last scans

We have much to give thanks for during this Thanksgiving season! Thanks to so many of you for your prayers for Nathan through the past years. We are also so thankful that Nathan’s scans and brain MRI at the end of October showed no detectable growing cancer cells! Nathan has continued to work towards his masters in social work degree this fall.

I also just recently met with my neurologist, and she said my brain is looking wonderful. The last time I had an EEG (January), my neurologist told me I had four seizures within my brain even though my physical body did not react to them. I had a second EEG this past summer. During the meeting I had with my neurologist in November, she said that that EEG showed NO seizures in my brain. She said, you have come a long way. Once again, thanks for your prayers.

Please continue to pray for healing in my brain and freedom from seizures.

Nathan, Karla, Tim, and Carol (Carol wrote the first paragraph)

Planed scans

This past Monday the 3rd of May, I had a scheduled MRI and CT scan. Neither of them came back showing anything for the doctors to be concerned about. This is great news! My next scheduled scans will be in six months, which means that once again after having a regrowth of cancer in my lung, the time frame of having scans is growing further apart.

In addition, I just finished my second semester of school this past week, turning in one of my final papers on Friday the 14th of May. It feels good to continue to move on in school and now I am looking for an internship for this coming school year 2010-2011. I have interviewed at the hospital and a non-profit agency called United Action for Youth (UAY).

My wife and I have also just moved into a house in Iowa City. We have been living here for just over a month now. The house was built in 1935, and while it’s in good condition, as with any house, there are always repairs that need to happen. I am currently working on the gutters in order to keep the water flowing in the right direction and not dropping small bits of water on our heads when raining. :)

May God continue to bless all of us, and I also want to continue to thank you all for your prayers as I continue to walk on the journey of having had cancer.

With peace,
Nathan

Seizures

This past couple of days, I have been going to the doctors for looking into my seizures that I have been having recently. I had seizures on three consecutive nights a little over one week ago, but since then I have received a new seizure medication. It has been working great right now.

This past Friday, the 8th, I went to visit a neurologist. They changed the medication I was taking to a complimentary drug and set me up for an EEG. Today, the 11th, I received my first EEG and the technician was surprised by the results. According to her findings, I am having a mini seizure in my brain every 10 to 15 seconds. This is really often, and so she called a neurologist into view it and look at the results. He asked Karla and a number of questions about how I acted during the day. It was decided that I would to have a routine visit with another neurologist to determine what will happen in this case.

I would appreciate your prayers as I will be meeting with another neurologist sometime soon.

Nathan

Another scan

This past Monday the 30th of November, I had a scheduled MRI and CT scan at the University of Iowa. The scans went as they always have. Following the scans, we met with my oncologist to understand what the scans were showing. He simply said, there is nothing that I can see that is abnormal. This is great news as yesterday, the 1st of December is my birthday. What a great birthday gift from God! Thank you for all of your prayers as I continue to walk through my life as a cancer survivor.

Just to update you if you do not know what is currently keeping me busy. This past August, I was accepted into the School of Social work program of the University of Iowa. I only have one more week, and then I will have completed my first semester as a graduate student. Oh . . . and also, I was married on the 15th of August, her name is Karla Stoltzfus.

peace,
Nathan

A Smile

My oncologist gave me great news today (8/3/09) saying the scans I had this past Wednesday did not show anything he is concerned about. This is great news. My next scheduled scans will be during the end of November. It feels great to be able to share this news with you.

This great report is even greater as I will be marrying Karla Stoltzfus. My family, Karla, and friends celebrated today as this adds to the many days I have been cancer free. I will be getting married on the 15th of August.

Thanks for your prayers. I really appreciate them,
Nathan

Wonderful news

This past Monday (4/6/09), I went to receive the results of my MRI last Thursday and my neck CT scan last Friday from the oncology department. The nurse would not give me the results without the doctor looking at the results first. While I did not have a scheduled appointment with my oncologist, he met with me anyways after analyzing the scans.

As my doctor walked into the exam room, the first thing he said was “After reviewing the exams, I have found nothing to be concerned about.” As these words came out of his mouth, there was a feeling of peace that grew in my body as the fears of more treatment were lifted away. We were informed that the neck CT scan did not show any concerns to reveal cancer. We were also told the MRI scan showed that the small spot in my right frontal lob most likely was a cell that had burst, which would have been a side effect from receiving radiation therapy three years ago. More simply put, the doctor could not find anything to be worried about. But, he did say the inside of my body looks “very abnormal.” We all laughed after hearing this great insight :).

Once again, I thank you for your many prayers as my family, friends, and I have had to experience the anxiety of more scans. May God bless you in your lives as well. And I have the faith God will continue to bless us all.

Let us all give praise to God,
Nathan

PET scan results

Today (3/30/09) my oncologist informed me that the radiologists could not find anything to be concerned about from the results of my PET scan. This is great news . My doctor also informed me that I will not be receiving and MRA, but rather another MRI of my brain and a CT scan of my chest and longs.

This is a continued update on that small spot which was found in the right frontal lob of my brain. And it is great news to hear there are not signs of cancer throughout the rest of my body. I want to thank you all for your prayers.

May God’s peace and love continue to be with all of us,
Nathan

More info

After meeting this Monday afternoon with my doctor, I now have more of a plan as far as finding out more about the white spot in my brain. My doctor is not 100% sure this spot is cancer growth. After all, it is hard to truly know what the image is without further tests. The spot is less than half of a centimeter and could have been missed on previous scans since the pictures are taken every half of a centimeter.

