So David wrote this post on a family fun blog and I wanted to share it with everyone. He doesnt write very often but when he does it is really good. So enjoy....

New Beginnings

           So after much thinking about if I had enough time or even jaksaa ("feel like doing something" (finnish has the best verbs ;) I decided I would try to start a blog. Purpose of this said blog would keep you updated with me and my health, trips, projects, maybe school (too boring??), and anything I find fun or worth sharing.
           A mission friend on FB posted last night that yesterday (March 5) was the 5 year mark from when I entered the MTC. Of course I was shocked because time has gone by so quickly it's crazy to think of what has gone in since then and can not right all of it unfortunately because it would take too many entries and I need to study for tests I have coming up :)
           So something that's happened in the past 5 years that I'm sure people get tired of hearing would be my fight against cancer all last year. It was February 7th last year when everything kind of hit the fan. Danielle and I, as well as co-workers noticed that I was pale as a white-chocolate kit-kat bar, and I was feeling so swell            (my greeny city Kuopio in May)                                  either so we go to the ER. To keep the story short
                                                                                    I was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma (took me a few tries to spell that right...). Of course family googles, I told myself I wouldn't search anything and I didn't want to hear anything on what people had found because I knew it wouldn't be good news. That night of receiving my diagnosis it was just Danielle and me after everyone had left, I put my head on her shoulder, hugged her... it was the only time I cried during my whole treatment process... for those of you who don't know what it feels like to get the news that you do not much time to live I can't explain it to you. i felt empty, cold, and alone even though I had family and friends by my side. You start to ask yourself questions "Did I live a good life? Did I accomplish everything I wanted to? What do I do now?" There are many other questions like that I asked myself.
 
          I'll save recovery for another time especially the story when Danielle fainted when I was geting my pick-line :) (that's a good one don't miss it!) Something that stuck with me through my whole experience was something that was said by one of the 12 Apostles and I'll paraphrase because I don't jaksa to look it up: "rather than asking yourself 'why me?' during trials, ask yourself 'what can I learn from this? How can I grow from it?'" I am glad to say (I don't intend so sound like I am bragging) but I never asked God why I had to go through this trial. I mean I had been married for JUST 6 months I had a decent job (worked for Nike and I got free shoes often!!), a new apartment that we were happy and and I just started school again. In my position I guess it would be easy to get mad, but I didn't allow myself to get myself into that mindset. One thing that helped me get through it was my patriarchal blessing (for those of you who aren't members, or familiar with the LDS faith, it is personal revelation that is given specifically for you from Heavenly Father, kind of like a road map for your life. It is filled with instruction and blessings that can be yours, so long as you are faithful and live the commandments). I knew that I had a blessing that was mine and that could make it though this if I had the faith to be healed.

           Trials can either bring you closer or further from God, thankfully this experience brought me closer to Him. I have never prayed harder than I ever have in my life at that time. As result of prayer and studying the scriptures I felt peace and a confirmation that everything would be alright wether I live or not. With that I felt that if He wanted me home then I was prepared to leave this Earth without question. That something else that near-death experience can do for you, it can strengthen your faith in such a drastic way. I don't know exactly why I had to go through all of this, or what He wanted me to learn, maybe He is preparing me for something greater that will require a lot of faith to get through, who knows? But I am thankful for everything that I have learned (more will come) through all of this, it's not over yet, I still have to get checked on every 2 months. I more than likely will need surgery to remove scar tissue from where my tumor used to be, and that's for a later entry. I feel like God has given me a second chance or a wake up call to keep me in line ;)

* more pictures will come I just have to find them and I don't think that later blogs will be longer than this or not as detailed, I will make it an objective to put more humor into these blogs :)
I hope you enjoyed this first entry of many

I will also find a different blog website so hopefully I can share through FB

The whole long story...

So I wanted to give a detailed description of everything that David and I have gone through. So that while we are doing the t-shirt fundraiser the people who make it over here do not have to scroll through 2 years of posts to read the story. I am going to put as much detail into this one post so it is all in one spot. Then if you are feeling really curious you can go read through the rest and get EVEN more!

