How this began

Sometime in February or March, Ralph started having problems with his stomach. He couldn't eat much and was having pain when he ate anything. By May, the problem had become so bad he had lost weight and could barely eat anything. It was nearly impossible for him to eat anything dry, like a sandwich. On May 12th, he went to the doctor.

Ralph's appointment was with the Physician's Assistant. A few blood tests were run and it was decided Ralph had H. Pylori. He was prescribed two antibiotics and by the end of his treatment, he had become much worse. He was now retaining water, fatigued, and the stomach pain was worse than ever. He was eating even less than before and was no way getting enough nutrients; back to see the PA, more tests.

Ralph was now complaining of difficulty breathing when he laid down and there was extreme water retention in his feet and ankles. He went back to the PA again and she ordered a treadmill test to check his heart and an endoscope to see if there was an ulcer.

At this point, Ralph was incredibly sick. The PA finally had to bring in the doctor because Ralph's mother-in-law went with him and forced her to do her job. It was decided that Ralph needed to see a specialist because the tests showed problems with his kidneys. Ralph had an appointment straight away with the specialist, a Nephrologist, and the doctor scheduled a biopsy to determine the type of kidney disease Ralph had. In the meantime, Ralph was getting worse. The doctor felt Ralph had retained about 20 pounds of water in his legs and trunk so he prescribed Ralph a diuretic.

Although Ralph was doing what he was advised, he continued to get worse. Now he was seriously ill and asked if he should go to the Emergency Room. All of his family believed the doctors would admit him if needed so he did not go to the Emergency Room. More days passed; Ralph passed out in the bathroom one night; his fatigued increase and so on and so forth.

At midnight, Friday, June 20th, Ralph was taken to the Emergency Room by his wife. By 9:00 am, Ralph had been admitted to the ICU. He had pneumonia and sepsis and was dangerously dehydrated.

Three days later, Ralph left ICU for a regular hospital room and the doctors said we had to wait for his condition to improve in order to perform the kidney biopsy. Friday, June 27th, they did the kidney biopsy and the results did not show the kidney disease we were all so worried about; the kidney biopsy showed amyloid protein.

On Monday, June 30th, a pathologist did a bone marrow biopsy and on Wednesday, July 2nd, we were told Ralph had amyloidosis. We had no idea what this meant but based on a quick web search, it didn't look good. On Thursday, July 3rd, the doctors told us Ralph needed a stem cell replacement to prolong his life.

Our lives have been forever changed. One friend described it this way, "Your family has been nuked!" and it really feels that way. Ralph can no longer work. His wife is expecting their first child in November (after five years of trying) and is now the family bread winner. We are feeling so overwhelmed we don't even know where to start.