Donor Day!!

Nathan is at this moment down giving his stem cells for Lance!!! Thank you Nathan!! Hoping you feel better soon. Elisabeth has been with him and she just stopped in on her way to lunch and says things are going well.

As for Lance he had a rough night, up most of it with face and jaw pain and then a bad headache. There was talk for awhile of a CAT scan but the doctor decided that it is a side effect from the one chemo... Not a common one but then again when has Lance ever been common! He did learn a hard lesson in telling the nurse when he has a little pain before it turns into A LOT of pain....... The hockey player in him just doesn't relate to that to well..... He has been sleeping most of the day so far today which is exactly what he needs! They have some pretty good pain meds. up here (once you tell them you hurt!).

Thanks to everyone for your continued love and prayers! God is good!-----Penny

Happy birthday Hayden!!!

Hello again! Well before I start I would like to say a very happy birthday to my niece Hayden!! She turned two years old today!! Hope you had a good day and your mommy and daddy bought you lots of presents! :) Well dad started his second kind of chemo today, Cytoxan, and in the words of Hayden it's NASTY!! He feels pretty sick today very tired and hasn't been able to eat much. The doctor said this is to be expected and he will probably feel even worse tomorrow, but he should hopefully feel a little better the next day. Nathan is coming down tonight because he has to be at the hospital early tomorrow morning to give stem cells. Please pray that all will go well with that tomorrow!!!! Well nothing else really going on tonight just laying low. Were going to watch a Tim Hawkins video ( thanks Kevin) :) now so dad should enjoy that! If you don't know who Tim Hawkins is he's a comedian and really funny!! If you need a good laugh check him out! Well we'll keep everyone updated on whats going on tomorrow! G2G! Elisabeth

Saturday's Update

Just a quick update. Things according to the nurses are going as expected which at this point is just a little more tiredness and fatigue each day. Tonight he is started a different chemo that can be really hard on the liver and kidneys so please pray for protection for him. The care up here has been great. We have gotten to know many people up here and we all pray for each other, what a blessing to share with others. Thank you to everyone for all your prayers and encouragement. If you want to send Lance a note, Elisabeth posted our email on the blog. Lance likes reading the notes from you all. Thank you!! Nathan is in the midst of his shots, Thanks Nathan! Tomorrow is his last day, and he will donate his stem cells monday morning! Almost daily someone comes in and say are you the one with the three sons that match? What a miracle! -----Penny

(Be sure and check out the next post Nicole and I were doing them at the same time)

Update on Nathan's shot progress...

Hi everybody,

This is just a quick update about Nathan -- I know many have asked how he is doing so we wanted to let you know. Just as a disclaimer by Nathan, his complaints pale in comparison of the long road his Dad has to conquer and so with that in mind he shrugs off any sort of discomfort. Nathan started his shots 3 days ago on Thanksgiving morning. We were blessed to have the guidance and assistance of a wonderful couple who have have taken this same journey -- Matt and Sam (oops, forgot their last name, sorry guys!!). Matt was a donor about 5 years ago to his brother so he was able to share some of his personal experience with Nathan. Sam has also been fortunate enough for us, to have vast experience as a Physician's Assisant. They were SO kind to make a stop off at our house before going on about their Thanksgiving plans that day -- they even made it a point to stay in the area for the holidays knowing that Nathan would be taking his shots. (Interesting tidbit: Matt started his shots on Easter Sunday and Nathan on Thanksgiving!) We realized how helpful they were when Sam knew what to do when we got air into the needle syringe, she is such a pro and we are such amateurs! SO very thankful for their help on Thanksgiving!

Nathan has been feeling VERY sore, although he won't admit it to anyone else, it is more pain than he thought there would have been, but ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT IN EVERY WAY!!! Much of his soreness and achiness has been in his skull, jaw and hip bones (we are guessing these are the largest producers of stem sells maybe) and hopefully with all of the pain he is experiencing, it will be a sign that he will donate the largest amount of stem cells they have ever seen (okay so we are a little competetive :) in everything!) lol! Only two more days and then it's donation day and the first day on Lance's new life with Nathan's stem cells, Nathan's new blood type and Nathan's allergies that Lance never had before (yes, a possible side effect!) We all can't wait, what an exciting transformation!! God is GOOD!! Take care everyone and hope to see some of you tomorrow in Iowa City to celebrate little Hayden's 2nd birthday! Yea!!

