A good spring

Hey, how’s the early summer (or late spring, technically) been treating you guys?  It’s been great for us.  The three month break from treatment after my last scan gave us a chance to have some very welcome family time.

We were able to meet up with my parents and brothers in Folly Beach, SC.  We all chipped in to rent a huge beach house right on the ocean.  The weather was great and we really enjoyed catching up with my family.

And…Jill  and I just got back from a nice B&B weekend in the White Mountains of NH.  It was actually a long overdue Christmas present I had promised her, but it coincided nicely with celebrating her birthday, too.  Can anyone say “Two birds, one stone”?  ; )

I know, I know – we’re lucky dogs ; )  We know it, too.  We’re very grateful.

You might have guessed what’s coming next, though.  I had a checkup that showed the cancer has returned.  The doctor summarized the situation as “things look like they did before your last chemotherapy regimen…and maybe a bit worse.”  We weren’t too surprised.  There is a lymph node in my armpit that conveniently serves as a cancer-onometer.  I can generally feel it get larger when the Hodgkin’s is acting up, so we had a hunch it was back.

It’s time to get my game face back on.

As you know by now, they’ve already tried every treatment trick in the book, many of them more than once.  So…we’re trying another book altogether.  I’m going to start on a drug that is normally FDA-approved for kidney cancer.  Thankfully, it only took a couple phone calls to convince my insurance company to cover it.  It’s a daily tablet I can take at home, which is much more convenient than having to take time off from work to go to the doctor’s office for a few hours to receive IV chemo treatments.

We’re not sure what to expect.  How will I feel?  Will I be able to keep working?  Will it work?  We’ve learned not to dwell on those questions.  Wait and see, right?  The one thing we’re certain of is that God has carried us this far.  We aren’t going to demand a particular outcome from Him.  He’s already been so good to us over the years of this saga – sustaining us on the inside when the outside is frail, and surprising us with unexpected blessings in ways we could never have orchestrated on our own.

Thanks, as always, for your friendships and prayers.  They mean so much to us.  And you have my permission to take that family vacation you’ve been putting off for so long  ; )

Nate, Jill and Grace