Sarah (Yutzy) Helmuth ‐ Medical and Life Expenses
Over the last several weeks the amount of support we have felt has been overwhelming in the best way possible. God has blessed us with a community of family and friends that know how to show up. I have tried my best to try and keep people as updated as possible but things can change quickly and it’s hard to update when there are a lot of unknowns. Travis and I are going try to update this group as we are able.
How did we get here?
Starting in the middle of June or so I started having a pain along my spine in the middle of my back. I started getting adjustments and a few massages but it didn’t seem to improve which is unusual. As time went on I noticed I wasn’t eating as much, kind of nauseous on occasion and there were days where I would be extremely tired. My next thought was maybe this was part of postpartum side effects or maybe diet related... then at the end of June I developed a cough that ended up lasting for 3 weeks, but I didn’t have any symptoms of being sick. July 5th is when I first went to my PCP and laid out all these things. A complete panel of blood work was ordered and the only level off was a liver enzyme called AST, which was high. Something that can cause it to be high is taking Tylenol, which I had been for my back. My PCP wanted me to not take Tylenol for 2 weeks and retest, which we did. The AST came back higher the second time. I scheduled a follow up appointment for the following day as it seemed my other symptoms were getting worse, including pain along my left ribs. After a physical exam it was thought that my spleen was enlarged and so additional blood work was ordered as well as a CT Scan of my abdomen. The next day my PCP called to discuss the results which included a tumor the size of an orange between my kidney and adrenal gland as well as lesions in my lungs. He suggested I go to The James at OSU to be admitted through the ER sooner rather than later.
After over a week of testing, waiting on the biopsy report, and being readmitted due to blood clots we have made enough progress to finally have a name for the cancer: Adrenocortical Carcinoma. I’m still waiting to meet with the specialists (probably next week) to discuss treatment plans, prognosis, etc, but this is what we know now; it’s a fairly rare type of cancer and it seems to be aggressive.
But you know what we also know? God is good and He is still on the throne in Heaven. He cares for us and He hears our prayers. We take Him at His word that He will never leave us or forsake us, come what may.
Continuing to wait in the unknown feels almost unbearable at times. It’s hard to not allow your mind to wander to the what ifs. In those moments I’m trying to focus on the ways God has been working. One specific prayer request was answered today which was getting the pathology report back. There was talk about this being delayed because of needing an additional biopsy. Reece also starts preschool on Wednesday and I have so been looking forward to starting our school journey as a family. I so badly want to be able to be there to drop him off and pick him up for his first day and it looks like that might be possible too as there is discussion of discharging home tomorrow.
We have also been blown away by how God has been using all of you to support us during our time of need. The food, help with childcare, visiting at the hospital, gifts, money, cards, cleaning, texts, mowing, weed eating, prayers, cleaning our van, laundry… I don’t think I can even name all the ways people have blessed us and I’m sorry if I didn’t mention something. Just know that we definitely feel the love and support and are eternally grateful for all of you.