So I will start at the very beginning...

David and I met down in Orlando FL in July of 2010. David was a counselor in a church camp. My sister was also a counselor and my other sister was a participant. None of them really met during the camp, but after the camp a lot of the counselors hung out for the weekend and did the whole Disney thing. Lela asked me to go with her because she did not want to go alone. I really was not too excited about going but because I am such a great amazing sister I went with her. David and I met there and hit it off pretty quickly… Well, after a few bumps such as no one talking to me, me calling my friend and telling her to come and hang out with me so my sister could stay, and David holding hands with another girl…

So we hit it off and David, pretty smoothly if I might add, got my number. We hung out the next evening again with the same group of people, and then he went home back to Tennessee. We started texting each other pretty quickly after and one thing led to another. And we got married on June 17^th 2011. 

By that fall things were going really well. I actually wrote a journal entry it was the last one I wrote before he was diagnosed. I was writing because we had done something funny and I felt like I really had to write it down before I went to sleep. Looking back on it I do not think I had to write about the really funny thing but about how I felt like was in the right place and I felt true peace and was truly grateful for my life. 

Anyways after that David’s back had really been bothering him we had just gotten an MRI with a sports medicine place and he was going through some physical therapy. Eventually, they got him on cortisone shots because he had 2 herniated discs. In December he finally went to a normal physician. They ran some blood tests and found he was anemic; his hemoglobin was at 8 or 9. They immediately got him on iron and vitamin D pills. At the end of January they had a follow up to make sure his counts had come up. This was on a Monday, on Tuesday we miss a call from them. In the message it sounded really urgent. They said we need to call them back as soon as possible. We need to come by and see them and then go to an ER. But his hemoglobin was at a 5, normal is about 13-15. We get this message and I start to freak a little. But we called them back and they figured he had an ulcer in his stomach that was causing him to lose blood. We thought that was weird because David is a really laid back guy. He really was not stressing over much. But he was working a 3^rd shift so we thought that might be the cause. They told us to go to the ER and get a blood transfusion and a scope to find out the problem. 

At the hospital they did and endoscopy and a colonoscopy. With those they found a tumor in his small intestines, specifically his duodenum. It took a few days to get the results from pathology but they came back and said he had adenocarcinoma. At first I thought ok, no big deal that doesn’t sound too bad. After they told us I ran off to work. I call my mom on the way and tell her what they said. She sounded really confused and we disconnected. She called back and said honey; did you know that is cancer? I said what? No? She said yea… it is. Sooo I ran a red light. (Luckily it was on a side road so there were not any other cars) She kept asking if I was ok, if I was ok to go to work, and she even said she thought I was in shock. I say yea. I am fine! I have to go though I am here. So I get to work get my stuff put up and say to one of the managers. Hey so I just found out David has Ca-WAAHHHHHH! I literally start bawling. Not just a tear or pretty crying. The full, red face, gasping for breaths, crocodile tears crying.  Poor Aaron was like uhhh- are you ok? Are you ok to work? So I go home early. This is one of my low points. I really was not thinking about God or my blessings or being strong, or God has a plan… None of it. 

During the week we were in the hospital we would hurry and do a million tests and then we would wait for the results and then we would have more questions from those results that needed more tests in order to find out anything. This was exhausting. We then went for a second opinion in Atlanta at Emory hospital. We were told David would need surgery after 3 rounds of chemotherapy. 

After he completed his chemo, which got really good results, but before we had his surgery David got pretty sick. We found out he had a bowel block. So we got admitted to the local hospital and then we transferred down to Emory since he would have surgery there anyways. When we get there they do an MRI and we found his tumor had re-grown to its original size and was pressing on his intestines. 

