A Slight Delay

We had a slight delay in leaving Indiana University. As we prepared to leave and began unhooking Andrew from IVs and epidural he got very tiered and could hardly keep his eyes open, even when up on a walk. It was concluded later in discussions with the nurse that this must have been a reaction to having the excess medication in the epidural flushed through his system.

While this did result in them keeping us an extra night in the hospital, it worked out for the best. We avoided driving back during the snowstorm and were able to set ourselves up a bit better for recovery at home.

Sitting With Friends

Over the next week to aid in recovery people visited to sit with Andrew. His recovery went well and their job became encouraging Andrew not to do things.

Back to work (Sort of)

Thursday and Friday last week Andrew was able to start working from home. It was a bit tough since sitting up for long periods of time hurt, but it was good to get some things done.

This week Andrew will continue working from home with hopes of coordinating rides into the office the first two weeks of March.

Next steps

• Andrew has driving and lifting restrictions until the stitch is removed from his side. This is scheduled for March 14, 2020.
• We will be working to establish what a new normal looks like. A little over a year ago when this journey began we were newly weds, living with Andrew’s parents, and only had one cat. Today we have two cats, live in our own house, and have survived a tough first year of marriage.
• There will be some periodic tests over the coming months hopefully in decreasing frequency.

Payer Requests

• Prayer for patience as we wait for Andrew to be able to resume normal activities.
• Prayers of thanks that Andrew continues to improve and is finally up to moving around the house.
• Prayers as we work to define a new normal and start the next chapter of our lives.

It’s hard to say this, and I’m not sure we entirely believe it just yet, but the most challenging parts of our journey seem to be coming to an end.

Desks

On Tuesday we arrived at the hospital and checked in at five – count them – five different desks! This was partially due to our missing an inconspicuous sign, but it’s also just the check-in process. They took Andrew back right away for surgery prep and I had a chance to sit with him for two hours before the surgeon was ready. He was relatively calm – most likely thanks to everyone’s support! We’re grateful for you all.

A Waiting Game

It was a long time of waiting. An hour passed before he was prepped, surgery took an hour and a half, and it took him two-ish hours to come out from anesthesia. Thankfully Andrew’s grandparents rescheduled their vacation to sit with me during this time! We chatted and talked, making the four or five hours go by like it was two.

Being Sent Home

After lots of back and forth, it sounds like we’ll be going home early this afternoon! This is dependent on him continuing to feel okay and a good chest x-ray. They’ve disconnected him from a long list of things he was connected to, but he is feeling pretty nauseous at the moment.

The Future

I have a tendency to get excited over small victories, and sometimes this bothers Andrew. In a way, he is right. Our life will be different moving forward because of what we’ve been through. We’ll have appointments and one minor surgery to remove the port at some point. We’ll have follow ups for a couple of years despite the unlikeliness of testicular cancer returning.

However, this successful surgery is something to celebrate. We’ll get results soon which will let us know if there was cancer in the piece that was removed. It’s GONE, and with it goes our concern about active cancer in Andrew’s body.

Throughout every step of this journey, God has found ways to bless and surprise us through you. Thank you for being with us.

Love,

Hannah and Andrew

Catching up

Wow, it’s been awhile! After meeting with our new oncologist in December we were referred to Indiana University for specialist consultations. Who knew one of the best Cardiothoracic Surgeons in the country is in Indianapolis? After calling and calling and waiting and calling some more, our oncologist here in town sent a detailed report of our “case” to Indiana last Friday. How do we know? Because on Monday morning we got a call from Indiana University. They wanted us to come in Wednesday for consultations as they found a time slot to see both of them in one day – very important for our work and travel!

Waiting for a few weeks to hear back about Indiana had slowed us down a bit. I had mentally prepared myself to wait a couple of months. Andrew was pretty happy filling his time with the launch of his new business. But when things start moving, they move!

Monday

After receiving the phone call letting us know we were scheduled with Indiana University, we cleared our work calendars, cancelled a couple of lunch meetings (sorry Courtney and Eli), and picked up all of our favorite road trips snacks. Andrew somehow even managed to put together a new playlist for the drive!

We also had to take care of making sure insurance covered it, finding a place to stay (thank you Rachel and Nikhil!), and quickly organize and schedule a CT scan. This was all done with surprisingly little trouble, even if it ruffled our feathers a bit to cancel everything and drive off.

Tuesday

Tuesday evening after work we packed up and headed down to Indiana. On our way, Indiana University called and let us know that there had been a cancelation and our afternoon appointment could happen in the morning. Whoo! I started planning a short afternoon at the Indiana Zoo before heading home. Arriving late in Indiana, we enjoyed some dear friend’s company before heading to sleep.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning we gathered up our things and headed over the Indiana University for our consultations. It was good to hear from the doctors and get another professional opinion.

The oncologist from Indiana University shared that he believes it’s likely to be a terratoma growth in Andrew’s lung. This type of cancer does NOT metastisize (move to other parts of the body) but it can hitch a ride with other metastisizing cancers (the ones that were killed off by chemotherapy). This terratoma will not move to other places on it’s own and it does not respond to chemotherapy, but it will continue to grow, so a surgery is a really logical treatment for it. The doctors believe that once this is removed, the cancer debacle will be behind us!

