Things Are Looking Up 🙏

Things are finally looking up! We just found out that Barry has a brain tumor. While that might not seem like good news, it strangely is. 🎉

Barry has been sick since 2021 with a mix of symptoms that gradually got worse. At first, we thought it was long-COVID because he didn't get better. His general practitioner sent him to all kinds of specialists, leading to countless tests, bloodwork, scans, and X-rays for OVER 👏TWO 👏 YEARS 👏. Every specialist told Barry he was healthy, leaving us feeling like he had some mystery illness only Dr. House could solve. 👨‍⚕️

It was heartbreaking to watch my healthy husband slowly deteriorate without knowing why. At one point, he couldn’t walk and that was terrifying (which we later learned was due to nerve damage). His symptoms kept increasing, leading us to wild guesses about the cause. Barry felt so awful that it was hard for him to even get off the couch. He literally had no energy ⬇️, was constantly nauseous 🤮, and his memory started slipping 🧠. As a result, he became homebound, unable to eat, and sometimes forgot my name. He also had mouth sores, poor balance, worsening vision, and at one point, we honestly thought he was dying. 💔

The lowest point was when Barry, convinced he was dying, tried to push me away. He told me to leave him, take our savings, and start over without him. He even started being mean—something he had never been before—but I knew it was just his way of trying to make it easier on me. It honestly felt like one of those '80s movies where a kid yells at his dog to go away 🐶, pretending not to care, just to protect it. But I wasn’t going anywhere. No matter how hard things got, I wasn’t about to leave my soulmate. ❤️

We felt hopeless until 2023 when an oncologist discovered Barry had a severe vitamin B12 deficiency. The treatment is weekly B12 shots 💉, and the recovery period is about a year, with ongoing shots indefinitely. We started his treatment and saw great results 👍. After a year, Barry was much better, but he still felt something was wrong. 😥

We recently got a new healthcare team, and his endocrinologist recently discovered a tumor on his pituitary gland. This is still new information, and he needs to undergo more tests to get complete answers. In the meantime, he was prescribed medication and is feeling much better. 🙌

Barry used to have only one or two good days a week, where he could do small tasks around the house. Now, I see him slowly becoming the person he was before his illness. He's up every day working on something, playing guitar again 🎸, tackling house projects like remodeling our kitchen 🔧, and he's happier and funnier than ever 😊.