On Friday 6/10/16 doctors discovered that Nate has a brain tumor.
He was driving and had a seizure. He was at a stop light and his foot stayed on the brake somehow. Once they got him to the ER, they did CT and MRI scans and found a tumor on the left side of his brain a little bigger than golf ball size. It is a mixed glioma, specifically an oligoastrocytoma.
(For you "science-y" people you can read up on it here:
http://www.abta.org/brain-tumor-information/types-of-tumors/oligoastrocytoma.html)
It is cancerous, but it is slow growing, and low grade. It is not a type of cancer that spreads to other organs. We are so thankful for that.
Nate had surgery on 7/7/16 and they removed about 90% of the tumor. They had to leave the rest there because it is on the area of the brain that controls his speech and right side movement. If you are cancer free but can't talk and walk, that would not be nice. Since Texas law is 3 months of no driving after a seizure, he was unable to drive during this time. On September 10, 2016 he started driving again and he went back to work at the beginning of November 2016. After that we monitored the cancer cells with MRIs every 2 months. We were waiting for when the cancer cells start multiplying so we can start chemo and radiation to get the rest of what's still in there. They have discovered that the chemo and radiation aren't effective unless the cells are in the multiplying stages. In Jan 2017 he started having tingling up and down his right side. They are calling this a micro seizure (or simple partial seizure). It was happening once or twice a week. Tried different anti-seizure medicines to keep these under control. He was unable to drive again, since these are classified as seizures. His company allowed him to work from home a few days a week, and we have wonderful friends that helped get him to and from the other days. We had been doing some research, and finally in August of 2017 we found a document from the Texas Medical Advisory Board, that had a little phrase in there in parenthesis that described Nate's condition and it gave an exception to the 3 month rule. HE COULD DRIVE!! But his seizure specialist doctor said he could only drive himself but not the kids. We were just thankful he could drive himself to and from work again! That was a huge blessing, just to be able to drive to work!
In August of 2017 the MRI showed a new spot, possibly the cancer cells multiplying. Decision was to wait and see what next MRI in 2 months would show, because sometimes weird things show up and then they are not there next time. So, we waited. Oct 2017 MRI showed a little more, but not much more. Because we wanted to be sure the cells were multiplying (since the chemo and radiation are more effective at killing the cell's DNA in the mitosis stage) and also because we know his kind of cancer is slow growing, the decision was to wait until beginning of Jan 2018 and if that MRI showed even a little more, then we would hit it with 6 weeks chemo and radiation at the same time. We wanted to be sure to get it all when go in, and to go in at the right time! Jan 22 2018 Nate started the 6 weeks of chemo and radiation every day. Chemo is just a pill he can take at home each night. There is a whole routine to go along with it, but we are thankful it can be done at home! Radiation is every day Mon-Fri for the 6 weeks. It was near his office, so that was fun lunch breaks for him for a month and a half. He had very little side effects through it all. Very tired, and a little nauseous, but not the terrible side effects you think of as usual with chemo and radiation. Mar 27 2018 the MRI showed much less there. We continued chemo 5 days out of every 28 for many more months. MRI on May 22 showed no sign of the cancer enzyme - so either we got it all, or there is so little there they cannot even detect it!!! WE COULD BE CANCER FREE RIGHT NOW!!! What an answer to our prayers for the past 2 years! We will continue chemo to be sure. Also, as a result of the chemo/radiation treatment, the tinglings (partial seizures) have gotten less frequent and less intense as well. On May 31 2018 Nate had an appointment with his seizure specialist, and we relayed this info to her and asked if he could drive the kids, since it's been more than a year and the tingling is getting better. SHE SAID HE CAN DRIVE THE KIDS!!!! Another answer to our prayers! Now we continue with the chemo, and continue to just take it one day at a time. UPDATE - as of April 1 2019 we are DONE WITH CHEMO!! Now just monitoring with MRIs every few months to make sure there is no change. Cancer free for now and hopefully for always!! Amen! Amen!
God is in control, and has a plan, even when we don't like it, don't understand it, and don't want it. We know and trust His way is better than ours even when we cannot see it at all.
Thank you wonderful friends and family for praying, helping and just being with us through this! Love you all!
James 5:13-16
The Prayer of Faith
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer offered in faith WILL make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
