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Nathan is recovering well from his last round of chemotherapy. He even got to eat a hot fudge sundae tonight without any cold sensitivity! It's too bad the chemo wasn't shrinking the tumors for obvious reasons, but seriously...he was so good at it! He kept busy at work and still came home to help with the kids and around the house. He looked so good that sometimes we'd have to remind the kids that he was still sick. He rarely complained, and he kept up a pretty good energy level. I started to wonder if maybe he had super hero powers. Wouldn't that be nice? He was even able to take the boys to baseball and run around the outfield shagging balls with his pump strapped around his waist! I'm sure he felt worse than he ever confessed, but I still can't get him to admit it! All I can say is that I count it as a huge blessing, in a long string of blessings, that he tolerated the five treatments so well. In my perfect world, Nate would've tolerated the chemo AND it would have worked on those tumors! But I'm grateful that he did so well especially since it wasn't effective. 

Now we're back to the waiting game a little bit. Nate has to have a month of rest from the time he finished his last round of chemo. We're waiting for his blood counts (red blood cells, white blood cells, and mostly platelets) to recover so there's less risk of complications during the surgery. During this time he needs to exercise and eat well. Oh nuts! I've barely cooked in the last three months! I guess it's time to get it together!

We've finally decided on a surgeon. It was a tough decision for us, but we feel good about it. My Patient Advocate called today to let me know that all of the letters of necessity from our doctors, all of Nate's clinical records, and all of his medical history were submitted to our insurance today. It's out of our hands and into theirs. So now we wait for the verdict. Will our insurance authorize the procedure, or will we have to fight for it? My new prayer is that the procedure will be approved, and that we can move forward with scheduling the surgery and travel arrangements. We could seriously use some good news at this point! If everything goes smoothly, we're looking at the third week of June for the surgery. I must admit that this isn't what we had planned for our summer! I'm praying that everything works out and that Nate has the best possible outcome.

Thanks again to all of you. Your thoughts and prayers, words of encouragement, texts, voice mails, emails, phone calls, and hugs are what get me through my days. I'm truly surrounded by angels. Nate is amazing, and continues to fight hard and live life. I'm so grateful for him and his awesome attitude!