PLEASE PRAY FOR NATHAN

After two long days Nathan's spirits are down. He needs everyones thoughts and prayers. His day started yesterday at 7:00 AM and ended at 12:30 AM. After having two IV's as well as blood work he had to have another IV today as well as a direct vein injection for a cardiac scan. He is still undergoing the cardiac scan right now. He has to have his heart checked to see if it can withstand the new chemo they are putting him on next week. We meet with Dr. Fayad this morning and he said his MRI was not good. One area of the cancer in his spine has gotten worse and the lower area that they were very concerned about has not changed at all. That is not good. If they can not control it he will be paralyzed. Basically two different types of treatment have not shrunk those areas, although his pain is better and it didn't progress he can't continue on the SGN 35 because the only areas it worked on were around his heart and in his neck. Since his last scan the cancer in his abdomen and in his liver are much much worse. He has been listed as difficult case with the physicians at MD Anderson and they are having a meeting about Nathan on next Wednesday. Normally Hodgkin's Lymphoma (Nathan's type of cancer) does not spread into the liver. Nathan's is worst in the liver and area around. Due to the fact that they have given him two different types of treatment and neither have worked it is a possibility that it's another form of cancer in his liver to find that out Nathan will have to have a liver biopsy. The liver biopsy is what they wanted to avoid it is a complicated procedure due to the fact that the liver can bleed very badly. He starts chemo next week they are going to do two cycles and then check to see if it's still spreading then at that time make a decision on the biopsy and decide is his spine needs the radiation. This chemo will be hard on Nathan. He probably will not be able to work or function like he has been. It is done on day 1 and day 8 labs in between and then a break then starts over again. We will have to travel to Houston every week. That is going to be very very hard on us. The treatment will probably cause Nathan to be sick, loose weight, his hair, at this time we are not sure. It is very similar to the chemo they had him on five years ago when he had cancer the first time. The doctors are hoping that he will respond to this since it is so similar. Although we both feel beaten down and discouraged there is still hope we aren't out of options yet. Thank god that his pain is better things could be worse. We ask you please pray for him. Pray this chemo will not damage his heart (a side effect of chemo), that he will be strong and not that sick, and that it will work on his spine and his liver to prevent the biopsy and the radiation. Nathan has been through so much and this is going to be a LONG battle again for the second time for him. He needs encouragement and love and support. I thank God for everyday we have had to spend together up until this point. Most likely Nathan will have to get a port in his chest. If you know Nathan that was very difficult for his the first time. PLEASE PRAY he is strong enough to get through the procedure. One last thing VERY IMPORTANT his plan with MD Anderson cuts out in 11 days unless we can get our hardship letter approved they are dropping him and won't continue treatment. To continue we will need 268.00 a month and 2,000 out of pocket regular expense, 7,000 out of pocket by December for chemo and other treatments, and first 500.00 of his prescriptions. On top of that we have to have money to travel and stay in Houston for his chemo. If you can do anything to help us there is a donate button on this blog and we appreciate anything that anyone can do to help Nathan through this battle. We have a benefit on July 16th also at Hanovers in Pflugerville please help us raise as much money for Nathan so there in no lapse in treatment and his cancer won't spread worse. Thank you for taking the time to read and God bless.

Long day for Nathan

Today was a very hard day for Nathan. He was unable to eat after dinner last night because of his test today, so he is feeling pretty weak. It's around 10:00 and they just took him back for his MRI so about 12 hours total today of testing and waiting. He got pretty sick right before his PET scan but was feeling better before he went back for the MRI. Please pray that tomorrow brings good news for him and that his MRI comes back good, so that he does not have to do radiation. CANCER sucks it really does. It's very hard, the things that cancer patients have to go through. I swear they are all angels on earth for going through what they do.

Update on how Nathan is doing

Nathan has a couple of really busy days ahead. He has test all day tomorrow starting early morning and his last one is tomorrow night at 10:30. He starts off with lab work, then he has to go meet with his stem cell doctor. He then has to go for a CT scan and then a PET scan. His last thing tomorrow night is an MRI. They are doing another MRI to see if the areas around and in the spine are better to decide if he will need radiation or not. We are very hopeful of the results of that because since his first treatment he has had a great deal less pain. That is such a blessing. On Thursday he meets with his lymphoma doctor to go over the test results. We will find out if this new treatment he is on is working or not. Please PRAY that it is. The last time we went in the doctor said they have had a 75% response with this drug and that everyone on it is doing really well. Nathan was sick for about a week the first treatment. His second one he was only sick for about 2 to 3 days. He has a tiny bit of fatigue and a slightly lower appetite. For those couple of days he is sick to his stomach. He has only had two days of pain in the past 21 days, amazing! All in all he is doing so well. His spirits are high, he truly is a very strong amazing person. Nathan has been trying to stay busy he is still working as much as he can and is trying to enjoy everything he can while he feels good enough to do so. He went skydiving on Saturday and its so awesome that he felt well enough to do it. It made him so happy!! Pray we get good new please from his doctor on Thursday. The sooner he gets into remission the sooner he can receive his transplant and be done with this battle. Also, please pray we have a good turnout at his upcoming benefit on July 16th. We need to raise as much money as possible. He was approved for the PCIP but we have to pay the first 7,000 out of pocket. It's a blessing that he got approved because no one could afford this kind of expense out of pocket but it's going to be a struggle to keep up with the monthly premiums as well as the deductibles. We have applied for an assistance program from MD Anderson but have not received an answer yet. I will post an update about what we find out Thursday. I just want to say thank you to everyone that has kept up with how Nathan is doing and a HUGE thank you to everyone who is a part of the benefit show at Hanovers coming up. All of the bands that are playing, the owner of Hanovers, and all of the bands that donated songs for the CD. You can purchase a CD at the show or online through a paypal account WFA set up. If you would like to purchase a CD to help Nathan please email Ben at wfarocks@gmail.com. Thank you for your prayers and God bless!

Round 2

Today is Nathan's second treatment. He has labs this morning then treatment at 12:30. Please pray it doesn't make him sick. We find out if this new treatment is working on June 30th. His pain has gotten much better thank God. Hopefully that is a good sign. Applications are in for MD Anderson assistance and PCIP please pray one gets approved so we have no lapse in treatment. God bless.