In the beginning...

In September of 1980, Matt was born.

In August of 2000, Matt & Emilea were married (on my 21st birthday none-the-less, but I digress... sorry!)

In June of 2002, RJ made her appearance into this world & into our family.

Ok... so maybe I went back further than you really wanted :-) but those minor details are also important; however, here's what you've been wanting to know...

In March of 2009, Matt went to the doctor because he was having pain on the right side of his back; he thought he had pulled a muscle or something. An abdominal ultrasound was ordered and the technican informed him that he had a large, right kidney stone. An appointment was then made with an urologist, who said there was NO kidney stone. He gave him some meds & told him to come back in a week. The pain didn't go away...

They sent him for more tests. It was at this time they diagnosed him with Lymphoma. The day came for Matt to go into the office to have the diagnosis confirmed & "staged." The doctor extracted what he was thinking would be lymph nodes, tissue, etc, he was shocked when instead he extracted blood clots.

This is the beginning of what has been a long road to get where we are today.

The finding of these blood clots allowed the formation of new blood clots that settled in his right leg leading to a stay in the hospital.

After more tests they were able to figure out that Matt had a birth defect that no one knew anything about, granted they never had a reason to look at the heart of a seemingly healthy 28 year old. Matt was born without his inferior vena cava - this is the vein that feeds blood from the lower extremities up to the heart.

The blood clots are not a result of this birth defect more like a side effect. Due to the location of the mass of blood clots, which happen to be RIGHT next to his right kidney, this also resulted in another side effect - blood pressure issues. His blood pressure climbs really high & then plummets for no reason.

His doctor has referred him to several doctors in the Huntsville and Birmingham areas, none of which really knew how to treat him.

Which brings us to current day... His doctor has decided that the best option is to send Matt to Mayo; Matt's doctor trained at the Mayo Clinic and has several doctor friends who still practice there.

I'm sure I've left out a few things but this roughly explains how Matt & Emilea's Journey to Minnesota began....

Matt & Emilea will be flying out this coming Sunday (11/21) afternoon; this will be the first flight for either of them so please pray for smooth flights & good weather. Also pray for peace, patience & understanding for the things that lie ahead of them.

Please pray for all the doctors, nurses & assistants that they will be meeting with... pray for knowledge, comforting words & quick actions.

And finally, pray for RJ and the rest of our family & friends as we will be at home anxiously awaiting updates.

Don't forget to check back for updates & feel free to post comments if you see something I missed.

With Much Love ~ The F's

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