Update 15

The attachment contains the most recent update on Nate’s Kidney Journey! It is a bit long, but, after all, it has been over three months! Contained in the update is the encouraging news that a transplant is scheduled for October 14th as a live donor has been identified and accepted by the transplant team!

Related to the impending transplant and the multiple things that go on logistically, Nathaniel’s social worker at Johns Hopkins gave us information on a charity that serves on behalf of transplant patients and their families and recommended that we participate because of all the added expenses in transportation, accommodations, and other expenses not covered by insurance. This charity requires that there be two people, a designated fund manager and treasurer/bookkeeper to handle the account. These people should not be related to the patient. We have since found people to fill these two positions! The charity is well established and has all the information necessary to manage, and no IRS information or filings are necessary on the part of the manager or treasurer. If any of you are willing to consider this, we would love to talk to you further about helping us in this way. Thanks.

Shalom,

John

I still don’t catch everyone interested in Nate’s journey in this email, so feel free to pass this on to any you know who may be interested. Thanks…

Greetings family and friends of Nate,

It has been over three months since our last long update, and I wish I could say no news was good news, nevertheless, we have seen God’s hand at work. This time, I will include the highlights (and lowlights so to speak) of Nate’s “Summer Vacation”. Many of you may have had a chance to go to an amusement park this summer and ride on an exciting roller coaster or two... well, amusement parks have nothing on the summer that Nate has had, beginning during the week of finals, just as the summer was about to begin. In our last big update, I indicated Nate had some respiratory problems, well it turned out that he did have pneumonia and consequently missed all of his finals. Thankfully a few antibiotics and a week later, Nate was able to complete all his finals and be done with a rather challenging semester at Messiah. Also, thankfully, there are not many times required when someone has to deal with kidney failure on top of a full load of college courses...

Not long after finishing his finals, Nate had a urinary tract infection which kept the antibiotics flowing. As a result of that, and not sleeping well and not getting the best nutrition due to nausea related to drugs and other issues, June was not a great month. The final distressing “event” in June was a determination by our family doctor that Nate had an unusual heart issue that he recommended a cardiologist attend to, which led to a heart catheterization on June 20th. This ended up being a rather “routine” procedure to investigate the nature of Nate’s heart which came out “crystal clear” on all counts, which led the cardiologist and the transplant team to determine the heart issue was kidney related and hopefully remedied when Nate gets a “new” used kidney. The procedure was fairly quick and gave us a few laughs since Nate was conscious during the procedure but really doped up with some “Happy Juice” that didn’t wear off for a while which kept us entertained back in his room. He kept saying everything would be OK since he was NATHANIEL IVAN BECHTOLD, at one time remarking that he wanted to swim in jello! We were hoping to get the catheterization taken care of as soon as possible because after graduation and my May – term Cross-cultural course, Nate and I planned to take a road trip to see friends and family out Colorado way. His procedure was on a Friday, and the next Monday we were on our way to Colorado in the CRV (the cardiologist did not recommend the trip so close to the procedure, but by Sunday evening we could tell things were healing nicely and the trip need not be delayed).

Our trip to Colorado was refreshing, invigorating and uneventful health-wise and allowed us to visit many family and friends who have been praying for Nate. We took Nate’s dialysis machine with us and had extra dialysis fluid shipped out to my sister Debbie’s house in Boulder, CO, so we could “hook up” every night on the road wherever we were staying, and have supplies waiting for us when we spent time in Colorado. We had many great “reunions” in Indiana, Kansas, Colorado and Ohio, that made our trip especially enjoyable and rich in fellowship.

We visited Nate’s friend from home, Hunter Spivey, who was working in Denver for the Honest Tea company as an intern and we had a great time with him at Winter Park and the alpine slide there as well as taking dinner at Casa Bonita!  Hiking in the mountains, playing Frisbee, relaxing while watching the World Cup, having cook-outs, and riding ATV’s were just a few of the things that we did with friends and family that made our time away so special. Outside of being a bit winded while hiking in the mountains, Nate’s activity level and health were great! Thanks to the use of Hannah’s smart phone we even kept up with the world cup while on the road!

On our way back from Colorado we got exciting news from Johns Hopkins Hospital that they had a live match for a kidney for Nathaniel and that progress has been made to get a transplant sometime at the end of July or the first of August! That obviously was great news, but since that phone call we have learned more and know that as far as Nathaniel’s tests, paperwork, health and transplant team are concerned, he is ready to go. All that was needed was the donor team to meet with the donor for his interview and then to determine a date for the surgery. We now have confirmed that his transplant will take place at Johns Hopkins on Tuesday, October 14th given all things go well for the next month. This is all quite amazing given that our journey essentially began just over 7 months ago!

