Way-Maker

Friday September 24th, 2021

9:25am *phone rings*

Brock: Hello, this is Brock

Doctor: Has anyone talked to you yet about your MRI results?

Brock: No

Doctor: It’s what I suspected a growth on your pituitary gland. Your next step would be to see an endocrinologist.

Brock: Okay, thanks for the call!

9:30am *phone rings*

Brock: Hello, this is Brock

Doctor: The more I am looking at the scans I think I was wrong. I believe its not growing on your pituitary gland; I believe it is growing on your brain pushing on the pituitary gland. You need to get an appointment with a Neurosurgeon, I am going to send a STAT report to them saying you need to get in next week.

What do you say back to a phone call like that? One day you’re fine and the next day you’re scheduling to see a neurosurgeon about a brain tumor.

A couple of reasons for the blog;

1) To keep everyone up-to-date on the journey ahead & informed on how to specifically pray for us

2) To share with everyone all the tiny miracles we are seeing along the way, God is a way-maker!

The big question: “How did we get here?”

Brock and I still ask this question. Here is the back-story; we noticed some odd things since the beginning of January, starting with his vision. His vision seemed “off”, after a couple of visits to the eye doctor and a couple different prescription changes the doctor couldn’t seem to put a finger on it. We left it at that and moved on with life.

It is now springtime and Brock started having some trouble swallowing, was tired all the time, and difficulty sleeping at night. Nothing big, but we decided to see our family doctor, who figured it was all connected to the sleepless nights and prescribed some medication to help.

June came around and depression came knocking. No motivation, No drive, No appetite, not Brock anymore. I finally said it was time to go back to the family doctor to get on some medication. He was tired, depressed, and loosing weight. After a couple of medication switches and still no energy or much improvement, I was urged by our councilor to have Brocks testosterone levels tested. The doctor was reluctant but did it anyway. This brings us to the end of August. The levels came back low and another medication was prescribed.

Labor day weekend and Brock was having issues with his bladder. Tired of getting medication thrown at him, I decided it was time to switch to a different doctor who would search for a cause instead of just a Band-Aid fix.

I made an appointment with a new family doctor, who took one look at his chart and said, “this is above me, and you need a doctor who is smarter then me who can get to the root issue. I am going to refer you to two different specialists.” I want to take a moment to say we were blown away by how humble the doctor was; he was God sent. It can be hard admitting when you don’t have answers especially when everyone comes to you for answers. The Doctor ordered a referral for both a Urologist and an Endocrinologist. The next couple of days unfold rather quickly; here we go…

Wednesday, September 22nd,

We meet with the Urologist whose first question was “do you know how low your testosterone levels are?” We quickly replied, “no, but we were told they are low and were prescribed something to help…”

He said, “they are an 8, a 28-year-old Male should be north of 500. Go off the medication and lets run a bunch of blood work and get an MRI, I think all your symptoms you have been dealing with since January are linked to an issue with your pituitary gland which controls your hormones.”

We left the appointment excited for two reasons;

A) A doctor who listened and cared to find answers!

B) All his ‘weird’ symptoms could be linked and easily resolved!

Thursday, September 23rd,

The Urologist called to update Brock that his blood work came back already validating his suspicion of a growth on the pituitary gland. It would be a relatively easy fix, but he needs to get the MRI moved up to confirm his hunch. Brock was quick to inform him the only opening for an MRI was the end of October. After hanging up with the Doctor Brock called to see if there were any other openings for an MRI, nothing. Brock called the MRI scheduling team again at 12:00pm, nothing. Called again at 4:30pm and they just had a cancelation for 6:30pm that evening!! WAY-MAKER.

This brings us back to the beginning of the story, Friday September 24th and the dreaded phone call informing us of the brain tumor, so now what?

We were left with a weekend of wondering and humble prayer, knowing just enough about the tumor to let the mind wonder.

An appointment was made for Monday September 27th at Hershey with a Neurologist to discuss options.

Monday September 27th,

Morning visit synopsis; “we found out a lot of information, making your head spin. It’s not as cut and dry as we anticipated. It will be a multiple step process. First on the list, is to see the endocrinologist in the afternoon, gather how much his pituitary gland is functioning. Next schedule with a Neuro-Ophthalmologist to find out specifically how much/what is being affected with Brocks vision due to the tumor pushing. Also a CT Scan to understand more specifics about the tumor. Then lastly a biopsy will need to be preformed. After all this information is gathered, the neurologist wants to discuss Brocks case with a board of neurologist, to decide what the best plan of attack will be. The tumor is pretty significant in size for the area and in the middle of the brain, not an easy spot to get to. He thinks it could be three different things, none of which are cancerous. However he said that is not to be downplayed because anything on the brain is significant. Depending on the pituitary function he may need to be on hormone replacements forever.”

Our endocrinologist appointment from our original referral was that same afternoon; he in summary informed us again of the impressive size of the tumor and scheduled brock to get more blood work, to determine how much, if at all the pituitary gland is functioning due to the tumor pressing. Whatever function is lost cannot be regained and will need to be replaced medically.

Next on the list;

· CT Scan, we were informed on Monday September 27th there are no openings until the end of October for a scan. Brock called the scheduler again on Tuesday September 28th to ask if there were any cancellations and one just opened up for Wednesday at 4:30pm!! Way-Maker.

· Neuro-Ophthalmologist, Brock called to try and schedule this appointment on Wednesday September 29th, they informed him the first available appointment is November 30th (two months away). Brock called again the next day (September 30th) to ask if there were any cancellations, they informed him “there are no cancellations, we rarely get any cancellations! We do not even keep a cancellation list or write peoples names down.” An hour and half later Brocks phone rings, it’s the Ophthalmologists office, they just got a cancelation for Tuesday October 5th at 9am. Way-Maker.

· Biopsy, TBD.

Now what? This week (first week of October) we have an appointment with the Ophthalmologist and Endocrinologist. The Ophthalmologist will give us a better idea of how much Brocks vision is affected; we just started noticing Brocks balance is off which is most likely related. The Endocrinologist will go over his blood work results, which will allow the Neuro team to better understand what function is left in the pituitary gland. Depending on the function will help them decided the best way to deal with the tumor. We are still are waiting on the results from the CT scan and to be notified when they would like to schedule the biopsy.

How are we feeling? We get asked this a lot, and I think we both are sad but anxious to see God work. He might bring complete healing in the tumor disappearing, praise Jesus! Or we might walk through the surgery and see healing that way, either way it has been evident that God has made a way, we just need to keep following one day and step at a time.

How can you join us in prayer?

Strength to focus on each day, not what the future holds. Wisdom for the doctors as they review and decide a treatment plan. For us to personally be a witness and light to everyone we come in contact with, Psalms 40:1-3 “…Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.”