Beginning

At the end of July, Josh felt a little lump on the right side of his throat. You couldn't see it, but you could feel it. It felt like a little marble. We didn't think too much of it. Our bodies do funny things.
Well that lump grew pretty quickly and then you could see the small lump. He went to Community Care;  they thought it was a swollen lymph node and gave him antibiotics. They didn't help. The lump started to get more and more noticeable. It started to look like he swallowed a bouncy ball. We decided to go to a Ear Nose and Throat Doctor. He thought is was a cyst that had to surgically removed. He wanted to schedule at cat scan right then and there. Josh and I weren't ready to schedule a cat scan because they are so expensive. We wanted to get our parents advice first, to make sure that this was something we needed to do.
We ended up getting the cat scan on August 22nd. We scheduled surgery for Thursday, September 15th. The Doctor only does his surgeries on Thursdays. We had planned an anniversary trip to Cancun and he was riding the LOTOJA (Logan to Jackson Hole) bike race on Saturday, September 10th, so OF COURSE we had to wait until after those things, right?
Well he rode in the bike race with his dad. My dad was their support driver. It was such a fun day! My mom and sister and I were there at the finish line waiting for them and it was such a fun environment being there! That bike race wore him out, which would be expected with all those mountain climbs. Josh is in amazing shape. It seemed like it wore him out a little more than usual though. He was exhausted!
Sunday and Monday roll around and Josh and I started to get a little nervous when we noticed a couple other lumps starting to appear in his collar bone area. Also the main lump was so large you couldn't even see his jaw bone. There was also another lump that traveled back behind his ear. The two looked connected. On August 22nd when he did the cat scan the one that traveled behind the ear measured at 3 cm.
I called the Nurse to let her know there were other lumps and that we were nervous about it. She had him come in right away. I wasn't able to go because I had to work. I was feeling concerned and nervous.
When he got back he told me that there was a high chance he had lymphoma. It was a little overwhelming, but we tried to stay positive.
They still did surgery on the 15th, but instead of removing the entire lump, they just removed a portion of it to biopsy it.
We truly feel like the bike race saved his life. Because of the stress the bike race caused on his body the other lumps were able to appear. If they would have tried to take the whole lumps out during surgery they say cancer cells divide and spread really rapidly when they are cut into. Since the other lumps appeared, they knew they had to be super careful during surgery and only take out a portion.

The biopsy showed that it was indeed cancerous. He was diagnosed with T cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma .

                                                

                              

• • • September 23, 2011

    
    
    
    
    

    A journal entry:

    • We are sitting at the Huntsman's Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City while Josh is receiving his first treatment of chemo. Tomorrow he will do another injection that will keep his white cells fighting. We will be coming back to SLC every 2 weeks for chemo treatments. They said they usually do it ever 3 weeks, but with how fast his cancer has grown/spread they want to aggressive treatment every 2 weeks. We are happy to finally have a game plan! We are excited to know what to expect and to be fighting the battle. 

    • Yesterday we found out that the cancer is in his neck, as suspected, and another spot on his lower back is a small lump, and then it has also most likely traveled into his bones which means he is in the 4th stage of this cancer (alk negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma). Josh did his bone marrow biopsy yesterday and we will find out results from that later this afternoon. From the Pet Scan is where we were able to see it had traveled into the bones, but we will know more info on that soon. They are hoping the chemo will get rid of it even in the bone, but if not he may have to do a bone marrow stem cell transplant. We will take that as it comes, but also hoping the chemo will be enough. He will also do radiation on his neck after the chemo treatments are done. 

    • We LOVE it here at Huntman's. They take amazing care of Josh and also us as family. They have covered everything we have needed to know above and beyond. They make you feel comfortable and at ease. They give you all the information you need so you know what to expect. We couldn't be more impressed with their care and we are very happy and thankful to be here. The doctors are very optimistic about curing his cancer. 

    • Josh is such a strong guy!!! I couldn't be more proud of him. 

    • Both Josh and I wish we had words to express our gratitude to so many friends and family. Wow. Our hearts are extremely full. We have felt so blessed. The power of prayer is real. We have felt your prayers. It keeps us positive and calm. Of course there are moments here and there that are tough. Overall, we are just happy to be out of the "limbo" stage and starting the process.

    • I wish I could express my gratitude in a better way. All I can say is thank you thank you thank you. We have been truly touched and we want to follow the examples we have seen and felt. 

    • Love,

    • Megan