Update 1

Update on Nate.1

Greetings,

This is an email update to those I have easy access to email, so please feel free to pass this on to others that you may think would like an update. Many of you may not know but our son, Nathaniel, experienced a renal (kidney) failure on Friday and was admitted through the emergency room to Harrisburg Hospital (Pinnacle Health) on Saturday. Nathaniel has been monitored for several years for nephritis, a kidney disease, but his last check up this summer presented a spike in some numbers but not a big concern and he went on a very small dose of a medication. Two weeks ago he had a bad cold which caused his kidneys to flare up and yet he came through the cold and we thought things were back to normal. Apparently things were not, for although he didn’t have a cold, he was feeling more and more pain in his lower back and experiencing more and more discomfort during sleep and waking times. Then, last Friday, when he got up in the morning, his face, abdomen, and back were severely swollen and we immediately took him to our GP doctor. She evaluated him and determined it was a reaction to the drug Nate was taking and told him to go off the medication and put him on Prednisone… Saturday morning we got an emergency call from the doctor telling us to take Nathaniel to the emergency room immediately for his blood test from the day before came back indicating renal failure. He was placed on dialysis immediately at the hospital.

He has now had two more dialyses. Disappointment came on Sunday when we talked to Nathaniel’s kidney doctor and she stated rather directly that Nate’s kidneys were “shot” and were beyond any hope of functioning. She was to get him an interview with the person responsible for putting people on transplant list in the coming days. Also, he was to have surgery on Monday to get a catheter in his stomach so that he could do dialysis at home… That was Sunday. Obviously we are praying and trusting God to work His will through all of this, and praying that He can truly show us His glory in this all.  Furthermore, friends from church, our Authentic Living class at church, Dutch students and faculty from the University I was at this past Spring in the Netherlands (I have been helping host them at Messiah over J-term), and many of Nate’s friends have been praying since hearing of Nate’s situation.

Now it is Monday, MLK day, and I went into Harrisburg to volunteer in the city with Messiah College students and Dutch students. I was helping to drive a van and was looking forward to participating in the service projects for the day. Katy has been sleeping on a fold-out bed in Nate’s room. It was so good she was there on Saturday night as Nate had been throwing up most of the night. Sunday night was much better, an although both Nate and Katy were restless, it was not due to pain or vomiting.

The good news came this morning as Nate’s kidney specialist announced that apparently his kidneys were working a little bit and that not all was lost yet. They have hit him hard with steroids today to hopefully “jump start” more kidney function, and although I am optimistic, I know better than to get my hopes up that all will be well… unless there is even greater External intervention. They have delayed the catheter surgery and will conduct a biopsy tomorrow to determine the nature of the kidneys.

This is quite an unexpected journey we are on and we cherish your prayers. Overall, God IS good… a theme we have experienced over and over again, so we have no fear because of His faithfulness and steadfast character.  We hope you will join us in looking to God for what He wants to show us all… thanks so much again for your concern and connections with us.  Please forgive if you are getting this second hand through a forwarded email… we appreciate hearing from you and will keep you updated as we can…

Shalom,

Brother, Uncle, Friend, John