Poster child? (I mean Poster MAN!)

So we finally got an appointment with the radiological oncologist, Dr. M. Unfortunately, it's not until November 5. We were really hoping to be done with the radiation by Thanksgiving, but that's not going to happen now. BUT we are still on the right track.

In other news, I think I bragged on Nate for being asked to be photographed by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as they are revamping all their marking materials. We received a disk with a bunch of the photos this week...super fun! We don't know if he will be used in the materials, but are so thankful for the photographer sharing some of them with us!

Here are a few of my favorites (Nate's not around, so he couldn't veto any of them :) )



Totally didn't plan the matching part....



Honey, I shrunk my lymph nodes!

And Nate passes GO! We had a good appointment with Dr. H, Nate's oncologist, today. The scans taken on Tuesday showed a big improvement in Nate's lymph nodes in all areas that were affected by cancer. In Dr. H's words: "the disease has responded well." And if you knew Dr. H, that's as happy and excited with words as he gets. Praise God! So this means NO MORE CHEMO! That is such a huge relief. Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.

So what's next? Radiation. Sometime soon (maybe next week?) we will meet again with the radiological oncologist, Dr. M. to set up Nate's radiation schedule and do more scans if necessary as well as other prep work. For now, the expectation is to do radiation Monday-Friday, for a month. That's a lot. So please pray for Nate's stamina and patience and health through this time.

Other things that we learned today are as follows:

• Nate will retain the awesome port in his chest until all treatment has concluded and there is basically no trace of cancer in his system. That means that he needs to go into get it "flushed" every month so it does get clogged or something.
• There will be another PET scan done after radiation is complete to make sure all cancer cells have been destroyed and then the lymphoma will be re-staged. We definitely vote that the stage is "cured" (maybe that's stage 0?)
• Nate's hair will continue to fall out for another 4-6 weeks at which time his hair follicles will recover and he will have a awesomely full head of hair again.
• We also learned that since Nate is doing chemo as well as radiation, the amount of chemo given, though an effective amount, should not cause problems down the line...that is a HUGE relief!

Things to pray for:

• First, join us in thanking God for his grace and kindness. Even though the road hasn't been easy (and is still looking rough for a time), we have learned a lot, grown stronger in our faith and relationships.
• Please pray for patience, energy and grace for our little family as the doctor's appointment schedule becomes crazy again right as the holiday/birthday season gears up.
• Please pray for the side effects of radiation; that there won't be any :)
• Please pray contentment during this next phase of treatment and life

We love you all!


 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13

Does Nate get to pass go?

We don't really have an update other than we would like to ask people to be praying for the CT scan tomorrow morning (10:30 a.m.). This scan will show the amazing doctors what the last two months of chemo has done to fight (and hopefully destroy) the cancer cells. If the results are good, Nate will pass go and move on to the radiation part of the treatment, if not good, he will not pass go and will go to chemo jail for another two months. Please pray for God's will and that God's will might involved healing :) .We trust God and his awesome plan, please pray that we will be content in the result. 

Both Nate and I are kinda done with this whole "bump in the road." We are tired and crabby and it's been hard to keep up with simple life things and even harder to keep up positive attitudes. However, we are so thankful, once again, for so many things. We are thankful for the amazing autumn weather. We are still so thankful for our amazing family and friends. We are thankful to not have needed to worry about making dinner for the last two months (you all rock). We are thankful for the time where we can laugh and the times where we can cry; both make us stronger and more flexible with life. We are thankful for a fantastic prognosis. We could go on, but we are ready to sit down, have a glass of wine and watch some of our new fall programing on TV :)

Thank you for your thoughts, kind words and prayers. We will let you know how things go tomorrow...we meet with Dr. H (oncologist) on Thursday for the results.

A little celebration...

How fun is this? So at the end of Nate's chemo session today, the nurses in "pod 2," where we always sit, brought out the kazoos and did a tiny celebration of Nate's (most likely) last day of chemo! They even made a certificate and signed it...see below :)

(Picture taken by the awesome Todd Stover who brought by delicious lunch!)

We also got his schedule of next steps before we left this afternoon: scans on the 16th and follow up and scan interpretation with the oncologist on the 18th of October.

Please pray that the chemo has done its job and that Nate can move on...we would hate to have his certificate of graduation taken away!

Last session of chemo!?!?

Here we are...at perhaps the last chemo session Nate has to endure! We got a great report from Dr. H, the oncologist, about his blood work-yippee! So now, after this fun day in the infusion room, the next step it to have Nate rescanned to see what his chemo therapy has done to the cancer cells. The hope is that there isn't a trace of malignancy and then Nate can graduate to radiation to seal the deal.

Right now, Nate is dozing in his reclining chemo chair and not feeling great...please pray for him to get rest and that the drugs will be working and that he will experience peace and not be so woozy.

We are so thankful for the amazing nursing and support staff here at the Kansas City Cancer Center. We are thankful for our amazing and talented oncologist. We are thankful for faith and for trials that bring us closer to God. AND we are thankful for all of our family and friends who have showered us with encouragement in all sorts of ways; we have been completely overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of people.