We got advice.  It was such a tough choice.  We realized that this would have to be an answer we got from God.  We needed Him because we knew He could see what the future holds for our family and for Josh's career.
After much prayer and deliberation, Josh felt like he got his answer.  We should move to Georgia.  It came to him late one night.  We were sitting in the bed talking, having the same conversation we had had a thousand times, weighing all of the pros and cons.  Then he said to me, "You know where I think we should go? I think we should go to Georgia." Then he started to cry.  He told me that as he said, "we should go to Georgia," that the spirit confirmed to him in that moment that it was right.  I told him okay, but I needed to also get an answer for myself.  We left it at that and went to bed.  I continued to pray night and day for an answer of my own.  I kept finding myself looking at my phone and wished I could just "Google" my answer.  It would be so easy that way.  I knew that that's not the way the Lord works.  I had to be patient and keep trying.
Finally, several days later, Josh got an email from one of the professors there.  It was such a sweet email.  As Josh read it to me, I started to cry.  I felt the spirit say to me, "This is where you want to be."  I knew in that moment, that Georgia was the place for us.  We quickly called my parents to tell them the good news.  They were over joyed, to say the least.
Now, fast forward a couple of months.  Josh's sister, Stephani, called him one day and told him that he needed to be tested for thryoid problems, adrenal issues, and other things that have come up with their intense family medical history.  After an in depth conversation about all that has happened in their family, not to mention his own seizure, Josh felt scared enough to call for a doctor's appointment.  (His mom died of adrenal cancer at age 31, his grandpa had thyroid cancer, and his aunt had pituitary tumors).  He got in right away, and they sent off for some blood work.  When the results came back, it showed that Josh had high thyroglobulin antibodies.  The normal range is 0-0.9.  Josh's result came back at 74!  We freaked out and started thinking, maybe it's thyroid cancer or a tumor.  We really had no idea.  Josh was referred to and endocronologist.  When he called to get an appointment, they told him they weren't taking new patients until August!!  Remember that this is March when all of this is happening.  We were so disappointed.  A few days later, the nurse called and said that they had a cancellation and could take him in little over a month.  We were super relieved and grateful for the opportunity.
What do you do when you don't know what's going on?  You Google it, of course.  Never a good idea.  We started getting really worried and had no idea what this high thyroglobulin antibodies meant.  We went in for an ultrasound before we saw the endocronologist.  I went with Josh and tried to see if my untrained eye could detect anything.  Of course, I could hardly make out what we were looking at, nevermind if it was normal or not.
Our appointment with the endocronologist was on a Monday morning.  We were anxious, nervous, and so ready to hear a professional's opinion.  The doctor spent almost 50 minutes with us.  She was very nice and listened to all of our concerns and questions.  She concluded that Josh probably had high thyroglobulin antibodies because he has something called Hoshimoto's Disease.  Essentially, Hoshimoto's Disease is an autoimmune disease where your body has bad cells that are attacking your thyroid gland.  The ultrasound showed that his thyroid still seemed to be in good condition so if this was Hoshimoto's Disease, then we are at the beginning of it.  Eventually, Josh's thyroid will break down and will need to be removed.  He'll need to be medicated one day but as for now, he's in a good spot.  She also said that if someone has one autoimmune disease, they are much more likely to develop other autoimmune diseases, such as Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.  She said it doesn't mean he will, just that he is at a much higher risk.  The ultrasound didn't show any other masses or anything that was abnormal.  We left feeling happy and relieved.  Since Josh has such a bad family history of problems, (cancer and tumors), the doctor agreed to have him tested for a bunch of different things.
After waiting for a week for lab results to come back, they found that Josh had elevated levels of epinephrine and metanephrins.  Not a good sign.  The only thing that metanephrins point to is adrenal tumors, and remember, that his mom had adrenal cancer.  So, we read and read all about adrenal cancer and everything that goes along with it.  The nurse told him that this test can show a false positive so to be sure, they told him that he needed to do a 24 hour urine test.  He had to follow a specific diet three days before the test.  Once he finally was able to turn it in, it took two, long, painful weeks to hear back.
I've never been so worried in my life.  I felt like I was on the brink of tears all the time.  Was the very cancer that my mother-in-law died from going to also take my husband from me at the same young age of 31?  Of all ages for this to happen, it seemed so strange that he was 31.  We had lots of worries and lots of tears.  We've talked about what would happen if one of us dies, but when you have that discussion with your spouse and you actually think it may happen, the whole conversation feels different.  It was a hard thing to talk about.  Obviously, all of our kids are still very young, as were Lynn's kids when she died.  It made me feel more sorry for what Josh had to go through.  I feel like our life is just taking off and for it to be cut early would be a very hard thing to go through.
After two long weeks, we finally heard back.  His levels were all within normal range.  No tumors.  No cancer.  When he told me, we hugged and I cried.  We were so relieved.  We felt like we could start living life again.  We could go forward with building a house.  We could have more kids.  We could make life plans again.  Most importantly, we could be together.  I've truly never loved Josh more.  I just wanted to hold on to him and never let go.
We're going to get everything checked again in six months to make sure that they didn't miss anything.  We're also going to have some genetic testing done for him.  Josh's sister, Stephani, was just tested and they found a chek2 gene.  From my understanding, it's basically a mutation of your DNA that makes you twice as likely to develop cancer.  She will have to be checked every six months for certain types of cancer for the rest of her life.  For other types, she will be checked every two to three years.  Her doctor told her that she very well may develop cancer but as long as they are proactive and they catch it early, it's totally treatable.  Cancer is bad when you don't find it in time, and they are going to stay on top of things.  Her geneticist told her to have all of her siblings checked.  So we've already gotten a referral and are waiting to hear back.
Josh is still having some bad stomach pains and has been for eight months.  He is pretty sick every night.  He's having some other symptoms too that I will just say are not great.  We're going to do some more testing to make sure his GI track is okay.  It may be his seizure medicine causing all of this pain though.  We're really not sure.
So, there you have it.  There's the reason for my "stress."  It's been a hard few months but we're feeling super grateful for the blessings we've seen through all of this.  We have felt a lot of love from family members, friends, and from God.  Stay tuned for more medical updates.  ;-)