Gary Krabiel

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day and hectic life to check in on how Kate and I are progressing through this new challenge ahead of us.  Cancer is never a word you want to hear.  It’s scary to face; but with your support and prayers, we are confident that this will be a success story of faith, hope, trust and blessings.

  CRAZY CHAIN OF EVENTS AS TO HOW WE FOUND OUT…. Blessings 1, 2, 3 and 4

I guess you could say the first “signs” that something might be wrong was towards the end of last year.  There was a couple of weeks that I was really tired and couldn’t get   warm - I’d even wear my coat in the house.  After a couple of weeks though, I wasn’t tired or cold; so we didn’t think any more about it.   It turns out that these are two symptoms of anemia….

Then in late November Kate and I went to visit some friends.  While we were there, we helped clear a wooded area around their house.  A couple days later, I developed (Blessing #1) a rash around my calves; of course, we thought it was poison ivy.  When it started spreading to my back, arms and stomach,  I went to Urgent Care where they thought it was eczema - keep lotion on it and it should go away.  

During my visit at the Urgent Care, she could hear (Blessing #2) that I had fluid in my lungs and advised to have it checked out by my doctor.  The doctor confirmed that the rash was probably eczema but advised to have a dermatologist look at it too.  The fluid in my lungs wasn’t pneumonia and the doctor said that my body would eventually absorb it.  The doctor ordered some lab work and drew blood just to be safe (Blessing #3).  While we were waiting on the results of the lab work, we had our appointment with the Dermatologist.  Once again, the rash was confirmed to be eczema and I was given a steroid shot and some cream.  

As fate would have it, I was due for my annual physical (Blessing #4).  A couple days before my appointment, the doctor’s office called and said to make sure I didn’t miss my appointment because the results of my blood work were off and they needed to see me to run more tests, which later confirmed I have an issue with my blood.