To blog or not to blog...

The hardest part of starting a blog, as I've discovered, is figuring out where to begin. Jumping in at the present makes sense but it's hard to start at "now" when so much has happened in the past. Bear with me as I give it my best shot.

We've just gotten back into the school year routine and things seem to be falling back into "normal." Nathan is in 5th grade, the same grade that Jaime teaches but in a different school. When Jaime first started teaching, 5th grade seemed so far away and yet here we are with our own 5th grader. TIME FLIES!!! Nate's great love is fishing. It's just unfortunate that school has to interfere with that!

Kaitlyn is already in 3rd grade and is our ever-active, always smiling, sweet girl. She has a personality that closely matches her Grandpa Rinks in that she enjoys agitating yet is sensitive to other people's needs.

Nolan, our trail-behind blessing, will be two in November. He is growing quickly and everyday seems to have added another word to his vocabulary. It has been fun for all of us, especially Nate & Kate, to watch him grow and change. He LOVES his brother and sister and is always learning from them.

Jaime is in his 6th year of teaching 5th grade - which is where some of our story starts to unravel. During his first year of teaching he got sick Thanksgiving weekend. We thought he just caught a bug from working in the school. At about the same time we applied for new life insurance through a different company and they came to do the typical preliminary testing for insurance approval. By the time we recieved the results from the life insurance company it was the middle of December and Jaime was still not feeling well. He had lost almost 20 lbs and was very fatigued with much pressure in his stomach/liver area. The insurance company called us to say that they could not offer Jaime life insurance and that he needed to call his doctor right away. They faxed his blood test results to his doctor and sooner than later we were on our way to a life-changing diagnosis.

After much testing, Jaime was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. The doctor that called with the results of the PSC (Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis) suggested that we look into the "Family Medical Leave Act" because things were not good. Thankfully, it never came to that. After meeting with a gastroenterologist, a treatment plan was devised and Jaime began taking medication for both diseases. At one point he was taking 30 pills a day to get things under control. The medication worked effectively enough to get the Crohn's Disease under control, Jaime gained some weight back and the pressure in his stomach/liver subsided.

The years that followed were generally good with a few flare-ups but never any hospitalizations. What a blessing! Jaime had an additional diagnosis of Spondiloarthritis made back in 2005 when he was having so much back pain he could hardly walk. Thankfully again, medication helped to bring relief.

So here we are today. Every 6 months Jaime has blood work done to monitor liver function by checking the liver enzymes. The three that they check have been slightly elevated above normal but they've remained mostly steady. He has had a liver biopsy, many MRCP's, ERCP's and an ultrasound or two. All are used to monitor how the PSC is progressing. Up until about a month ago it seemed that the disease was progressing very slowly.

Last month the blood work revealed that his enzymes were elevated even more that normal. He had an MRCP (an MRI with a contrasting agent) that showed more stricturing in his bile ducts. He then had an ERCP (down the throat and into the bile ducts) to check for bile duct cancer. The results came back as negative for cancer but that the disease is progressing. We are now being referred back to U of M hospital to meet with the liver transplant center. We will be going there on October 3 to see what our next step will be.

What's important to know is that Jaime is feeling well. He does not have any pain but is a little bit more tired than he'd like to be. It's also vitally important to understand that God has been so gracious and good during all of this. It's not just the "thing to say" but a genuine response to His faithfulness. We've been blessed in so many ways. I know that many of you have held us up in prayer and we are grateful for the prayer warriors on our behalf.

Obviously, Jaime isn't writing this blog because in his eyes it would be too much about him. We'll be sure to keep you posted as we meet with U of M next week. Thanks to you all for the prayers, encouraging words and cards. We're truly blessed to be a part of God's family.