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.

Give me a Boost

We have been meaning to update everyone all week, but things have been crazy busy. Last Thursday was my 3rd round of chemo. I was feeling okay after the treatment until Friday afternoon and then the rest of weekend was a hard one. I felt super tired and woozie and couldn't function properly. My balance was off and I couldn't sleep enough.

We had mentioned in our last post that my white count was down and that I might have to get daily shots to boost my reproduction of white blood cells. Well, it happend. Today will be my third and hopefully final day of the "booster shot." I guess we will see as my blood work will be redone. The shot is called Neupogen and the side effects are pretty awesome; sore joints and bones.

New research is showing that strength training  has been shown to be beneficial when going through chemo, so I got to work out this week on Wednesday and felt really good. Obviously I had to go lighter on my weights, but still managed to check myself out in the mirror (for medical purposes, of course).

We continue to be thankful for your thoughts and prayers and notes and meals and everything. They really give our spirits a "boost."

Chemo Carb Loading

Nate is cruising through his third chemo session as I type. His blood counts were low today and if they drop any lower he will have to have get a series of shots to boost his immune system. We are voting against that happening.

Otherwise, we are having a grand old time eating lunch, getting some work done and fattening up the Cancer Center with the donuts Nate brought as bribes for superior drugs (evidently the drugs are pre-set and aren't up for negotiation). Drat!

Please pray for the days ahead as the effects of the chemo start...it appears that the fatigue and wooziness will increase with each treatment. Pray for rest for Nate and that he will give his body grace as it fights.

We love you all and are so grateful for your prayer and support!

Oh say can you see!

There are many reasons for the subject line of this post. The most important is that we took Carter to his first professional baseball game this last Sunday. He stayed in his seat for a long time, saw his first Strikeout and then played with Grammy and Mommy in the kids fun zone!!

Second: as many as you know I was a pirate a couple of weeks ago. As a followup I was prescribed antibiotics and some goop for my eye. By that Saturday I was seeing quite clearly and was able to continue "normal" life. At my followup last week, the ophthomologist said everything was healing nicely and my vision was a whopping 20/20. Good thing those eye tests are easy- if you know your alphabet you can pass.

Third: Looking back to the last weeks. I had Chemo at my scheduled time on the 6th of September. I was joined by a great friend of mine that hung out with me all day. You rock! Thaddeus (that's his spartan name). When i was sitting there for hours we played games, chatted, and came up with the perfect name for one of the chemicals. We call it the Red Devil, cause it is powerful, evil,  and yes it is red!

After the treatment I was feeling not awesome, but OK. After some needed rest I was ready to go. Go where? to St Louis. Our good friends got married in St. Louis, which is a 4 hour drive for us. Congrats again Tom & Kristin. After a long weekend of dancing and having fun, we headed home. Throughout the weekend the chemo hit me. I did not get sick, but was feeling really tired and woozy. (all normal for chemo) 

By Tuesday I was back in action. Since then I have been feeling pretty good! So good that I got to watch my amazing wife run in the KC ZOO run, play with Carter at a local park, and enjoy the amazing meals that we are receiving.

I am missing a few key things from my normal routine. Working out. I feel like I have the energy, but just can not finish and it takes a lot longer than before to recover. Another is (I can not believe I am going to type this) Salad. I have to stay away from fresh fruits and veggies. (Doctors Orders, I swear!)

Getting geared up for this Thursday, when I go in for my 3rd dose.

A couple of prayer requests:

Continued prayer for Erin- Her patience and unending love is amazing.

Prayer for the nurses and doctors at the treatment center. Prayers for contentment during our adventure.

Prayer of thanksgiving for all our friends and family.

-Nate (MM)