Week 4

Here's the latest update on Nathan:

He is starting his 4th week of chemo and radiation today. So, as of tomorrow, he will be halfway done. Yay!

I think it is starting to take a toll on him. He's very tired now and has started to lose some of his hair. Losing his hair doesn't seem to be a big deal for him which is, in a way, good and bad. Good: because he's not stressing out over the little things. Bad: because he's not stressing out about it means that he has bigger, more important things to stress about.

A week ago, we went up to Nashville to have follow up appointments with his surgeon, Dr. Thompson, and his Neuro Oncologist (chemo doctor), Dr. Moots. Both appointments went well. Nathan is healing well - both physically and neurologically - from his craniotomy. In fact, he's doing so well that Dr. Thompson asked Nathan if he could take a picture with him. The reason for this picture is because of a girl. After sitting in and observing Nathan's surgery, this girl told Dr. Thompson that she wanted to become a brain surgeon. She described the surgery as "beautiful", since Dr. Thompson's work on Nathan was flawless. So, Dr. Thompson wanted to send a picture of Nathan looking healthy and doing well! So glad that Nathan's surgery gave this girl her calling. How cool is that?

While we're on the subject of Dr. Thompson, I just wanted to say how much we loved him and would recommend him to anyone. Choosing a person to operate on your brain is a pretty hard decision to make. Nathan went with his gut and chose Dr. Thompson, and he couldn't have made a better choice for his surgeon. He's currently reading David Servan-Schreiber's Anticancer: A new way of life, and he showed me this excerpt that perfectly describes how and why Nathan chose Dr. Thompson.

Now, don't get me wrong - Vanderbilt definitely has state-of-the-art equipment. But, when you have that plus an intelligent and renowned brain surgeon who sincerely cares about his patients, it doesn't get much better.

Ok! On to the meeting with Dr. Moots. As I previously said, it went well. He also told us that Nathan was doing well neurologically and that he was very impressed by how well he was dealing with treatments, given his situation. Basically, Nathan is giving 110%, and it's showing. He is fighting with all he has, and I am so proud of him.

We came home from Nashville on Tuesday and went straight to Erlanger for an afternoon radiation session. After that, our week was a whirlwind filled with both of us working here and there, Jack running a fever, and, most importantly, the sudden passing of Dr. Jeff, my sister's father-in-law. Dr. Jeff was such a kind-hearted man, a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, a faithful servant of Christ, and just a genuinely "good" person. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. He will be dearly, dearly missed.

The life lessons that I've been learning throughout this journey are far too many to count. I understand that we need cold, rainy days to appreciate the warm, sunny ones. So, I guess we have to have sadness in our lives so we can fully cherish the joy that will come, too. I just pray for those who are having a rainy day to trust that God will bring them some sunshine soon.

Much love and many thanks,

Elizabeth