The Beginning

The Christmas of 2009 was a great one!  We got a big blizzard on Christmas Eve.  I remember because it was such an ordeal.  Jeff was running a ton of cattle and a blizzard meant great moisture but also a lot of work.  It started early that morning when a neighbor called.  He couldn't get to work and asked if he could borrow Jeff's 4W Drive pick up to get to work.  It was new and I thought at the time it was an awful lot to ask.  But Jeff said yes.  That is Jeff!

Jeff wanted boxing gloves that year for him and Luke.  Luke and I had been doing kickboxing/karate for a couple of years and Jeff couldn't wait to spar with his son.   So of course that is what Santa brought.  A couple of days after Christmas the gloves were put to use.  In my mind sparring is all about "tagging" someone but immediately Jeff and Luke were going at it - smiling and laughing.  Luke was only 15 at the time but already passing his Daddy in size.  While they went at it I stood by and reminded them to take it easy and they were only sparring.  About that time Jeff popped Luke in the mouth - full of braces.  The shock quickly equaled a swift right hook to Jeff's nose.  Sparring Over!!!  The gloves were put away and Jeff walked away with a bloody nose and Luke a busted lip.  So much for trying to restrain all the testosterone!

A couple of days later Jeff complained of the "blood clot" still in his nose.  I looked and sure enough you could see something way up in his nose.  When it was still there a week later we called our local clinic for an appointment.  We both assumed it was a polyp but we never worried a second about it.  After all, we had been having a super cold winter and Jeff was outside all the time.  It made sense to us that the cold air had somehow affected his nose.

The first week in January we went to the Canyon Clinic and saw the dr.  He had no idea what was in Jeff's nose but agreed it might be a polyp.  He referred us to an ENT - Ear, Nose and Throat dr.  A couple of weeks later we saw Dr. Guttenplan who had taken out Luke's tonsils when he was 6.  He also agreed that it was probably a polyp and did a basic CT scan in his office to make sure it wasn't something bigger.  While I was waiting for Jeff to take the test it was my first sense of alarm.  What did he mean bigger?  Quickly the dr came out and said the scan was clear - only the polyp.  He asked if we wanted to try steroids to shrink it or procede with surgery to remove it.  Jeff even asked if he could just take it out in the office!  Febuary 2nd - during another snow storm Jeff had the polyp removed.  The surgery went well and the dr came out and told me it wasn't a polyp because it was a funny color.  He said he thought it was a hemangioma.  He said he would call with the pathology report in a couple of days.  I never thought anything about it.  We were never worried.  We completely forgot about it.

A couple of days later the dr called and I answered the phone.  He asked to speak to Jeff and I knew something was wrong.  Jeff was sleeping/resting from the surgery.  I gave him the phone and sat beside him on the bed.  I watched his face the entire time and tried to figure out the conversation.  His breathing increased  rapidly and I knew something was very wrong.  He hung up and said it was a melanoma tumor.  We were both scared to death and completely in shock.  But I remember telling him we would fix it.  We would find the best dr's and get the best treatment and we would fix it! Dr. Guttenplan referred us that day to MD Anderson, to his friend that he went to medical school with.  Within 2 weeks we were in Houston. That's how our journey began.