We got back from Colorado July 3rd and were hoping that July
would be a continuation of good health and good times.
 Although neither the Dutch, nor Costa Rica made it all the way
to the finals in the World Cup, it was a good showing from both
and a great championship. The rest of July was fairly
uneventful until the wedding of one of Nate’s best friends,
 Josiah Lindquist, in which he was able to participate. In the
initial plans for this event, it was anticipated that Nate would
be overseas with an International Business course that would
have prevented him from being at the wedding, so this was a
great blessing in spite of Nate’s renal failure that he was able to
be a part of Josiah and Kimberly’s wedding! Just after the wedding Nate began to complain of some nausea and began throwing up frequently for the next few days after the week-end of the wedding. We saw his nephrologist on Thursday of that week, and although she did not know what was the cause or offer any remedy, after the visit, Nate began to feel better. That was the end of July.

August, however, has been another story. The first two weeks, again, were rather uneventful outside of another short-lived urinary tract infection. We had heard again from Johns Hopkins that the transplant would occur now at the end of August or first of October. In anticipation of greater restrictions and greater care the closer to that date, Nate decided he wanted to take one more short road trip up to Brooklyn to see his girlfriend Kari (rhymes with “sorry”). He was feeling pretty good and we had just purchase a new used car, and a road trip seemed in order. Nate had a good week-end with Kari and her family but as the new week started, Nate’s nausea and headaches began to return again. Sparing lots of details, Nate was hospitalized in the Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn on Wednesday, August 20th having had two seizures, a BP of over 190, nausea, and the most severe headache I have ever witnessed in Nate. I came up by train hoping to bring Nate back home within the next day or two, and that was clearly not going to happen. It wasn’t until 6 days later that he had the go-ahead to come home, and then he still wasn’t feeling well-he got nauseous every time he sat up and could hardly stand at all. The only bright spot in our return were the activities of the Lindquist family when we pulled in to our drive around 9 pm. They were mowing our lawn and filling our refrigerator with food!

Because Nate had a seizure, he needed 24 hr monitoring of his brain waves, he had electrodes placed all around his head (note the urinal in the first picture is not taped to his head!) and then wrapped-it was quite itchy... Kari smiling for the camera-she forgot she had a mask on!

Well, now it is the first of September. Classes at Messiah start tomorrow and we are hoping for a degree of normalcy. Since Nate has been home, we have been to Harrisburg Hospital twice. The Wednesday after

returning from NYC was another difficult day and by the late evening Nate had another severe headache and spiking BP. We left Nate around 2 am in a hospital room after some doses of morphine and a saline drip. Well, to say the least, we were all quite discouraged! But the next
day was an injection of hope when we returned to visit Nate in

the morning - he was sitting up, smiling, and the cheerful countenance we were so used to had returned! It was the first time in over a week that I did not see pain in his eyes. We brought him home on Friday, but by Sunday his headache and nausea had returned and his BP was creeping up again. So another trip to the ER, this time catching it before it got out of control and they were able to reduce the BP and the headache and we were spared another night in the hospital. The bright spot of the week-end was the package we received in the mail from friends and colleagues from the School of Business, Education and Social Sciences... it was a package full of cards with well- wishes and prayers. What another burst of encouragement!

Although this note is long, allow me to indulge in a bit of reflection on the experience of the last week or so. Many of you have been keeping in touch with us either face to face or over the phone and we have been assured of hosts of prayer. I am grateful for such, yet it remains a mystery when so many have been praying for “removal of nausea” or “cessation of headaches” and yet we witness continued anxiety and pain in our son. A chaplain in the hospital laid hands on Nate and prayed for a miracle... I have heard more than once that people believe it is as hard or even harder on caregivers to go through such pain of a loved one vicariously, and I am inclined to agree to some extent. We know God is with us and is sustaining each of us through this journey, but still this process of prayer vexes me. If anything I am convinced of this... God desires an intimate relationship with each of us. These opportunities of prayer on the behalf of someone such as Nate and our family are opportunities for this connection with God to take place. This is by no means a trivial connection. The more I talk to God, acknowledge His presence, and remain in Him, the more the bittersweetness of the moment is amplified. Yes, the pain is still there, the kidneys are really gone, but the reality of His presence is likewise real, and undeniable... wow! I hope that as you talk to God on behalf of us and others, you likewise sense that presence that assures us that it truly is “well with my soul”. I am led to believe that at times it is not so much “what” we pray but “that” we pray that is important. It reminds me of that famous story of an interviewer who questioned Mother Theresa about what she prays, and she states that when she prays to God that she just listens... and when the question followed, well what does God say, she replied, “Nothing, He just listens”. Maybe, at least on occasion, prayer is spending time with God when neither speaks, but just listens...

May I encourage you to spend time with God, and if it is on our behalf, I would be grateful. Nate needs to get healthy, gain weight, stay out of the hospital, manage his BP, and be ready for the transplant, Lord willing on the 14th of October. Likewise, his donor, Ben, needs to stay healthy-body, mind and spirit. We are trusting God for His good pleasure and glory in all of this, as uncertain as things seem at times. Thanks so incredibly much for being a part of this journey with us!

John
For Katy, Nate and Hannah September 1, 2014

Btw, many of you know our daughter Hannah is now serving in Chaing Mai, Thailand for two years. You can follow her adventure on her blog : www.PurposefulDiscomfort.blogspot.com

 and if you ever care to become more involved you can check out her web address for donations by going to www.WorldOutreach.org/donatations

 and select Hannah Bechtold #273