In order to find out what this spot is, during this week I will be having a PET scan of my body. The PET scan reveals differences between cells and with dye highlights abnormal cells such as cancer. I will also be receiving and MRA. The MRA is a scan which can identify if this spot in my brain is from a small stroke. One of the side effects of having brain radiation can be a higher chance of having a stroke. This could have happened almost a year ago when I had stroke like symptoms which was thought to be a mini seizure. The MRA will also be able to determine if the spot has changed sizes in the past couple of weeks.

As I mention earlier, the reason for these scans is to beg a better understanding of this spot in my brain. I also want to thank you for your prayers. While we don’t know exactly what the spot in my brain is, my doctor said it won’t take very long to figure it out with the scans I will be having.

May God continue to fill us with peace and love,
Nathan

New Meditations

I have had so many brain scans, CT scans, etc. that I have lost count of the number of times I have received scans. I remember the first X-ray of my chest when I was in Goshen; and I also remember my first CT scan which was also in Goshen. That was around four years ago. These first scans portrayed a treatment plan that was horrible.

Since then, I have received many other scans to monitor how the cancer inside my body was functioning. With great joy, these scans showed that the cancer cells were shrinking and losing their ability to grow. After being free from cancer growth for two and a half years, a six month CT scan (fall of 2007) showed an abnormality in my lung; it was a new cancer growth. This was removed easily by outpatient surgery. Unfortunately, my last MRI (3/2/07) showed an abnormal growth in my bran’s right frontal lobe. While a scan in its self can not diagnose a problem, with my history of cancer, it is likely a new sarcoma (cancer) growth is in my brain. In addition, while I received my scan a couple of weeks ago, I just found out the results this past Wednesday. For a couple of unfortunate reasons within the hospital staff, the new growth was not shared with me or my primary doctor until this date. While two weeks does not see to be a long time, with how fast the cancer has grown in my body, I pray this is not a big deal.

After talking with my doctor, I had a CT scan of my upper body on Friday (3/20/09). The purpose of this scan was to make sure that there are no other abnormal changes in the rest of my body. I will be meeting with my doctor this coming Monday (3/23/09) to discus more about what needs to be done.

While talking with my doctor on the phone, he said “this is very treatable.” This is a quote that I want to keep going through my head as I am the one who is emotionally dealing with it. I also want you all to keep it in your minds as I have come to understand you all have emotional connections to me and my story.

May God continue to bless us as God has been doing for more than four years. May God be a rock that holds us down when everything is going wonderfully and keeps us up when we are falling down. A would appreciate your prayers as once again I have to deal with a known aspect of my life that is still left unknown.

With peace and love,
Nathan

Lung CT scan

Just this past Monday (2/23) I had a CT scan of my lungs, and the doctor could not find any new growth. This is great news for me as six months ago; I had to have lung surgery to remove cancerous growth. It is always something to have to go into the hospital again for tests. I am always thankful when the results of the test are positive . . . and so is my family, friends, and many other people who know my story.

My next scan is an MRI of my brain and will be next Monday (3/2). Thanks for remembering me in your prayers about this last scan. And if you could remember to pray for the MRI that I will be having on Monday, I would appreciate it.

With peace,
Nathan

CT scan . . . I lost count how many :)

As you know, Nathan had a CT scan of his lung and abdomen on Monday. The doctor said the scans looked good. However, the next sentence was, there is a two millimeter "something" that was detected in the same area of the lung. It is too early to know what this "something" is. So in three months, Nathan is scheduled for another scan of his lungs. If it does increase in size in the next three months, they will plan to remove it like they did the last one. The doctor seemed to be encouraged that everything looked good except for this one tiny little "something". So we will take this as good news, but along with good news there are always the lingering ongoing concerns. Pray for Nathan's ongoing healing and pray for our ability to live hopefully on this long journey with cancer. Pray we may rejoice in the signs of hope and not let the "little somethings" cloud our perspective. Pray that we may live in hope and not fear. Thank you for your ongoing support and prayers.

Tim, Carol and Nathan

good news

We received great news at the visit with the oncologist today. He did not recommend any further treatment for Nathan at this time. Nathan will have scans again in November to watch for any further nodules. The doctor left the room saying he thinks Nathan will do great. :) We were excited to hear this. Nathan said, "It's too good to be true". We humbly thank God for this news today.
Tim, Carol, & Nathan

biopsy results

Greetings All,

We received word today from the doctor's office that the growth removed from Nathan's right lung was the Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer. This was not the news we wanted to hear. We have an appointment with Nathan's oncologist on Monday to discuss the findings and plan for the strategy ahead. We don't know what kind of treatment plan this will mean if any. Hopefully they will say that with the removal of this growth, they were able to get all the cancer and we will just have to keep a close eye on the lung area for awhile. We will know more after our appointment on Monday. Needless to say this is a disappointment. Being two and a half years post treatment, we were starting to feel as though we had this thing licked. Hopefully this was just a single occurrence and no more tumors will start to grow. Cancer is so unpredictable and seems to have a mind of its own which adds to the stress of living with this monster. The doctor still gives us hope that this cancer is curable. We know we are all in God's hands. Keep Nathan and us in your prayers as I am sure you are already. Blessings to you all,

Tim, Carol and Nathan

Surgery Went Well

Greetings All,

We want to give you an update on Nathan’s surgery yesterday (Tuesday, September 30). We praise God because everything went well. The surgeon was able to remove the nodule in the lung with 3 small incisions called thoracoscopy surgery. This was a much less invasive surgery and the recovery time is much faster. Nathan was even able to come home with us last night. We give thanks to God that the nodule came out easily! The nodule was sent to pathology for testing so we won’t know the pathology report for several more days. On Monday we also learned that the CT of the abdomen and pelvis that was taken on Friday did not show any new growth of cancer tumors. For this we are very thankful. Thanks for remembering Nathan and our family in your prayers.

Tim, Carol and Nathan