When It Happens To You

By Jen Adair, Blogger at Slightly Tilted, Entreprenuer, Homeschool Mom to two fab kiddos

My husband is the world’s healthiest man. He works out every day. Only eats healthy stuff. Barely drinks. Has never smoked. Generally loves life and all who are in it.

Our house always smells like fart due to the broccoli he’s always making. My kids hate it. I’m used to it. A small price to pay for your loved ones to be healthy, right? Right!

So when he had a sinus infection he couldn’t shake and asked me to make him a doctor’s appointment, I was a little concerned. Firstly, we’ve been married 21 years and he’s been to the doctor once. And that was for a broken foot.

Secondly, we were in Vegas on vacation and I knew if he was asking to see the doctor while we were on vacation, he was feeling bad.

He powered through and drank his mimosas like the champ he is, though.

When we got back, his Z pack just wasn’t cutting it. He ended up going to an urgent care clinic not far from the house. They did some blood tests, told him he would probably be fine in a few more days and sent him home.

The next day, Friday, December 20th, he got a message to call them. I also got a message to have him call them. My spidey sense was tingling. This was not good.

Ricky called me a few hours later and told me the news that would change our lives forever.

He had leukemia.

My healthy, fun-loving, never-has-had-a-problem hubby was sick. Very sick. Like, go to the ER immediately if you have even a little bit of a headache sick.

We were in complete shock. Did they say leukemia? What the heck were they talking about? It was a very long weekend.

On Monday, December 23, at 7:45 in the morning, we walked into our first appointment with an oncologist who is also a hematologist. Those are two words I never thought I’d type in reference to my husband.

There are scary moments in life and we’ve had them, but nothing really prepares you to walk into an oncologist’s office with zero idea of what you’re doing. It’s bizarre. Like you’re in a Tim Burton film or something.

By the end of the day, we knew for sure he had leukemia. He had a bone marrow biopsy taken, had a second opinion appointment scheduled, and a hospital admittance date. We were emotionally overwhelmed and physically exhausted.

On December 26th we flew to Nashville to get a second opinion on the course of treatment. All the doctors were in agreement, so we were admitted to Washington Regional on December 30th.

We were in the hospital 10 days — for the first 2 treatments out of the 4 — and he was doing so well that they have allowed us to do the last two weeks of treatment as an outpatient. For this, we are beyond grateful. He isn’t feeling well, but he’s home! Home can fix a lot of illnesses.

We don’t know what our next steps will be. He will have to be in remission for either the next stage of chemo or the bone marrow transplant.

I am writing this to beg you to PLEASE have regular checkups with blood tests done. You just never know what could be happening in your body. Men are the worst about this — YES, YOU ARE, MEN! That’s not sexist. That’s just a fact. Get checked. It could save your life.

We are living this every day and are determined to stay positive, laugh about life, and encourage others to focus on the good stuff in life. Feel free to join our Facebook group, The A Team. 

Hey. I’m Jen Adair. I’m an entrepreneur. Homeschool mom. CEO of organized chaos. Ok – it’s really not all that organized. Browse my collection of random thoughts, humor (well, I think I’m funny!), images, links, whatever…at my blog Slightly Tilted.