Pre-Op

First of all, we are blown away from all of the support, prayers, texts, cards, and offers to help we have received since posting the blog. I honestly wanted to put our story out there to help other survivors and to show God's goodness despite how dark your circumstances may seem. 

I have been told "you are so strong" but I don't completely agree with that statement. I'm certainly NOT strong but I have a strong God on my side. He is fighting the battles for me. I have been praying since I found out the diagnosis that God would use this situation to show His power and love through me. 

I wanted to feel normal, feel productive, and see my friends... all good reasons to go on a work trip but in hindsight, probably not the best timing on my part. We got the news on a Thursday that my cancer was indeed back and I left the following Monday for a regional meeting in Tampa. 

The flights down to Tampa were uneventful and I settled into my hotel easily. I was able to see my other Medical Regional friends and relax. The next day I got sick, something that has been happening every week and a half or so. I missed a lot of the meetings since I was in the restroom. I finally waved the white flag and went back to my room for a few hours. I was able to rally and come back for the afternoon sessions. I know that I worried the pants off of Wil being so far from home and ill. Thankfully, I have a good support system with my work friends (big thanks to Lisa and Erin for looking out for me). The rest of the week was uneventful from a health standpoint but I was ready to be home and back with my family. 

Tuesday rolls around and Dr. Skinner took the time to call me to let me know that her and Dr. Stuart went through my scan. She had some good news that it looked like the surgery wouldn't be as involved as originally thought but I would learn more from Dr. Stuart. I can't tell ya'll how much it means to have such an amazing oncologist on your side. She is never rushed during our appointments, makes sure to let us ask all of our questions, jokes around with us, and is intelligent and an amazing physician and surgeon. 

Wil and I went to see Dr. Stuart, who Wil calls "a good ol' boy like me." He is down to earth and was a surgeon I worked with in ICU when I was there at the start of my nursing career. Dr. Stuart was always kind, even when I had to call him in the middle of the night about one of his patients. 

The good news we received was that the tumor on my colon is on the RIGHT side where my appendix was removed from the first surgery and not the LEFT side where the initial bowel resection was. If the cancer is just on the right side, he doesn't think that I will have to have an ileostomy. We take this all with a grain of salt since there is always a potential that the surgeons find more when they open me up than what is shown on the scans. 

Surgery is officially scheduled for Tuesday, October 29th. That means I have bowel prep on Monday (think of a whole bottle of Miralax in 2 Gatorade bottles- YUMMMMY). The hospital stay will depend on what is found during surgery. 

Prayer requests: That nothing else is found during surgery than what is seen on the scans, for a quick recovery and short hospital stay, for Wil as he will be taking care of me and the kids while I recover, for God to give us some of "glimpses" into His good plan at work this time just like He has so generously showed us during previous legs of our cancer journey, and for my dear friend Erin from work who is also battling this terrible disease. 

Third time’s a charm

Not again, not now. Those were my first thoughts when the pain started. I tried to ignore it for weeks, hoping it would just go away. I had a sinking feeling that the cancer was back but kept praying that wasn’t the case.

In September, Wil and I made our way to my oncologist for my six month check up. I told her about the pain I had been experiencing. My exam was completely normal but she ordered a CT scan. After waiting for insurance to approve it, I went in for scan. Then I got the call from my doctor. I had an enlarged lymph node in the area my cancer has been before. She was ordering a PET scan which would shows cancer as “hot.” We continued to pray that it was not  cancerous, but God had other plans.

I got a call the day after my PET scan from the scheduler saying I needed to come in the next day at 3 pm to see my oncologist. I felt like I had been punched in the throat , my breath was knocked out of me. I immediately tried to called Wil who was trying to call me at the same time. I knew he was upset too. We had to continue to wait, which sometimes is the worst thing.

The next 24 hours seemed to creep by. I just wanted to know what was going on in my body. I wanted the action plan, I wanted to fight this thing head on.

Wil and I prayed in the car before we went into the cancer center. My dear friend prayed for me the day earlier and it stuck with me. “Dear God, if we had the immense love for Katie that you do and the wisdom of the future that you did, we know that we would want the same thing Lord.” I continued to pray that God’s will would be my own.

As we walked into the renovated waiting room, I saw pictures on the wall of survivors, myself, and my dear friend Tracy who has already gone on to be with the Lord. I missed her with an intense hurt especially going through this again.

We were escorted back to our exam room and waited some more. Dr. Skinner came in and sat down and told us “this isn’t the end of the world but we have work to do.” She went through the whole scan and explained it all. When she scrolled down to my pelvis, that lymph node lit up like a spot light, not a good thing. She explained that there was also a place on my colon that had tumor pressing into it. This would mean open abdominal surgery, the third one in 7 years. A general surgeon (who helped with my first surgery) would be doing the bowel resection. We will meet with him on 10/22 for more information. There is a chance that I may have to have a temporary ileostomy to allow my bowel resection to heal properly.


