Summit Success

You know when you get to the top of a mountain and there is such an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and pride. Well I'm there!!!!!

I found the jar and put my name on the paper. The final leg of this journey was completed this last Friday. Dr J was the surgeon and he had the honor of not only installing the Port but also removing it. The answer to your question is no- I did not get to keep it. (he offered, but i declined) It would have been a great Christmas gift for Erin, right?

The nurses and the other staff were friendly as always. The procedure lasted about 45 min, and I took a "recovery" nap afterward. The picture is from me on the way out. They said I still have to stay off the weights for a little bit. Carrying around a 40lb child is good enough now.

Brag time- I have been so blessed with amazing friends, church members, clients, family, and, of course, my rock Erin. The positive thoughts and prayers, even from Conway, AR, have kept me pushing to reach the top.

There is a time when you get to the top of a mountain, enjoy the amazing Godly view, celebrate, and then realize that your journey is not quite over. The hard part is out of the way, but unless you have a helicopter to pick you up, there is still the trek down. So that is why we still need your thoughts and prayers (or a helicopter?).

*Prayer for my nasty cough- Radiating my throat seemed to cause a little irritation, causing some intensecoughing and thus less sleep for me but especially Erin.

*Prayer for my arm- My arm you ask? Yes my arm. Here is the back story.....

After Chemo, and before/during radiation, my arm every now and then had a funny numb-like feeling. If you want to know how it feels, remember back in gym class when the teacher told us to spin our arms in a circle, and you can feel all the blood rush to your fingertips. Yeah like that. Well this feeling has gotten progressively worse as the weeks have passed. It makes my arm a shade or three purpler and swollen (not that I mind that my arm is bigger, but just one side looks weird). It is not a clot, so no worries there, and the doctors surmised that it might be Thoracic Oulet Syndrome, possible caused by the port. Which means the port catheter took up room in my vein and thus does not allow for full blood flow, plus I am an athletic guy. This odd arm feelings started when I started working out again, so it makes some sense. I guess I am just too muscular for my own good! (just kidding)

*Prayers for my doctors as they continue to help my through recovery.
*Continued prayers for patience with all the curveballs that the mountain, life or cancer can throw your way.

As always- much love
Nate

Quick update

Hi there...I know it's been a while, but I wanted to give everyone a quick update on the happenings of Nate's journey. Most importantly, his treatment is OVER! That's right....he had his very last radiation session on Friday..praise God! On the flip side, he is feeling..well...terrible. He has an awful cough and a very sore esophagus and is extremely worn out. This is particularly frustrating since he is free and clear of cancer. The doctors said the radiation side effects could become worse this week before they get better...please pray that recovery will be swift.

On Friday, Nate goes in to surgery to get his port removed...hurray! This is so encouraging because this means that no one thinks he will be needing that port for anything anytime soon. Please pray that the surgery goes perfectly and that recovery is again, swift.

Follow-up appointments with all of his doctors will be going on in the next weeks and months and he will be rescanned probably in February.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement...Nate will be giving one of his much more entertaining updates in a few days. :)

Super Powers?

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope you ate too much, drank too much and laughed too much!!

Well I started my radiation treatments on Tuesday. Here is how it happens: I walk down the hall with the special "Radiation Signs" along the wall, and enter into the treatment room. I see in the middle a huge machine, similar to a CT or a PET Scanner with the name Tomo Therapy on the side. The nurses lay me down and bring over my mask......

I have to stop the scenario now to describe this mask. When I was fitted for this special contraption they took a flat piece of warm plastic that looked like a large fish net and put it over my face. They fitted it to the contours of my face and shoulders, let it dry and cool down. It stuck in the shape of my face. Once they took it off, i realized that my nose really is crooked and that I am going to be seeing a lot of the net mask in the following weeks.

Back to the story.. So they secure me down with my mask and proceed to move me into the big tube. I usually think about doughnuts when describing the CT, PET, Radiation Tubes. (Yum) They take a scan to make sure they line everything up correctly with my tattoo (which is just a tiny dot in the middle of my chest). Then the treatment starts- I lay there still for roughly seven minutes while something in the machine circles around me. After being in these tubes alot lately, the one difference during the treatment is the sound. Imagine when you get to go to a fancy Italian restaurant and the server comes over to offer some fresh ground pepper for your salad. It sounds like a very high tech pepper grinder! It goes around my body so that they can pinpoint and avoid hitting my lungs and heart as much as possible (which i really appreciate)  Then I get up and go!