This really freaked out the doctors and surgeons out. They did not know what type of cancer he had since this was not the way adenocarcinoma acted. So out of desperation they had him start a very aggressive radiation. (By this time we had moved down to Atlanta, we were able to live with our cousin’s husband’s mom and dad) He was supposed to do 5 days in a row of high dose radiation. He got to day 2 and they had everything stop immediately. They decided he probably had testicular cancer. They had him do another 5 rounds of chemotherapy. He finished that and everything looked great. We thought we were done and just needed follow ups every few months. In February they discovered that his tumor had grown just barely and he would need surgery. We chose Emory hospital for the surgery. It was a pretty scary surgery because the tumor was pretty close to wrapped around his aorta and vena cava. 

We find out after the surgery that there were additional live cancer cells. (Originally we thought he would just remove the tumor surrounding the aorta in his abdomen.) They had to take out part of his bowel. So after about two weeks in the hospital recovering we go home. We had decided we would take a vacation after the surgery.  About 5 weeks after his surgery our oncologist calls and says what is the plan with chemo? We need to do something! So we talked to about 3 different doctors who all had different reasons for why we need to do a certain type of chemo or why we should wait to do chemo. After we hear this we get referred to Dr Einhorn. Dr. Einhorn is the father of testicular cancer, the best of the best. He is the one who took testicular cancer from below 50% survival rate to closer to 95% cure rate. 

Dr. Einhorn is in Indianapolis Indiana. So it took about 2 weeks for them to get everything they needed. They wanted to make sure he actually had testicular cancer and it was not something else. He wanted all of his medical records, pathology slides, everything! This took a while because there was a lot to send. We finally get everything and we go up on a Tuesday with just a weekend bag. While there we discover we are not going home for awhile. We end up staying up there for 2 months with one week in the middle that we got to go home. David got scheduled to do a stem-cell transplant with chemotherapy. Being in Indianapolis was pretty hard! We were in a city we did not know, without any family or friends. But David’s family was able to come up and visit us almost every weekend. My family was also able to come up and visit as well.

We are home now and David’s last scan looked good. So we now have to wait a year, getting CT scans every four months, until he is cured. Once he hits his one year mark his cure rate goes up to about 95%.

Well thanks for reading along! It has been a long road and a lot of it has blurred together!

Home Again.

So we finally made it home have been back for a little while and went back for a checkup. We got great news when we went back to IU, David's tumors have continued to shrink! There should only be scar tissue left! But we just have to wait the year to really know for sure. While we where up at IU we got to meet a couple that is going through the same thing. It was really nice to talk to them and hopefully give them some hope. I think for David the worse part was mental. That is a lot to have on your mind at once. So if everyone could pray for the family up there. We exchanged info, and through her blog I saw a fundraiser they are doing. I am serious thinking of trying it out! It is a t-shirt fundraiser. They will design a shirt for you and you get a % of the sales. You have to have at least 50 shirts sell though.. So what do you guys think? Do we have 50 friends that would buy t-shirts to support David? If you where to buy one what would you like it to say? Any ideas? Well know that we are back I am working again and David is trying to finish his school work before the deadline. He also has a new calling at church. He teaches the priests. The 16-18 year old young men. He really enjoys hanging out with them, especially going to all the activities like paint balling and camping.

Faith...

So many people say wow, I could never handle that. And I admit I have said the same thing to people in different circumstances. You are so strong, I could never do that. Well, you can. When trials come you handle them. But the only way you can handle them is through the power of the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ. They lift you and give you strength that you yourself do not have. Without my faith that the Lord is in charge, and with out the scriptures and prayer, I would be miserable. There are times when I forget. When I have thoughts that are not from the Lord. Sometimes these feelings and thoughts are crippling. The negativity and the lack of the spirit are truly things that can leave me sobbing, heart aching, and hopeless. But these times are only moments. Because I have to remember that the Lord has felt everything I have felt. I have David who is an excellent example of strength in adversity. I have the talks from the general authorities and the Mormon messages. These give me peace, and comfort. I would like to share a talk that really shares some of our feelings.That We Might "Not.. Shrink" This talk was really hard for me to get through. I believe I have faith for David to be healed. I am still working on the Faith to not be healed.
 I know that Heavenly Father loves us. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. I know that without the Lord my burden would be crippling. But through the lords help my burden is made light. I still struggle but each day I come closed to my Father in Heaven. I hope that each person who hears David and my story comes closer to our Father in Heaven. I know he can help each of us through the trials we are all facing.

