Back in February and March

February

It was around February 1st when Tess started to feel sick. Her back hurt, she was tired, and something was really off. It was when she was peeing blood that she decided to make a trip to urgent care who then told her to go to the ER immediately. Tess and Jeff went to the hospital where they learned her calcium levels were high, she was dehydrated, and her kidney was functioning at 15%. The hospital was able to get her levels to a normal rate but after a CT scan and blood testing, it was discovered that Tess had a blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma and it was stage 3. Tess and Jeff found an amazing oncologist in MGH that specializes in Multiple Myeloma, Dr Cirstea. Together they started putting together a plan of action to fight this cancer.

March

It was March when it was discovered that the Multiple Myeloma had now advanced to Plasma Cell Leukemia. Jeff wrote "Tess’s myeloma cells have been found in large numbers in her blood, meaning that her diagnosis has changed from multiple myeloma to plasma cell leukemia. The underlying disease is the same, but her myeloma cells have mutated to survive outside of her bone marrow."

Googling Plasma Cell Leukemia is depressing and I don't recommend it. There are 1,200 cases in the US a year of this type of cancer and pretty much all of them are over the age of 65. Her treatment plan didn't change and her oncologist was optimistic that this treatment would continue to kill the cancer.

Questions you may have

You might be asking how this happened to Tess and unfortunately there is no answer. It's just shit luck of her white blood cells multiplying the mutated cancer version over and over again and taking over her body (that's way over simplifying it).

You might be asking what she needs?, how can you help?... Tess and Jeff appreciate all of your support and love. They are the WORST texters so don't expect texts back but I know at some point they do see your messages of support so send messages here and know they do bring love to their hearts. Also, Aubree and I have decided we do want to set up a GoFundMe for them even if they don't want us to. Because Tess cannot work (her extreme lowered immune system makes her too vulnerable to work with children) and we want to make sure that they don't have any stress at all... here is the link: https://gofund.me/1c27d475

You might be asking if Jeff is the most amazing husband in the world, and the answer is yes.... he absolutly is. He has single handedly taken on every single piece of communication, doctor information, medication, basically everything imaginable during this time while still working. If our family has any single little stupid question, Jeff answers it for us with such ease and will even dumb it down for us so we can understand. He has been so amazing to me and my family and to Tess during this time. We are truly so lucky to have him. He wrote the most amazing details about her cancer if you want to deep dive into more information Read Here