Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog. As many of you know, Danny was recently diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. We are so grateful for all of your prayers and support. The last couple weeks we have experienced a range of different emotions, but right now we're just feeling grateful and loved. We are optimistic that in a couple of months life will be normal again.
Several people have asked about Danny's syomptoms and what led to this diagnosis. About two months ago Danny starting sweating at night. He would sweat enough that he'd have to change his pajamas and eventually move to the couch to be more comfortable. At first it was only one or two nights a week-but then it increased in frequency. It was just an annoyance really, and we figured he was just overheating or something. We thought about going to the doctor to check on it-but come on! It's just sweat! Eventually Marilyn encouraged Danny to go in(for which we are eternally grateful) and he went to see his doctor at the UC Davis health center. The doctor had him take a chest x-ray and when she looked at it said, "Wow! What is THAT!" His lymphnodes were very swollen. She gave us a couple ideas of what could be causing his symptoms: an infection, tuberculosis, and lymphoma. At this point we tried not to freak out-I'd never thought one day I'd be praying for Danny to have TB but I did! He had a CT scan several days later that determined the size and location of the lymphnodes. The doctor sent us to the UC Davis Medical Center to continue our diagnosis and explained that without obtaining tissue we wouldn't know anything. They scheduled a rather invasive biopsy a week later and told us they'd have results a week from that. We came down to Concord and got a second opinion from an oncologist here who said that they could take tissue from a lymphnode in Danny's neck and have preliminary results in less than a week. Needless to say we took the second option and are really glad we did! On Friday the results came back as Hodgkins. We are feeling very blessed that it is Hodgkins and not non-Hodgkins. Hodgkins is very treatable with a 95% cure rate. At this point it is nice to at least know for sure what we are facing so we can start fighting it.
This week Danny goes in for a PET scan, has a check of his bone marrow and gets a port.
Definitions: As Steve explained it-when you get a PET scan you ingest some sugar substance that lights up the cancer cells. They scan you body and see all the cancer cells and how far the cancer has spread.
Bone Marrow- sounds like a painful procedure that checks if the cancer has spread to your bones.
Port: no clue really-it is something that goes into your skin and you receive chemo treatments through it. It sounds like it helps because they don't have to keep poking your veins. I guess you can shower with it in and everything. We haven't met with Dr. Sirott yet to talk about Danny's treatment schedule-his scans this week will determine his treatment.
We're starting this blog so you can check in on Danny and our family and see how we're managing. We are living in Concord with the Leiningers during his treatment and are in the process of moving out of our Davis apartment. We are really sad to leave Davis and all of the friends we've made there. At the same time we are really happy to be surrounded by our family in these next months. Thanks for reading!