Friday, February 28, 2014

Day 1: The beginning of this adventure.

On February 27, 2014 my family started on a new yet unexpected adventure. My dad was diagnosed with acute leukemia. This honestly came as a shock to all of us, but there was one thing we all agreed on. There were going to be great and wonderful things to learn through this time and we were going to grow so much closer as a family. To let you all know, he is doing wonderfully. He is still his joyful giddy and loving man that we all know him to be. He is in the Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake city undergoing some tests to learn more about the rare type of leukemia he had been diagnosed with. They are having him stay in the center for 3-4 weeks while undergoing aggressive chemotherapy and then he will remain there for 2-3 weeks following due to his low blood count  increasing his risk for infection.  We ask that if you are in the area or planning  on visiting him that you only do so feeling perfectly healthy.
We are so very happy and blessed to say that the cancer has only been found in his bone marrow. His blood tests all come back perfectly normal, and every other test says that he is perfectly fine. This is one of the many small miracles that we have so far seen in our family. We have been so blessed to have wonderful family and friends offer up prayers and even time in our behalf.

We know that everyone will have tons of questions and will want to be updated, and that is the purpose of this blog. We will be posting on here regularly to keep everyone informed. Thank you so much for your love and support. Our family doesn't know what this adventure holds but we do know that God is ultimately in charge and all things that happen will only be in His will. We also know that blessings come in times when we are in trials and we will not be given anything more than we can handle.

Our first visit to our Dad in the hospital

Seriously, who wears a BYU t-shirt in U of U territory?!
Someone is very happy about his caramelized salmon for dinner, not to be outdone by his crab cakes at lunch :)
 
We can do hard things!

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5 comments:

  1. TrudyMarch 1, 2014 at 2:32 PM

    Look at him, lounging around. There's got to be a better way to get time off work! Ha. But seriously, our thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

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  2. NatalieMarch 2, 2014 at 5:04 PM

    Love and prayers coming from our house. Even my Valiant 10 class this morning prayed for you Ronald! You are loved!

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  3. UnknownMarch 2, 2014 at 8:21 PM

    While the doctrine of enduring (D&C 122 "all these things shall give thee experience") is like a diamond with many facets, so also are Ron's character traits which we will (and do now in this blog) see the light of the gospel beam brighter through each - valiant courage, faith, hope, patience, trust, peace, empathy, humility, compassion, and love! Our family is humbled to learn of this new adventure Ron - and write your name (with MUCH love) upon our family prayer book. The Stephensons

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  4. The Draughon FamilyMarch 2, 2014 at 9:55 PM

    Our family is praying for you and your family. The Temecula Draughon Family is in your fan club.

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  5. LindaMarch 3, 2014 at 8:38 AM

    Our prayers are being offered for the entire family. May the light of the Lord shine brightly during this trial you are facing. Linda & Robert Manley

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