Life Changes

    It's so crazy how fast things can change in life. I was living a typical life of school,work, and enjoying being newly married. Then in April 2012 I started feeling really fatigued. There were two separate times that I was grocery shopping within the month of April that I got so tired I couldn't finish shopping. I was also experiencing problems with feeling uncomfortable after I would eat a meal, big or small. It was then I knew something was wrong.
    I made an appointment to go see my primary doctor. When I went in he took some blood tests. It turned out that my monocytes were a little elevated and my white blood cell count was really low. My doctor told me that this was possibly Mono, but he wanted me to come in the following week to get my blood drawn again to see if there would be any changes in the results. So I went in a week later and the results were the same. So with the little information he had, he diagnosed me with Mono.
    A couple days later on April 26th Max and I left for Virginia to do summer sales. While I was in Virginia I slept a lot and tried to keep myself occupied. It wasn't until mid July that I got really sick. I started having a shortness of breath that would come and go, which followed along with a cough that I had for a week that wouldn't go away. So Max and I decided that we needed to go to an insta-care to see a doctor.
    It was July 25th when Max and I went into the insta-care. At the insta-care they had me get a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed that I had fluid in my lungs and that one lung was smaller than the other for some reason. They also drew my blood. After they got the blood labs back the doctor came in and she told me that my white blood cell count was extremely low. That was no new news to me. Then she continued on to say that I am anemic, which means that my red blood cell count is low. Then she expressed her concern about how enlarged my spleen and liver were just by feeling my stomach. She then said "I don't mean to scare you guys, but you guys need to go to the hospital."
    Max and I left the insta-care and checked into the ER at a hospital in Virginia on July 26th. After the hospital had ran a bunch of tests, later that night the ER doctor came in and told us that he was hoping this was Mono but it's not. This is possibly some type of Leukemia or lymphoma and that I had never had mono. So we are going to have to check you into the hospital. Hearing that was the last thing Max and I had expected to hear. It was a definite shock.
   I was in the Virginia hospital for about a week. It was the longest week of my life. Then after that week on August 1st I officially was diagnosed with Non-Hodgens Lymphoma. Through some miracles I was able to come home to Utah to get treated. I had my first chemo treatment Friday August 3rd with 5 more chemo treatments to go.
    Thus far, through out this whole experience, I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. I am so glad I have the gospel to fall back on. I am so thankful for the many prayers and fasting on my behalf. I also have received so much love and support from close friends to people I don't even know. I truly am so richly blessed. This is just a bump in the road that I will have to get through, but this experience will change my life for the better.