Sorry it's been a while. I had the post typed out last night and went to edit it and lost the whole thing. GRRRRRR Are days a pretty full with a lot always going on. We now have a nurse stopping by 1-2 times a week to do a check up on Nate. Physical and Occupational Therapy have come by a couple of times to help us out on easier ways to do things while helping Nate. We also have a speech therapist coming in twice a week. This has been very helpful as she has shown Nate a few ways to exercise his lungs/voice. She also is working on an electronic board that Nate can use to communicate with. He had one the night of the benefit, but his arms have become too weak to us the keyboard. Now she is setting up a type of device that Nate puts on his head and it works like a computer mouse and he guides it to a letter on the screen by moving his head. It's a little touchy but Nate has been working hard with this.

In my last post I mentioned that we were sending Nate's last MRI scan to Dr Warren at the National Cancer Institute, to see if he would qualify for the new CED procedure that she is in charge of. We did receive an e-mail letting us know that he did not qualify, for two reasons. First, the tumor has to be in an exact locations and Nate's is a little too high in the brain stem. The 2nd reason is Nate's breathing is a little weak right now and he would have to be under anesthesia for 10 to 12 hours, for the procedure. That was a concern of hers and me too. Dr Goldman called also and since he did not qualify, we are continuing with his treatment of the Carbopaltin and Thalidomide. Right now we are at Children's (Omaha) for Nate's Carbopaltin infusion. He is doing pretty good, it just takes most of the day. They add 2 hours of fluids along with the chemo.

I have to tell you a very touching story that one of Nate's friends did. When Nate was diagnosed we had support bracelets made that say "Help Nate battle" on one side and Psalms 30:2 on the other. Nate's brother Nick, found the bible verse the night Nate was diagnosed. It reads- "Oh Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me". Well a friend that Nate has become pretty close too during his battle, decided he wanted it tattooed on his arm, for support to Nate. He came back from college this past weekend and stopped by to show Nate. It looks really good and we took some pictures to show on this site. This meant a lot to Nate and we just want to say you are an awesome friend Jesse!

Hey-Nate's about done with his treatment and I don't wont to loose this for the 3rd time so I am going to stop for now, and try to add a part II later on.

Take care and I will finish later-

Monica