Nathaniel Crump

The start of something new



October 27th 2015 was written down in my book as the worst day of my life.  I never really knew what "rock bottom" meant until that day. Nathaniel had gone through the summer not feeling 100%.  He began feeling more tired and didn't have the energy to do much of anything.  He developed a crazy new ice obsession and started having irregular bowel movements. I walked in the bathroom after him one day and noticed what I know as “the GI bleed smell”.  He then told me he was having some blood in his stool so we scheduled a doctor’s appointment.  The doctor ordered labs and consulted a GI specialist.  Nathaniel’s labs came back severely low.  He was started on iron and a rush was sent on his appointment with the GI specialist. On October 26th Nathaniel had a colonoscopy.  I waited in the waiting room for what feltlike forever.  Almost all the other family members had left with their loved ones already.  I had, had an uneasy feeling all day like I alreadyknew something was wrong.  Then a nice dressed man asked me if I was Mrs. Crump, I answered yes and he introduced himself as the doctor and if I would come back to his office with him.  THAT WAS THE LONGEST WALK EVER! The doctor hadn’t come out to get anyone else why was he doing this with me.  Nathaniel sat in his office still a little hung over from the anesthesia.  I sat down and the doctor started to explain what he saw.  At that point I don’t think Nathaniel realized what he was telling us.  All I wanted to do was scream.  He didn’t know for sure but he didn’t want us to be caught off guard when we got the call.  He said he was referring us to a good friend of his who he trusted dearly to have the mass removed because it needed to be quick due to its size.  My brain felt like it was exploding.  We went home and tried to process it all.  Then on our way home from my parents’ house around 530-600 at night on October 27th we got the call.  The pathologist said cancer.  All the plans started to move quickly after that.  We met with the surgeon on Friday and had surgery to remove the mass early Monday morning.  We were in the hospital for a week and Nathaniel did great.  It was then time to move to the next step.  The oncologist didn’t want to see us until at least four weeks post op.  So we had no idea what we were in for.  We had a PET scan and then met with the doctor after the four weeks was up.  As soon as I thought my heart couldn’t take anymore it did.  Dr. Harrington explained to us that Nathaniel’s cancer wasn’t just in his colon.  The cancer has spread to over 20 spots in his lungs, several spots on his liver,spots in his abdominal cavity and several spots in his pelvic bone.  WAIT WHAT? Nathaniel officially was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  WAITWHAT?  Dr. Harrington told us we would start an aggressive chemo and that he wouldn’t be able to work, and it would probably be at least six months. I think that was the hardest part for him.  We are currently doing chemo every12 days.  We go every other Wednesday.  On the Wednesdays we don’t go Nathaniel gets lab work to see how his body is doing.  When we get the chemo we are now doing it for four hours and then go to a home infusion place to get set up when a fanny pack of chemo that infuses in him for two days. We just had our fifth chemo treatment this past Wednesday. He has been handling it pretty well so far.  His stomach is always uneasy and it has made him even more fatigued.  He has started getting mouth sores and the inside of his nose gets raw.  I think his hair is starting to thin but I think that is the last thing he has worried about.  We just got the news we will have another PET scan on March 7th to see if the chemo is working.  We will meet with the doctor on March 9thfor the results.  If will be a ruff fewdays but I know God has been listening to all of our prayers.  I have learned to love just a little bitharder  J I hope this makes this easier for everyone to hear and see updates! I promise to do my best.  We have had so much support and love through this all so far it has been unbelievable.   

I'm sorry you will have to read a little bit of my emotions in this post and the future.  But his fight is my fight. 



Love,



The Crumps