Hello all. It has been what has felt like the longest week ever waiting on results…and I’m happy to say that we have them today.

Nick had his pet scan on Tuesday and we just spoke with his interventional radiologist…the cancer has not spread outside of his liver. Oh my heart….I can’t even tell you what it feels like to hear this news! The scan also showed the second largest tumor (Nicks 2nd treatment that was Y90) is lighting up to be very active. While there is no scientific evidence of this, the scan basically shows a large “red flag” in this tumor..that something is off and different than the others. This gives his team something to target next, which is what we were praying for. Hallelujah!

So Nick is scheduled for a treatment on the 30th at Cornell to target this tumor again, this time with TACE. His IR feels that there is no question that the TACE is the way to go here….this tumor didn’t respond the way we wanted it to with the Y90, so we need to go this route. He also is hopeful that this TACE may not be as hard on Nick as the last one because nearly the entire lobe he will be treating is all tumor…so not much liver to hit.

Now, the caveat here is that if this treatment doesn’t work to bring Nicks AFP down his IR’s hands will be very tied and he isn’t sure there’s much else he could do from a local regional treatment perspective…we would have to potentially start looking into systemic options. But for now we aren’t going to focus on that..we are going to pray and stay hopeful that this treatment could be our game changer.

Nick also had his endoscopy today and I’m so happy to report that everything looked great! His varices he’s had in the past haven’t changed and there was no “fixing” or banding needed with that….and his ulcers are fully healed. All the high fives to Nickyboy for taking care of himself…I am so sure this is making all of the difference with everything!

So now we plan to spend our NYE in NYC…and I can’t tell you how much it hurts my heart to think about being away from this kids during that special time. We know we just have to do what we have to do…and Nick and I will find perspective starting off a new year alone to truly reflect on all that’s transpired this year. From job changes and worry, to an insane amount of growth in our children, to battling this path we are currently on and everything in between…it’s been a heck of a year but we truly have so much to be grateful for. This past year has been filled with so much worry, but it has also brought our family closer and has enriched the bond between us to a level I can’t even begin to describe. It feels so good to know and truly believe and live out that no matter what, in any circumstance, all we need is each other to keep on going.

Today feels like the greatest Christmas gift in the world! While we know there are many more hurdles ahead of us, hearing all of the positive news feels incredible. We are so excited to go into this beautiful week ahead with more hope and gratitude than we’ve felt in a while…what an absolute blessing.

Nick is feeling great. He’s very tired today…it’s been a long week and the anesthesia from today isn’t helping;) but he’s snoozing now and can completely unwind this next week without such a heavy load on his heart. It feels really good to him to have a next step in place. Bless his strong, patient heart.

Lastly, I want to wish you all the most Merry Christmas! I’m struggling to find the words for what you’ve done to our hearts over these last eight months. We feel you…and we hear you..and we see you carry the heaviness of this road with us. But we also feel you celebrate the good with us, too, and what a gift it is to have you with us through all of it. We want you to know that as we sit and reflect on 2019, you will be held as one of our greatest, most incredible highlights. We love you so very much. Xoxo