Four Years

 Nate had his annual PET scan yesterday and the results show no evidence of cancer! It has been 4 years now since his stem cell transplant and we are thanking God for Nate's continued good health! 

Maintenance Complete

 

This is what Nate posted on FB today-

The last few drops going in. It's been a long four years, but my regular treatments have come to an end. Just a huge thank you to everyone at #CHCWM, Stacy, our friends, family, church family, and community. So grateful to my Lord that He has brought me and my family to this place. To all the other warriors out there - stay strong.

Nate has been getting rituxan treatments every 2 months for 3 years now and today he is done! What a fantastic milestone. He will have a yearly PET scan (next April) and check in with his oncologist then. We are so grateful to have made it to this point. And there is a small part of me that holds anxiety that no one is monitoring Nate anymore. He was getting blood work done every 2 months and there was comfort in knowing if something came up, the Dr would see it quickly. But, today is a celebration and we rest in knowing God is with us, in all circumstances.

Three Years

It has been 3 years since Nate's stem cell transplant and the results of his annual PET scan show he is still cancer free!

Nate continues to receive rituxan every 2 months.  He is scheduled to end the rituxan treatments in November as the current research shows 3 years of rituxan maintenance after a stem cell transplant is beneficial. 

Nate's port stopped working and it was removed in January. We have a picture of the port, but it might make some of us squeamish so I won't post it. It was interesting to see that little device that had been inside of him for 3 years- it served him well.  Now when he has a rituxan treatment they just put an IV in.

Nate is healthy, feels great and we are grateful!

Two Years

Nate had his scan and the results are clear- no cancer! This month is 2 years since his stem cell transplant. Thank you God for this gift of remission. We will head to Northwestern later this month for his 2 year post transplant appointment.  Nate is healthy, feels great and we are thankful.

Scan results

Nate had a PET scan this week and the results came back no evidence of disease- no cancer! And no weird blips in his thyroid or prostate this time- also good news.

Thank you to those who stop us and ask how Nate is doing, who still pray for our family. We are deep in our being grateful for this season of "normalcy." We could have lost this family life together. We are grateful for physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Nate was diagnosed with cancer October 2016.  April 2019 will be two years since his stem cell transplant.  We know numbers aren't magical, but yet we all have certain milestones that loom over us. When we started this cancer journey, the first Dr told us Nate would most likely relapse within 2 years.  We know now that yes, that happens for some. But we also know that everyone's cancer is different, some people go 10 years without a relapse!  So in some sense we have been holding our breath these last 2 years. And still holding our breath to make it past April 2019.  Cancer can mess with you. But overall we are focused on living- being present in the moment, enjoying our family and the gift of today.

I would guess Nate will have another scan around April 2019. Once again, hoping you don't hear anything on this blog until then!

Results

The pathology report came back- benign! No evidence of cancer!! Thank you God! And thank you to all of you praying for Nate and our family.  Once again, we are hoping you don't hear anything on this blog for a long time!

Surgery

Nate had surgery today to remove his right thyroid.  The surgery was successful, nothing was outside of the nodules or odd looking. The pathology report should be back by the end of the week. (To find out if cancer is present or not.)  Nate came home in the afternoon, very sleepy and having some pain.  He was told he might need to miss 7-10 days of work.  If you know Nate he said, um I doubt that, I'll be back this week.  😉  Please pray for minimal pain and a quick recovery.  Please pray the kids aren't too crazy and I can keep them occupied while Nate recovers this week. Also pray the results come back cancer free.

We are grateful to all who have been praying for our family, who sent messages and for those who cared for our kids today.  Our truck battery quit the evening before the surgery.  Our friends who watched the kids changed the battery for us so Nate doesn't have to worry about it.  We are thankful for all of you.  The minutes of waiting in the conference room to hear from the Dr after surgery was probably the worst part for me. (I know many of you have sat in surgery waiting rooms.) All the horrible worst case scenarios ran thru my head, the questions of why is the Dr taking so long? Why did the lady who brought me in this room look so sober? What if, what if, what if.  It was just me sending up help us prayers, pacing the room, and feeling like I was going to be sick. And then sending up a THANK YOU prayer when the surgeon gave me a thumbs up and a smile before he was even in the room with me.

I am so impressed by Nate.  He handles all of this with such strength and grace.

We are praying this thyroid surgery will be a small blip in the big scheme of things and our family can get back to the amazing gift of a mundane, "normal" existence.