I saw the notification of new test results. I clicked open the app and saw the number.

My breath caught.

Something's growing. Things are progressing.

I'm not expert enough to know for sure how concerning the level of increase is, but I know enough to know that my daughter's body is either progressing towards cancer or already has a little bit of cancer.

Her preventative surgery is intended for two years out, but maybe it will need to be sooner.

Two years ago we received communication from my husband's family that based on the health of two sisters and two nieces that there was a genetic component to their on-going health challenges and conveyed the urgency of all siblings receiving the genetic testing.

New light was shed on my father-in-law's death from pancreatic cancer. It had likely begun as thyroid cancer that was undetectable until it progressed to the point of metastasizing to his pancreas. Dots were connected to some of his siblings who had also died of various forms of cancer.

We took it one step at a time. First my husband's test and confirmation that he is a carrier of Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN-2A), followed by checking each of our girls.

May the odds ever be in your favor, came to mind as I went to the lab at one point along the way. They each had a 50/50 chance as to whether or not they inherited the mutation in their RET gene.

The results indicated that 4/6 girls had also inherited the condition.

In a span of 10 months, 4 members had complete thyroidectomies based on the certainty that cancer would eventually develop and spread (if it hadn't already) - it was just a matter of time.

My husband was confirmed with having cancer that had already spread and was not fully removed with the operation. There is no solution that will permanently resolve his context. It will just be a matter of on-going monitoring and decision making along the way based on how much the disease has progressed and what makes most sense based on what is revealed. At this time, it is very minimal and now that his thyroid is removed, will likely progress very slowly.

One daughter already had cancer, but it appears that it was all removed with her operation.

Another daughter had c cell hyperplasia, a typical condition prior to cancer actually developing. Another favorable outcome - everything removed before it could progress.

Another had not yet developed anything.

A final daughter waiting to be a little bit older prior to operation, unless on-going monitoring warrants faster action.

Each will continue to have on-going monitoring throughout their lives for the other conditions associated with MEN-2A.

Had my husband's family not realized and communicated about the condition, we would not have had any idea. My husband did not have any symptoms associated with his thyroid condition, and we didn't have any reason to check.

Knowing has made all the difference in long-term outcomes for my husband and girls.

Knowing has also added layers of indefinite uncertainty that was not previously there - uncertainty that will span the rest of my husband's and four girls' lives and on down the generations as each child of those with MEN-2A has that 50/50 chance of also inheriting the condition.

I cannot plan for or control how the different layers progress. I never know what is around the bend with the results for their on-going monitoring. For my husband, it is a sigh of relief each time his numbers look stable and the disease does not seem to be progressing. For most of my girls, I come to anticipate that results will be favorable without any new concerns, other than needing to adjust medication from time to time - another sigh of relief.

But there's also those moments when results indicate that numbers are increasing, like my daughter's results. Then there's the intake of breath without remembering to release it. Time freezes for a moment.

Then, I notice and exhale.

All I can do is take the next step - do the next thing.

I can navigate this unknown. God can teach me how, and then He can lead me to apply it to navigating other unknowns that are sure to arise as a natural part of the experience of being human.

The unknown is inevitable. Having to wait and see is inevitable. There is nothing I can do to remove or resolve this piece of our lives. But there is hope in knowing that I can grow in my capacity to navigate the unknown, that I can learn to wait with greater peace along the way.