Over the last few years Indiana University has been working not only on surgical technique, but also a pre- and post-op care program. Through these efforts they have managed to reduce the risks and complications rate to just 1 or 2 % down from closer to 60% previously. This one of the reasons why the Indiana University facility is considered the best for this type of lung surgery and why our new oncologist was so eager to get us in to see them – and why we’re willing to drive back and be far from home while Andrew heals from the surgery!

Next Steps

Between now and our tentative surgery date of February 11. there are a number of things Andrew needs to do to prepare.

• Breathe 3 times a day into a tool that is supposed to increase lung strength and reduce moisture and phlegm in the lungs.
• Increase exercise levels to 30 minutes of walking a day.
• Eat more protein.
• Monitor a phase out of current medications.

Closer to surgery Andrew will also need to:

• Drink special immune supporting beverages
• Do a Hibiscrub
• Stick special bacteria-catching goop up his nose to coat his nasal cavities
• Have a lot of Gatorade (not red or purple)

We plan to follow their instructions meticulously, and are adjusting our eating and exercise habits accordingly. They say that doing so will increase healing time post-op and drastically reduce infection risks, which is great when we’re dealing with something as important as the lungs!

Prayer Requests

• Prayers for the adjustments to diet and exercise. These are probably things we should be doing anyway, but it will still be a change.
• Prayers for the surgeon and doctors as they make preparations and final decisions about surgery
• Prayers that surgery will go smoothly without complications
• Prayer for peace, safety, and patience leading up to surgery and as Andrew recovers

I can hardly believe it’s been a year of dealing with cancer. This will make two surgeries, seven weeks of chemo, and a week of hospitalization, not to mention the many weeks Andrew has/will have spent healing post-chemo and post-surgery. I also can hardly believe that this journey may finally be coming to an end! Thanks to all of you for your continued support.

This week, we received some news. It seemed like something to share with our community of friends and prayer warriors. But first, some rejoicing!

Lovely Lyra

Our pup is settling in well, thanks to our wonderful dog trainer, Kaitlyn Shamery. She is learning so many things – including getting closer with her cat-brothers!

Despite a few moments of frustration, we’ve been able to adapt our space to suit our pet’s needs and she’s happily resting in her crate now after a puppy play date with Andrew’s parent’s dog. She’s conveniently nearby, and also energetic.

Homeownership

What a whirlwind of moving pieces! We thought we were almost moved in before, but more and more things are popping up, and we’re amazed at how quickly we’ve run out of spaces. Homeownership is no joke, but we’re grateful and will keep plugging away.

This week’s big challenge was bookcases. We finally ordered them last week, which made this week an assembly line of bookcases. All FIVE are set up and ready to hold our extensive combined book collections.

And the News…

What we had been led to believe by our cancer doctor was that we’d have one 15 minute session of radiology, they’d “zap” the nodule in his lung, and there’d be no side effects and no further concern of cancer growing there.

Imagine our disappointment when radiology shared it would be multiple visits, and they’re not comfortable performing radiation without actually knowing what the nodule is. They’re recommending a biopsy (and we’re moving forward with a new cancer doctor).

There’s a possibility this nodule could be some type of non-cancerous fungus that grows in the lung, it could be lung cancer, it could be testicular cancer, or it could be any number of other things. In order to perform radiation, they’d need to know what they’re treating. Makes sense, right? Maybe radiation isn’t even the right way to go, maybe the chemo we went through wasn’t even the right option in the first place! But let’s not dwell there.

SO. Now we meet with some new people to discern if we want to go the invasive or the less invasive way with the biopsy. They can do a little poke at the nodule and test it that way, or they could go in and remove it (who knows how, with it being inside the lung!)

All of this to say, we’re not done yet. There’s still more to learn, and there’s more healing to be done in Andrew’s body. In the midst of this, we have stress, of course. But we’re learning more and more to lean on the everlasting arms of our good Father.

A busy few weeks

Since our last update Hannah and I have been pretty busy. We moved into our house, unpacked a lot of boxes, and added a new furry member to our family.

We also had a change in treatment plans.

PET Scan on Monday

Tomorrow Andrew will be getting up early to have a PET scan at 6AM. The original plan was to wait a bit longer and have a CT scan later in the month, but continued concerns about the spot on his lung and adverse reactions to portions of the treatment had the doctor issue new orders.

The advantage of taking a PET scan over the CT scan is that Andrew does not have to drink the radio active goop. The disadvantage is that for the 24 hours leading up to the scan he has to avoid carbohydrates and sugars. This is especially hard for Andrew because of his love of Ketchup.

The PET scan will hopefully show us a clearer image of what the glucose intake level in the spot on Andrew’s lung, letting us know at what rate it’s growing, and giving doctors a clearer picture.

Our New House

We are not only officially home owners, but also officially live in our house. (Well almost officially, I think we still have some addresses to update.)

Andrew is most excited to build out the entertainment system and have dedicated space for building with LEGOs. Hannah is excited to decorate the house and begin turning all the little spaces into a home.

