Lights At The End Of The Tunnel

I think I speak for my entire family when I say that these past 7 months have been long. It has been very hard having a sick Daddy with no rhyme or reason to his illness. We have learned to work around it and have learned to help each other, but we miss having Daddy healthy.
After going to every dr known to man kind {PCP, neurologist, endocrinologist, cardiologist, pulmonary} we finally were pooped and had no answers. Finally one day Bry had an appointment with his endocrinologist and I went with him. He was going over his MRI report with him, so I wanted to be there. We went in and the dr kinda shrugged it off and said it was a normal MRI and set it down next to me. So I picked it up and said, "wait, what does it mean thyroid nodule?" and that question led us to a blank stare. I didn't like that. I came to work the next day with the report and showed it to all of my dr's. They all agreed a new endocrinologist was in order, but also that this needed to be looked at by someone new {mind you, these were the same people who told us Bry had bone marrow cancer and sent us to the Cancer Center within a day of test results}. That afternoon my bestie called me and gave me the number to the Edocrin department of the Mayo Clinic. I made the call and told them about the nodule and was told that because of that he didn't have to go through the approval process. We were given an appointment 3 weeks out. That day was horrifying. We got to the parking garage and I lost it. Now, I've been extra emotional for a lot of his appointments {I may have left one crying in the middle of the dr talking...oops} but I just suddenly felt overwhelmed. We had put all of our eggs in the last basket and it was do or die time. The appointment left us less than impressed with the ever so prestigious "Mayo". I was discouraged. Bry was discouraged. We just didn't know what to do next. The next day I went to work and Bry went to work. That night after we put the little's to bed I was playing with Scotty and Sophie and Bry came around the corner to scare us and started laughing hysterically, then he passed out. It was so scary. It didn't last long, but it was long enough. The next day he called his PCP and went in for a visit. They did an EKG and it showed some abnormalities and his blood pressure was CRAZY high {this was a new symptom} so they told us to see our cardiologist. I called and we were put in for the next week. We went to the cardiologist and he did another EKG and confirmed that Bry had had a heart attack. WHAT?! He's 32! How could this be?? As was our luck, with every question we had no answer. That night I prayed harder than I think I ever have prayed in my life. I was having a Daddy/Daughter talk with my Heavenly Father. I needed Him and I needed help. I needed direction and guidance. I was praying and crying for a good 10 min. {I think it's safe to say that not a word I said was understandable to a human ear} I fell asleep crying that night. The next morning I was laying in bed awake, waiting for my alarm to go off when Bry came back from the restroom and said, "honey, I'm having chest pains bad. You need to take me to the hospital" he was short of breath and grabbing his chest. I got out of bed and walked over to help him get his shoes on when he passed out. I called 911 and the ambulance came. SCARY! My kids were all home and so worried. The took us to the hospital where Bry was poked, prodded, and tested for 4 days. The hospitalist that was assigned to him knew the docs I work for and listened to all of what Bry had been going through since August. She pulled out her cell phone and said, "I want you to go see this dr and have him check you for intracranial hypertension". I called the Dr and they got us in the next business day. And then things really started moving. This dr {neuro ophthalmologist} called a neurologist who got Bry in the next day and between the 2 of them they confirmed that Bry indeed did have intracranial hypertension, which was causing his migraines and all sorts of other problems. As we've gone to more appointments we have found that this has been the problem all along. Bry was also diagnosed with empty sella syndrome, which all the dr's had been blaming everything on, though they believed that it was something that happened at birth. Finally some answers, all the additional fluid that was coming from the intracranial hypertension was pushing down even more on his pituitary and his body was going in overdrive. This caused his high blood pressure, which caused his heart attack, it's the cause of his migraines. What a mess! This Monday Bry will be going to get a spinal tap and then we will discuss surgery to get a shunt placed. Finally we have answers.
It is truly amazing to see the Lord's hand in this whole process. Had Bry not had the chest pains that morning we would have never met the dr who referred us to the dr who diagnosed him. Amazing. Simply amazing. I feel my Savior's love has never been a truer statement!