.Aaron and his health

You know, Air has been pretty sick ever since his mission to Argentina 10 years ago, his health has been declining over the years... sometimes rapidly declining, sometimes it seems to get better for a while, then sometimes we think he's at death's door. We've been calling these his "cycles" because he'll go in and out of illness all year round, but it's completely unpredictable. Never convenient.

Since we've been married he's gone to multiple family doctors, a naturopath, and a reflexologist who have all done a big shoulder shrug and tried lots of different silly tests that have come up result-less. Sleep apnea tests, ultrasounds, x-rays, diets, barium enema, blood work, multiple parasite tests, gastroscopy, etc. Every single one of these doctors has given up after only a few different theories have failed.
How can we tell when a doctor has given up? They start asking you questions about your mental health... thinking that maybe it's all in your mind. And then they stop contacting you for more follow-ups (they have other patients to worry about, and Air was obviously never a priority to anyone). Also, there is an obvious lack of doctors in Alberta... so it's actually pretty difficult to find one who is accepting new patients.

It's been rough... and for the past few years we have had no faith in doctors whatsoever. Air has basically suffered in silence; trying to act like everything was ok since there was no diagnosis to prove otherwise.

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UNTIL!

A miracle occurred last year when Air's Mom started working at a doctor's office in Beaumont and found a doctor (fresh out of medical school) who seemed genuinely interested in helping people... and putting in the work to solve the more difficult puzzles. She would accept Air as a patient since he had previously gone to a doctor from that clinic who had left. We started with this new doctor in October and the good news is that she's given him the right tests and they've found RESULTS!!! ACTUAL RESULTS THAT PROVE THERE IS A REAL PHYSICAL PROBLEM!!!

Dr Dietrich. We love you.

Not only do we love her, but we love that she hooked us up with a wonderful specialist as well. An endocrinologist who we also love love love.

Dr Shahidi. We love you too.

These two (women) doctors have seriously gone above and beyond for Air... they know which tests to do, they contact us when they have results, they sometimes even call us in the evenings to see how things are going and don't mind talking to us on the phone for years while we tell them what he's going through. During their personal time! I'm sure they both have hundreds of other patients, but they both care.............. I'm at a loss for words for describing how great they are. It brings tears to my eyes.

Our faith in doctors is restored.

*****

You're probably wondering what the results are!??
Now, here's where Air probably doesn't want me to go into too much detail (a little personal?)... I'll try to keep this clean!

Of all the new tests he's taken, his blood work was the first hit. They found Air to be severely anemic (meaning he doesn't have enough red blood cells in his system), his body doesn't absorb iron properly. His testosterone was really low, and he has very low hemoglobins. She was surprised he was functioning and even smiling. Not sure at all why none of the previous doctors noticed any of this...

The colonoscopy was the second big hit. I'll let you use your imagination, but this might be the reason for his lack of blood, dizzyness and maybe even his digestive/bowel problems... if not a result of that. This will require surgery to correct.

And the third big hit was actually pretty scary at first. An MRI on his brain showed that Air has a tumor (or adenoma) on his pituitary gland. It's benign (not cancerous) but it's messing with his hormones/testosterone and possibly caused his rapid weight gain a few years back... on top of many other issues. To correct this there is a surgery, but the doctors have chosen to give Air a medication that has been proven to shrink these types of adenomas in a lot of people.
This medication for the adenoma is making Air even more sick these days. It's extremely strong, and the side effects have been pretty treacherous so far, which is crazy because the pills are only about as big as a crumb... and he only takes half of one, once a week. (pictured at the beginning of this post)

Fortunately, his follow-up meeting with the endocrinologist (after a month of the pills) showed improvements. His prolactin levels are better. But yeah, some things were worse (may or may not be a result of the pills), his iron levels are even lower, making him even more anemic than ever and he is constantly dizzy and nauseous these days. Most of the time for the past month he can barely go up a flight of stairs or drive a car...

We finally got a surgery booked for his colon on July 22nd and are beyond excited to see if this improves his health as well.

*****

Unfortunately, right now it seems like Air 'must die so that he may live' and life has been pretty difficult these days for all of us. I'm constantly worrying about him and wishing I could do more to make things better.

I would be ungrateful if I didn't mention here the miracle that occurred in January of this year, when Air got a new position in his company that allows him to work in an office all day (rather than running around all over the city for 8 hours every day, and being on call 24/7). When very soon thereafter, in March of this year, he began the treatment for his adenoma and it became physically impossible for him to have done his old job. He excels at his new position and loves it.

I think it's also a blessing that we've been able to be so happy and positive through all of it.

Of course, my eyes are watering again when I think of how amazing our Heavenly Father is, and how good he's been to us through this trial. We are grateful.

Thanks for reading, guys. We also really appreciate all of your concerns and prayers and thoughts for us. I know it's been a long time since I've written any kind of update on Air's health on the blog, but it really is hard to write about--especially when there was so little information to share.

Please continue to pray for Air? I believe he could use it.