From Katelyn and Dan:

Well, it has been a bit since our last post and a lot has happened since then. The biggest news is that Katelyn is cancer FREE! The biopsy from the surgery showed negative margins around the tumor (no signs of cancer cells in the tissue surrounding the tumor). This was much welcomed news! Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts, and love. 

As mentioned above, a lot has happened since Katelyn's surgery. As was mentioned in the previous post, after surgery Katelyn struggled with nausea and vomiting. By the end of the week, she also began to struggle with major constipation. Let’s just say she was a bit miserable. 

By the time she was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, Nov. 26th, she was vomiting less but continued to struggle with constipation. However, she was ready to be at home and rest. Less than two days later, Katelyn was back down in Little Rock to receive her twice a day radiation treatment for 5 days, Nov. 28 - Dec. 2.  Although radiation went well and at the end of the week, they removed the catheters from her arm where the radiation was administered and she was able to get her drain line removed, she was struggling with retaining water, swelling, and still some constipation issues. Her nausea and vomiting, however, had dissipated. She came home from her week of radiation and enjoyed a weekend visit from friends from Waco and Huntsville, Texas.

On Sunday, Dec. 4th, Katelyn started to feel worse. She experienced additional swelling throughout her entire body (she kept saying she looked like she was nine months pregnant and expressed feeling a sharp decline in energy - something she did not have a lot of to begin with) and increased pain in her back and abdomen. However, Katelyn being Katelyn kept pushing through and wanted to wait to do anything until her already scheduled appointment with one of her surgeons on Tuesday, Dec. 6th. She and Dan made it to that appointment all the while Katelyn continued to get worse. During that appointment, her stitches were removed. Her incision looked great! While discussing the issues she was having with the doctor, he noticed she was also having some shortness of breath. He ordered some different tests to see if there was anything serious causing the issues she was having. The first test that was done was an ultrasound of her legs to rule out blood clots. Due to the swelling Katelyn was experiencing all over her body and due to her not experiencing any pain in her legs, he did not anticipate any issues but wanted to make sure. However, a small blood clot was discover in her lower left leg. The surgeon canceled the other test and made arrangements for Katelyn to be admitted to the hospital.

Unfortunately, the hospital was completely full so she had to be admitted to the hospital through the ER. It took about 4 hours for Katelyn to finally get a bed in the overflow ER area of the hospital, which ended up not being too bad of a place to be since it was quiet and she had an actual bed instead of a gurney. She stayed in the overflow ER area until a bed opened up the next day. While she was in the ER they did blood work which indicated that her kidneys were failing (creatinine level was at 13 versus under 1 normally). They also did an ultrasound of the kidneys which showed them to be swollen and completely full of fluid. In examining her bladder, they found it to also be extremely full. As a result, they put in a catheter and were able to immediately remove 7 liters of fluid from her bladder - an amount that no one should ever have in their bladder at one time. She remained in the hospital until her kidney function returned to normal and they were able to confirm that there were no blood clots in her lungs. This was a scary time, to say the least. She finally went home on Friday, Dec. 9th with a catheter and blood thinners. She was able to have the catheter removed after two weeks. 

Katelyn still had her appointment with MD Anderson in Houston, TX on Dec. 13th to discuss future treatment options and steps to take if the cancer returned. Although she was pretty worn out, Dan and Katelyn left Arkansas on Monday, Dec. 12th to get to Houston that night for an early morning appointment the following day. The appointment the following day went great! The doctor confirmed that the treatment plan Katelyn has had thus far was good and that at this point she does not need additional treatment and can move into the monitoring stage of cancer. The monitoring stage entails Katelyn being scanned every 3 months for the next two years, every four months the two years following, and every 6 months for another two years after as long as the cancer does not return. There is a very real possibility that cancer could return, but we are focusing on the five to six year mark of being cancer free. 

This season is one of being extremely grateful for where we are but mixed with emotions of grief for what we have been through these past six months. There is a lot of processes that is needed as well as rest. 

So with all that and needing some time to just not do anything and let Katelyn’s body rest, we are now taking the time to write this last post. We thank you all for following this journey. It has not been an easy one. We first started this CaringBridge page because we are so far away from many of our community, family, friends, cities, etc. Something that we have gained from this process is the feeling of being loved and supported despite being physically located far away from so many of you. Whether you have loved and supported us through cards in the mail, text messages, family and friends making the long trek to be with us, ET6 (Eagle Team 6) being willing to do whatever is needed to support Dan and Katelyn here at Mount Eagle, the doctors and nurses giving their knowledge and care to take care of Katelyn in ways that she cannot do for herself, our marriage, and the peace of God that comes in at our weakest moments. We are not alone.