On June 24th Duben woke up with white gums and sores in his mouth. We went to our family doctor and he thought it was a viral infection, so they gave him some anti-viral medicine. He still wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so we had friends come over to give him a blessing. The blessing turned out to give us more strength then we realized. Duben was told he would continue to find the right doctor who would help him get the answers he needed.
Monday morning he wasn't feeling any better so we went back to our doctor. He wasn't sure what it might be and sent us over to our dentist. From there we saw more doctors and dentists, and no one knew what was wrong. Some thought it was an acute allergic reaction or maybe some sort of fungal infection.
One of the doctors enourged him to get a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't an airborn fungal disease. The chest x-ray showed he has lumps in his chest. The next day we flew to Utah to go to the Fischer Family Reunion. Our doctor wanted Duben to get a CT scan to get a better look in his chest, so we were able to get that done while in Utah. We were so grateful to be with family during that time. It was great to be distracted from all the what-ifs and just enjoy being together.
Once we got home our doctor called and told us there was a definite mass in his chest. The CT technician thought it was either Sarcoidosis or Lymphoma.
The next step was to meet with a Pulmonologist who recommended we get a biopsy done to see what the mass is. He would do a bronchoscopy to get the sample, which is basically putting a tube in duben's throat and going down with a needle to take out a sample. We went in on July 28th for the bronchoscopy. Everything went well, but the results came back inconclusive. The samples weren't large enough to get any results. They would need another biopsy, but this time they would have to cut in through his chest.
This meant a new doctor. Dr Chouvin, a Cardio Plastic Surgeon, would do a mediastinoscopy to get the sample. Basically he would be an incision at the bottom of Duben's throat by his collar bone and go in and take out a sample. We were really impressed with this doctor and felt very comfortable with him. This time the surgery went well and they were easily able to get a sample. Dr. Chouvin called us the next day to let us know Duben has Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Cancer.
We are so grateful for all the support we've received throughout this whole process. It's intimidating to know that the hard part has yet to come, but we're so blessed to know we have the support to get through it. We appreciate all the service and prayers we're received. It has been an amazing comfort to us. Thank you all so much for your continued support.
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