Since my cancer has historically been low-grade (meaning it doesn’t grow quickly), new research has shown that chemo is not very effective. The plan is to send the tumors to pathology to make sure it hasn’t mutated to high-grade (quickly growing). If it is still low-grade, then no chemo and I will start an oral medication to stop the my body from making estrogen from adrenal glands (which feed my cancer).

My blood marker (CA-125) has never been very reactive to my cancer so it isn’t a good indicator for me. My doctor ordered a different blood level (HE-4) that may help to monitor me in the future.


As soon as we walked back to the truck, I lost it. I was mad and angry about having cancer again and mad that I may have to have an ileostomy . I literally folded over in my seat, crying and screaming. I was crying out to God. I yelled my prayers, I screamed for peace, I sobbed not to have to have the illeostomy. There were tears and snot everywhere. I screamed and cried so hard I actually broke blood vessels all around my eyes. Finally I composed myself enough that Wil could drive me home.

My husband was in protector mode. He was trying to do what would be best for me. He made sure to notify our families so I didn’t have to put it into words. We decided that we wanted to get the kids from daycare since that would help preoccupy our minds. I called my friend Erin from work who is also battling ovarian cancer. Since she is in the medical field, she understands the ins and outs of the disease. It's really good to have a young survivor that understands the journey.


Needless to say, we've seen God move mountains many times in our lives and we know he will do it again. We will enter this sword fight armed with stones knowing that God's power is sufficient for us.

We ask for prayers that the spot on my colon is small and won't require an ileostomy, that the recovery is quick and manageable, and the cancer hasn't mutated to high-grade.

Pain at Mother's Day

Mother's Day may seem like a celebratory day for most. What you may not see are the people that are mourning the loss of their mother and feel her absence even more palpable on this particular day. Or the couple who has been struggling with infertility for years, who feel the ache in their chest when you ask when they will start having kids.

I can tell you that 10 years ago, when I imagined my life today, I saw being married with a couple of kids. I never imagined the journey that God would take me and my husband on. Cancer has taken many things from us, temporary loss of hair, eyebrows that never fully came back, my body, my ability to carry or conceive children, my health. What I never imagined was all that we gained from cancer. Wil and I are praying more together, more involved with our church body, digging deep into the Word, memorizing Scripture, life long friends that we met during chemo, and most of all, being fully reliant on God and His plan for our life.

I'm not saying that each leg of this journey has been easy. There are times where I have questioned God, Why? Why me? Why this pain? Why this heartache? But there has always been the gentle reminder that I am a child of God. My identity is not in being a wife, or successful at work, or even being a mother. My identity is in who I am in Christ. This doesn't take the yearning I have for being a mother out of my heart or the pain I feel on Mother's Day when I am not one yet, but I know that God is shaping mine and Wil's heart and life to be more like Him.

God never promised an easy life but one day, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

I hope and pray that each of you struggling will find peace during Mother's and Father's Day.

God is good all the time; and all the time, God is good

This is slightly belated, so sorry for the lapse in writing!

I had my repeat Ultrasound on my thyroid in March and followed up with my endocrinologist the next week. My blood levels all looked good. And the medicine is working! The cysts have shrunk and my thyroid hasn't grown any bigger. So we don't have to go back to see him for another 6 months.

The following week, right before our vacation, I had my 3 month check up with my oncologist, Dr. Skinner. My labs looked good and my exam was completely normal. I am officially "no evidence of disease" for a year!

We talked with Dr. Skinner about getting my port-a-cath out. This is the permanent IV that is sewn into my right chest wall. One side of the stitches busted almost 3 years ago and has been hard for the nurses to access since then. Other than that, it really hadn't been bothering me until lately. The catheter is tunneled over my right collarbone and that is starting to get irritated just with the neck of my shirt rubbing on it. I have twinges of pain once in awhile in my chest wall too. Dr. Skinner said that if it is bothering me, we can take it out!

This feels like the turning of the chapter, or closing the book. We are scheduled to get my port out this Friday, the 15th. It will be done outpatient at Forsyth Medical Center in Interventional Radiology. I will consciously sedated (like they do for your wisdom teeth). Dr. Skinner said I will probably be sore for a few days, but that is it!

Wil thinks I'm weird, but I am going to ask if I can keep my port. Wil said that he can get it made into a paperweight or something for me :)   It has been a part of my body for 3 1/2 years now!


After we got all of that good news, Wil and I went on our 5 year anniversary cruise. I am sure you saw the photos... we are ready to go back already! It was an amazing trip and we met some pretty amazing people! The Tortu's are like a second family to us now, even if they are Yankees.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for good health!

How to grow a family without your lady bits

We have let some people in on our secret, we are in the process for adopting! Yay, right?!?!

This was a journey that actually started April 2014, after my first bout with cancer but before my second round. I am going to be doing a series of posts on the subject of adoption, so stay tuned! I figured I would go ahead and answer some common questions that we get.

1. Where are you adopting from?
We are with an agency that does domestic infant adoption only. So, our baby can come from anywhere in the United States.