This week we hosted our first game night with Andrew’s roommate from college and look forward to hosting many more parties and gatherings soon.

Welcome Lyra!

This weekend we welcomed Lyra (Leer-a) into our little family. While we will need to work a bit on some basic commands (sit and stay are just really hard when everything is new), she is crate trained, quiet, and loves attention.

We think she is some form of Cattle Dog mutt.

As we work to integrate her with our family there are still a few concerns.

• Lyra is on medication for heart worm. We hope that this will be all cleared up in a few weeks.
• Lyra hasn’t yet settled into the idea that the cats are around. Surprisingly both cats have tried several times to introduce themselves, but are otherwise quiet and calm. Lyra hasn’t been overly receptive.
• Lyra’s new people need to get in shape so that they can help her with losing some weight.

What’s Next?

After the PET scan tomorrow we will have a meeting with the doctor on Thursday to discuss the findings. Hopefully everything comes back clean and we can continue to work towards more normal routines. If all goes well the need for this blog will soon be behind us.

Prayers Requests

• Prayers for the PET scan tomorrow morning.
• Andrew continues to be easily tired. Prayers for patients and strength while he continues to recover.
• Prayers for Lyra: that her treatments are effective and the transition to becoming a Pruim continues smoothly. (For cat people: That Cheddar and Agnes continue to settle into our new home with their new sister.)
• Prayers for all of us as we enter a new chapter in our lives.

P-O-T-A-S-S-I-U-M

As things return to normal, potassium levels remain low. Today Andrew went in for what he hopped would be a quick blood lab and ended up having to stay for several hours. We are very thankful for how much better Andrew is feeling, but look forward to not needing to visit the Lemmon-Holten facility quite so often.

In positive news we can now officially call the “Chemo Depo” the “Hydration Station” (at least until next week Thursday when Andrew’s mom restarts her chemo therapy.)

A Time to Rejoice

There are many things to be excited about.

• As you may have inferred or read in our other updates, Andrew is out of the hospital and eating regular meals.
• We will be getting the keys to our new home on Monday next week.
• We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we picked out a dog and have begun the application process. We hope if she is still available to meet her soon and see how it goes with the cats.
• We have had an abundance of support during the whole process and continue to enjoy all the kind words and blessings.
• Older ladies who commiserate about cancer treatment during surprise waits at the Hydration Station.

Further concerns

• Andrew has been put on blood thinners to continue reducing the clots in his lungs. The process could take 3-6 months and he will likely be on blood thinners for a year, longer if additional treatments are needed. This means keeping track of which drugs he can’t take (like Ibuprofen) and being carful to watch for bleeding.
• We are still waiting to learn more about the spot on Andrew’s lung. We have heard several perspectives from three different oncology doctors. Anyway you think about it, there is still a spot and it has not gotten smaller.
• Andrew will be on oral potassium to see if we can get his levels up. The potassium pills a rather large and Andrew doesn’t like big pills, so hopefully this goes well.
• We are about to be first time home owners and there are lots of things to learn. While we are excited about our new home, we are also starting to feel the responsibility of ownership.

Next Steps

The next steps in our journey involve a lot of waiting. We will have a bit more information after some additional labs and a meeting with the doctor next Tuesday.

Our current upcoming schedule is as follows:

• October 22, 2019 – Labs and Check-in.
• November 20, 2019 – Labs to check cancer marker levels.
• November 21, 2019 – CT Scan to see the final results of this round of chemo.
• December 4, 2019 – Follow up meeting with doctor to review everything and determine if further treatment is needed.
• January 5, 2020 – Celebrate our 1 year anniversary and hopefully be caner free!

A Brief Reflection on Time

With the upcoming move to our new home we have begun to pack our things. One of the tasks that I (Andrew) have taken on is the sorting and packing of our book collection.

Since both Hannah and I had decent sized collections before getting married it has been an interesting reflection of two becoming one. (And also struggling to work our way through the Marie Kondo method.) A concept I will probably reflect on more in the future. Today’s reflection is more about our journey as a whole, however.

Part of the process of packing our books into boxes has been skimming the occasional book to decide if we still want to keep it. One of the books that I skimmed included a brief, but insightful, passage on the concept of how time can be viewed as both a progression through events and a pull toward a final event.

To make this understanding of time more approachable the author used the metaphor of a pregnant mother. The mother and her baby journey together as the baby grows. Sometimes it can feel like it is taking forever, but we know that at the end there will be a birth. An event toward which they are being pulled.

In much the same way that the mother does not know exactly when the baby will be born, we don’t yet know when I will be declared cancer free, but we believe that is where we are being pulled and remain hopeful in the journey.

For those into such things the author ties these two views of time back to a theological view of the eschaton, as an approachable way to understanding the “already and not yet” of the gospel. I really appreciated this metaphorical approach to a concept that for those in or watching the journey can seem so hard to grasp.

Thank You

Thanks you so much for all of the support you have provided. It’s a journey we never would have wanted to take, but we are so glad to know we don’t take it alone.

With any luck there will be fewer updates on this blog going forward, but we will be sure to let you know when our house warming/we survived chemo party will be.