Day 2 & 3: Indy

So Wednesday we where at the hospital for a while, but when we where done we decided that we should go walk to the mall it was about 2 miles and it was a little warm. But we did find some cool things along the way. Lets see some news...

David got lots and lots of tests the past few days. But so far everything is looking good. He started getting his neupogen today. This is used to stimulate his bone marrow and kick a lot into his blood. Normally you have about 5,000. And by the end he should have about 50,000.  On all the test everything looks good. The tumors in his liver have increased in size since the last ct. Which is what we expected because of some symptoms and also because it is a fast growing cancer and he has not had any treatment yet. So all in all we had some good news and when we are not in the hospital we are walking around the downtown area, at the mall, or relaxing and playing games. Since it is our 2nd anniversary we are trying to take advantage of that as much as possible. So this is our unofficial awesome vacation. We are thinking we will try the zoo either tomorrow or Saturday. We do have to spend at least a little bit at the hospital but we should be able to fit in something fun in the afternoon. 

Our New Home

So we are finally in Indianapolis. We have a pretty sweet hotel up here with the transplant discount. So we are enjoying ourselves as much as possible before David starts feeling bad, terrible, awful, sick. We walked all over downtown from the hospital to the mall here. And we found some neat stuff along the way. It was Davids idea to use the videos, and I think I'm liking them it's a lot easier than typing everything up. Our  Anniversary is also on Monday so we decided this is also our 2nd anniversary vacation as well. We are thinking we will try and go to the zoo, and also a minor league baseball game.

Because until about Wednesday David should be filling healthy and strong, especially since they are boosting his immune system this week. All of the hospital pre testing went well today. We will be at the hospital each day while we are up here. and by each day... i mean each and every day...

How to start this post? How about the cool things we have been up to these past few weeks. Such as I got scuba certified. I still have to do an open water certification but we should be doing that down in Florida. Which I am really excited about! It was a really awesome experience to do scuba diving. It's really amazing to be able to sit on the bottom of a pool a breath... It's so quite and feels very peaceful. And that is just in a pool I haven't been to the ocean yet, but i am very excited to see what that is like.

We went to unclaimmed baggage store down in Alabama this past week. It really was cool to go through all the stuff people lost on planes. Kind of sad to think about all the peoples situations and where they where going from. Such as wedding dresses, Some poor bride lost her wedding dress on her way to or back from her wedding. How awful would that be?! There where tons of computers and ipods, and ipads, and cameras... Can you imagine how devastated you would be if you lost some of those things? Well one persons lost is anothers gain.. Right? So David and I bought an Ipad.. We are really excited about it! I feel very COOL, high tech now. I also got a new camera because mine randomly broke during Christmas. Just my little digital camera..  Not my big nice one... Let's see lets see.... we have spent a lot of time with friends and family which as been really fun.


So why have we had so much time to do so many new and exciting things? Well, we have bascially been in limbo for about 3 weeks now. We are waiting for Indianapolis to get back with us about when they will see David to start treatment. They had to get every part of Davids Medical records from Memorial hospital and Emory Hospital. And believe me when i say those are not small packets... They are HUGE. Then after we overnighted all of his medical records. They looked over them, and then they needed all of his biopsy slides not just the reports but the actual slides. So both hospitals had to send them those. So they have an awesome pathologist looking at those since Wednesday. We are hoping to hear from the tomorrow with an appointment time. They are trying to be thorough and get David to the correct Doctor to treat him. Since he was misdiagnosed the first time. And now they want to make sure everything is in order. Which I am glad about... I just wish they would hurry! It is very hard to be patient.