2. How old will your baby be when you can take him/her home?
Typically it is straight home from the hospital but we are open to up to 12 months.

3. Will you have a closed, semi-open, or open adoption?
Our agency only does open adoptions. (We will come back to this topic later for another post)

4. Did you request a boy or a girl?
We don't have an option to request this. The agency has a good point that if you are requesting a girl, the ultrasound tech and doc think it's a girl, but then is born a boy.... Gets a little tricky.

5. How does the process work?
Stay tuned :) This is a long response that will be it's own post.


This whole journey started actually in December of 2013. We started researching different agencies. We tried one Christian agency in Raleigh but was sadly disappointed with them. The director told us that she needed a letter from my oncologist stating that I would never get cancer again. This hurt for many reasons. First, why does my diagnosis mean that we can parent? Secondly, NO doctor or medical professional would write a letter stating that. As Wil told the director, "A doctor wouldn't write that for me, I could get cancer of my foot tomorrow!" So needless to say, that agency was crossed off the list. We cannot go through the state (foster to adopt) until I have been cancer free for 5 years. We didn't want to have to wait that long to just START the process.

We ended up with Independent Adoption Center in Raleigh. They have offices all over the country. You can see our profile here:

http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/wilandkatie


Wil and I feel so blessed to be able to be "live" again (our profile is back in circulation and online). We know that God has the perfect birthmother and baby waiting for us. We can't wait to see where this road takes us. Thank you all for your kind words and support over the years. It is so precious to us.

Again, stay tuned to learn more about adoption and our journey!

What's new in the life of the Warrens

It has been a little bit since I have posted, so here is the update for us. My 6 month check up at the oncologist went really well! My exam looked good and my lab results were are normal. I am still on the Tamoxifen twice daily to block any estrogen, which feeds my cancer. This drug actually started to give me horrible joint pain. The pain was the worse in the morning and in my ankles. When I got out of bed in the morning, it felt like I was walking on two broken ankles. Unfortunately, the oncologist said this is a known side effect from Tamoxifen. Ibuprofen, Aleve, Tylenol, massages weren't working. The oncologist didn't have any other options. So I tried acupuncture, and after only one session, I was feeling amazing! I couldn't believe it! Keoni Teta is now my naturopathic Doctor. He does my acupuncture now only once every three weeks. I am on some herbal supplements to help my joint pain as well. Wil calls him my witch doctor but all in a joking matter. We are throwing any and everything at this cancer to keep it away for good.

So what a surprise, this isn't the only kink in my health lately. Right after my 6 month follow up, I had my yearly exam by my primary Doctor. He saw that my thyroid was enlarged and sent me for an ultrasound. My lab functions were normal but I was diagnosed with a multicystic goiter. Dr. Hess believed that my thryroid got a lot of chemo in the last three years, so to be able to continue to put out the same amount of hormones, it made itself bigger. I went to an endocrinologist, who Wil and I both love, Dr. Trujilio. Wil loves his accent (he is from Columbia) and could listen to him all day. He said that one of the cysts could be ok or could be bad, but is too small to biopsy. So I was started on Synthroid to take some of the pressure off of my thyroid to produce it. I will have a repeat ultrasound in another 4 months. The cyst is 0.9 cm right now and they don't biopsy until 1 cm large. Since starting the Synthroid, I have more energy!

Thank you for the continued prayers and all who came to the Athena's Run this year!

3 Month Checkup

Wil and I both feel weird when we don't go to the Cancer Center for awhile. We have been so use to going almost every week, and now we only go every 6 weeks or so.

Enjoying a local baseball game

I had labs and an exam this past Monday with my oncologist, Dr. Skinner. My labs looked great! My CA-125 (my blood marker that doesn't really react with my tumors) was 4.7. Before surgery the second time it was around 7. My potassium level is finally normal but I'm still having to take 2 horse pills twice a day for them. Dr. Skinner said my exam looked the best that it has been. She is looking into another blood cancer marker that MD Anderson has been researching to see if I'm a candidate for it.

My hair is growing back in! It came in like this last time, soft and straight. It was only after it got some length, did it start to curl. We will see what it does this time! I'm happy to have eyelashes and my eyebrows back! I didn't mind the bald head as much as not having those.

I still have my port-a-cath in. I plan on keeping it for awhile. I have to go get it flushed every 6 weeks to keep it patent. It flushed great on Monday, thanks to my great nurse and friend, Lydia :) My port is still hard to access since it is tilted. There are few that I trust to access me, and she is the best!

Wil and I are still trying to eat healthy and get back into shape. My "yay we finished chemo" present was a FitBit Charge HR. I absolutely love it, especially when I am in competitions with people. It motivates me to get my steps in and be more active.

Thanks for all of the continued prayers. Please pray for my good friends, Tracy and Kim. I am close with both of them and have known them since my first bout with cancer. Tracy is battling a port infection and cancer yet again. Kim's cancer has come back and started a new chemo but her cancer has spread to her liver.

Got to see our friend Tracy when I got my port flushed