Love, Nicole

New Friend Imani (means Faith)

Meet are new friend Imani , She is an African Refuge who works in the Foodservice at University of Iowa Hospitals. She has had a hard story but you'd never know it her face lights up a room. Last night she came into our room and asked if she could pray for me and that her whole Church is. She then same some Hymns for us in French and Swaheli, God brings many special people into our lives.

Lance

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Hello again! :) Here are a few pics from today! Nothing really new yet just letting the chemo work. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

No need for the hat yet, but trying it on to see how it looks!

Chemo can't keep him down! :)

Hello everyone! Just wanted to post a couple pictures of what dad did today!

There is a story behind this note. My mom wouldn't kiss my dad because she was afraid of giving him any germs. Now my dad wasn't going to take this so of course he went to the top! He got a doctor to actually write a prescription that says ,"Patient should get a kiss from his wife as needed!" Typical dad! Needless to say he got his kiss! :)

This is dad riding the exercise bike, reading his bible, and receiving his chemo all at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking! :)

P.S. just on a side note I was very surprised when I came up to the hospital today and all the nurses started telling me how nice they thought it was that I was going to shave my head for my dad. Apparently dad was bored this morning :) My answer was I'll do a lot of things for him but shaving my head was not one of them! :)----Elisabeth

Day 2 in Iowa City

We had a pretty busy day yesterday, I had an EKG, They installed the pick line in my arm, had chest x-rays, and then I started medications. They gave me 9 different medications in the first little cup getting me ready for the bags of Chemo drugs and actually started the chemo drugs at 9:oo last night. I slept well last night other than getting up to go to the bathroom every hour or so, they have me drinking non stop to keep my kidneys going Penny slept in the recliner beside me I don't think she got much rest between them coming in and me getting up so hopefully tonight will be a little better. They came in at 3:00 am and gave me lots more medicine and hooked up more chemo that will keep going non stop for the rest of the week. I feel pretty good still. I rode the exercise bike in the hallway this morning and will walk the halls, they say the first week is usually the best for being pretty normal. They let my Dad and Mom and Rex and Linda (Penny's parents) come in in shifts to see me (they are pretty strict at this point ) but it was nice to have them here. Elisabeth is staying at Rex and Linda's thats close bye. Another blessing is that some of my family that could make it are going to Swisher for Thanksgiving. So they can be close even though I can't see them all, When I worked in Cedar Rapids 20 some years ago in the Restauraunt there was a young man Blane Betschka who is now the owner of that restauraunt and Blane has offered to cook Thanksgiving dinner for my family in Swisher what a wonderful gesture as Linda has plenty going on right now. Blane if you follow this Thank You! Well they just brought in my breakfast so I am going to sign off. Thanks to all.
Lance

Were Here!!!!

Day one of captivity. Just kidding! Just wanted to let everyone know that we are at the hospital and getting settled in. The nurses and doctors are so nice here trying to get dad as comfortable as they can. Doctors have been in and out all day trying to get him ready to start his chemo and he should actually be starting it anytime now. In order to try and make his room more homey we decortated it with posters, pictures of the grandkids, and of course a picture of his hockey team! It would not be dads room unless it had something to do with hockey in it!! :) Well nothing else to report from the cave, I'll try and post some pictures soon! Thanks for praying! Elisabeth

All system's are go.......

Hello everyone! Just wanted to write a quick update and let everyone know that the transplant people called today and Nathan's tests came back fine! Which means no more delay's! They're going to move ahead with everything as planned, well unless dad gets sick. If you could continue to pray that he will stay healthy for the next week that would be amazing! :) It's so nice to know that as of right now there will be no more delays! Thanks for all your prayers! Will write soon! ~Elisabeth