Great news!!

Nate's scans from Tuesday showed that the affected lymph nodes have continued to shrink in size. What does that mean? His cancer is on the run and has not come back-God is good!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

We are celebrating!

A good day...

I know it's been a while and I think we forgot to update after the last venogram some weeks back, but better late than never, right? :)

The venogram (like 7 weeks ago) went well and showed that the angioplasty was working well. Today Nate went to a followup appointment with Dr. C, the vascular surgeon and it went GREAT. Nate gets to stop taking one of his meds and was released from all physical restrictions (lifting over head and such). That was an amazing surprise...Praise God!!

This last weekend, Nate even ran a 5K like a champ and is feeling pretty good for someone who's body has been poisoned and burned and cut...he's amazing and God has been good.

There are scans coming up next month, so prayers for clean ones are greatly appreciated.

That's our update...Hurray!

Update and today's procedure...

Just thought we'd give a quick update since it's been a while.

We are getting ready to head to the hospital for another venogram. The radiologist, Dr. L, will be checking to see how the last angioplasty is holding up. The last few weeks have been almost normal an even a bit easy to forget about health concerns...so that's been a nice break since most of our appointments have been rescheduled due to snowmaggedon #1 and #2 :)

Please pray that the angioplasty has done its work and that Nate's body is in the process of healing itself...wouldn't that be amazing!? And it's possible! Nate's vascular problem could be corrected if his body decides to make a new set of veins to replace the "broken one." And since he's been given some extra time with the angioplasty instead of going directly to more extremes, that is our hope and prayer!
Also pray for a quick and on time procedure...we love the hospital,but don't need to spend more time there than necessary :)

We will update later on the results!

E

Starting to Working out

Yippee!!! Some good news. (bout time, you say)
So yesterday we had an appointment with Dr J (another one), a cardiologist. He confirmed the first degree heart blockage. He said there was nothing to do about it now, but monitor the irregularity and make sure that nothing changes. He did put me in a heart monitor device overnight to see if any changes occur while I sleep. I had eight electrodes on my chest connected with wires to the monitor. Carter noticed the multiple colors on the electrodes.  Good thing I only had to wear it for a day.
What caused this irregularity you may be asking? Well, this doctor has been published for his research on how chemotherapy can affect heart blockages. (talk about divine assistance) He thought that the use of adriomyison (one of my chemo drugs) could be a contibuting factor. We should be getting the results back from the monitoring device and then head in for another EKG and Echo cardiogram for additional info.

Today, we also had an appointment, but this one was with Dr C (vascular surgeon). He took a look at my arm and he said it looked good. The veins were not swollen and they were responsive. He said it was not back to 100%, but was good enough for now. So maybe the second angioplasty worked (at least a little bit). I go in for another venogram in a couple weeks to double check to progress. So, maybe no surgery (prayer request!).
He also gave me news that I have been craving for a while. He gave me the green light to work out again and play sports (with some restrictions)
What do you think I did tonight? -  Felt so good.

Finally!!!!

Prayer requests:
Organization of bills and schedules and such
Anger Management
For Family

Okay...UNCLE!!!! UNCLE!!!

Wow...and the adventure continues.

Nate was admitted to Shawnee Mission Hospital for another angioplasty (the first one, done on Friday, failed). When we met with the radiologist, Dr. L, he basically said that we were just buying some time to review the surgical option by doing another angioplasty and that this was not a permanent solution. This kind of took us aback a bit because we have been praying that this would fix him and that surgery would not be needed.

After the procedure, in which they ballooned Nate's vein even larger than before, Dr. L came back and spoke to us and said that Nate did great but that they noticed an irregularity to his heart beat on the monitor. He sent Nate back to his room for an EKG which confirmed that Nate has a first degree heart block. This isn't a blockage per se but a longer than normal interval between the first and second electric signals. This condition doesn't usually pose a problem but needs to be monitored by a cardiologist (which we will of course introduce on this blog in the next few weeks...starting to be hard to keep all the doctors straight!). The other thing about this condition is that there is some concern when one is under anesthesia during surgery. So more of the heart concern may come into play if Nate needs to have his rib removed. It's just one more thing to worry about...and one more thing that is mostly found in athletes...it feels a bit unfair that all of this is happening because Nate is in such good shape and has taken care of his body...grrrr....

Please continue to pray...Nate feels beaten down...I'm not really even sure what to say...so please pray for healing, hope and joy in our lives and for us not to be pulled into depressing despair. We are once again inundated with doctors appointment and all that comes with that...please pray for patience with each other and lots and lots of grace in our home.

We don't know what we would do without each of you.

much love,

nate and erin

Why do something once when you can do it twice?

Soooo....over the weekend, my arm was doing well. The swelling went down and it was becoming a normal color again. Unfortunately, this morning, it reverted back to it's old habits (swelling and being purple). And I, being a good little patient, called my vascular surgeon, and Dr. C and being the good little doctor, he got me in today to do a sonogram to rule out blog clots (and, of course, pregnancy).

After reviewing the sonogram and looking at my arm, it was evident that the vein had narrowed back to it's original, problematic state. Much like myself, it is being stubborn (the vein must also be a Taurus). The solution that we came up with...well...more like Dr. C came up with and we followed was two fold: re-do the angioplasty on Thursday and get started on a couple of blood thinners/anti-coagulants. One of the meds, I get to stab into my stomach twice a day...the other is in normal/boring pill form.

What does this mean? Well, for a while, I'll need to give up MMA Fighting and other violent sports.

So the angioplasty is scheduled for early Thursday morning and please pray that it works this time. Dr. C said if it fails again the surgical option will be in play (i.e. removing my rib).

Please pray that this angioplasty works and I can keep my body symmetrical and in tact. Please pray for our attitudes during this time. Also, Carter has been sick this week again, please pray for his healing. When it rains it pours, right?

We will update again on Thursday!

95% is not always an "A"

Alright...after a VERY long day at the hospital here is our update. Nate went in for his venogram this morning at 10:30. The radiologist, Dr. L, gave us many scenarios with a lot of doctor jargon. Long story short, they saw that Nate's sub-clavian vein had 95% narrowing and in some places 99% due to Paget-Schroetter Syndrome (which is found mostly in body builders and weight lifters....go figure). He would have had some narrowing beforehand and many people with this syndrome never exhibit symptoms or even know they have it. In Nate's case, his vein issue was exacerbated by his port.

 It is a miracle that Nate did not have a clot...praise God. While in his vein, they were able to do an angioplasty which basically enlarges the vein with a balloon. That seemed to do the trick unless Nate raises his left arm over his head and then there is no blood flow.  The angioplasty can't fix that. So no more left-handed-up-top-high-fives from people over 6'5".

The recovery is to take it easy for a few day and not lift heavy objects for a few weeks, keep his left arm down (no more military presses) and watch for symptoms to return and if so, head to the emergency room. Nate will also be taking his very first daily medication...but it's worth it!
We have several follow ups appointments scheduled in the next month or two so people are keeping an eye on him.

That's all...thank you for your prayers and support. We feel that this was the best case scenario and thank God for his mercy!

Much love,

Nate and Erin