Eric Cummings

It has taken me a little time to move forward on this journal as it has been a month that we shared about Eric’s diagnosis.  We still wake up and cannot believe that we are now on this journey with Eric’s health.  What I do know is that we need to rally the support of family and friends so here we are to share his story. Eric had been dealing with a dry hacking cough for sometime since the summer. We and his doctor first chalked it up to a side effect of blood pressure medication he was taking. In the fall when he went down to Texas to help with Hurricane Harvey the cough became worse with Eric having coughing jags (fits) that could last 20 minutes or so. Eric then got the flu in December. After this illness he began to have significant coughing jags that left him out of breath and had bouts of labored breathing. After receiving the results from a CT scan on Feb. 1st and meeting with Eric’s pulmonologist, Dr. Scriven,  on Feb. 6th to go over the results we received the diagnosis that Eric has Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. This is an incurable lung disease. Historically the prognosis of this disease is not good but their are relatively new treatment options to slow the progression. Eric would need a lung transplant to escape this disease. We are over the initial shock of what is our new normal and there are so many unknowns ahead. These past few weeks Eric has had various tests to rule out other possibilities and to prepare him for what treatments will be up ahead. There is a team of doctors who will be determining these next steps. Our next appt. is March 19th with our pulmonologist Dr.  Scriven. As you can imagine we are all over the map as it comes to our emotions. Casey, our sweet 8 year old daughter, knows exactly what her daddy is facing. She has been amazingly resilient through these first weeks but we can see signs of this news impacting her.  We talk, we cry, we laugh, we sometimes move through our day as if we did not have this news but then we sit for a moment and remember that we do.  Most importantly we trust our Lord Jesus Christ to walk and hold us through this journey. We know He loves us, He will never leave us or foresake us and we will find the courage through Him to embrace the days ahead.