I have a total of 17 treatments and I am done with 2. So, I'm scheduled to be done before Christmas. (didn't even have to wrap that gift)

Couple things that stink about this are that I get to go everyday (minus weekends) for treatments and my Super Powers have not appeared, yet. I tried to turn green and huge, but Erin said I just looked constipated. No jumping over buildings, except for the ones that Carter builds with his toy blocks.

Prayer requests and challenges:
I challenge you to come up with a Super Power that you would want to have! (Super Speed, Flying, X Ray Vision are some examples)
We are always needing prayers for patience with treatments, schedules, making sense of bills.

The end is in sight!!!
Love
Nate (formerly MM)

A Clean Bean...

Usually "a clean bean" refers to a freshly changed or bathed Carter, but yesterday, I used it to refer to Nate's PET scan which came back CANCER FREE!!! Praise God!!

Nate went in early yesterday morning for the scan and for coordinates to be tattooed and other contraptions to be fitted for when he begins radiation. And we were so pleasantly surprised by a call early afternoon from his Radiological Oncologist, Dr. M herself, confirming our hope that all scans were clean and Nate could move on to the radiation part of his treatment (the last part!)

Thank you for your prayers and celebration with us!!

Enough with the downtime...

The past few weeks have been super boring...no doctors appointments, treatments and we haven't received bills every day either...lame! We have been spending our time celebrating birthdays, Halloween and spending some quality time together (see proof to the left). But enough with that! It's time to get the show on the road...the radiation show, that is! :)

Seriously though, as Nate has been recovering from chemo for the last couple of weeks and it's been nice to focus on the normal things of life for a while.

Yesterday, we met with the radiological oncologist, Dr. M, to discuss the next steps in treatment. She wants Nate to redo his PET scan to re-stage and make sure that he has had a "complete response" (i.e. no more cancer cells left) before starting the radiation treatments. That scan will take place on next Monday, November 12, early in the a.m. After the scan, there will be more planning in the form of more scan to mark out where the radiation will actually be given on his body, coordinates will be drawn and then tattooed on his skin to ensure proper placement and then treatment will begin.

Nate will have 17 radiation sessions total, Monday-Friday with the exception of Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving. The treatment only takes about a minute, so he will be in and out of the office within 30 minutes...so that's good!

More hair loss, fatigue and a sore throat will be the most notable side-effects of this treatment and there are a few long-term things we will be watching for like skin cancer, thyroid problems and scar tissue in the lungs.

For now, we need prayer for the following:

• Pray for Nate's PET scan to be totally clean
• And speaking of the PET scan, pray for the actual time before the scan when Nate is becoming radioactive...he has to sit completely still in the dark without any stimulus (i.e. music, TV, books, talking, etc.). That sounds like heaven to me, but for him, it's just super endlessly boring.
• We would love for the treatments to be given at the Shawnee Mission Campus instead of the Overland Park campus because of proximity to work and home.
• And of course, please continue prayer for patience with the process and one another :)

We are continually amazed by the kindness of people and God's grace and patience with us as very imperfect people.

Much love!

The Heide's

Poster child? (I mean Poster MAN!)

So we finally got an appointment with the radiological oncologist, Dr. M. Unfortunately, it's not until November 5. We were really hoping to be done with the radiation by Thanksgiving, but that's not going to happen now. BUT we are still on the right track.

In other news, I think I bragged on Nate for being asked to be photographed by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as they are revamping all their marking materials. We received a disk with a bunch of the photos this week...super fun! We don't know if he will be used in the materials, but are so thankful for the photographer sharing some of them with us!

Here are a few of my favorites (Nate's not around, so he couldn't veto any of them :) )



Totally didn't plan the matching part....



Honey, I shrunk my lymph nodes!

And Nate passes GO! We had a good appointment with Dr. H, Nate's oncologist, today. The scans taken on Tuesday showed a big improvement in Nate's lymph nodes in all areas that were affected by cancer. In Dr. H's words: "the disease has responded well." And if you knew Dr. H, that's as happy and excited with words as he gets. Praise God! So this means NO MORE CHEMO! That is such a huge relief. Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.

So what's next? Radiation. Sometime soon (maybe next week?) we will meet again with the radiological oncologist, Dr. M. to set up Nate's radiation schedule and do more scans if necessary as well as other prep work. For now, the expectation is to do radiation Monday-Friday, for a month. That's a lot. So please pray for Nate's stamina and patience and health through this time.

Other things that we learned today are as follows:

• Nate will retain the awesome port in his chest until all treatment has concluded and there is basically no trace of cancer in his system. That means that he needs to go into get it "flushed" every month so it does get clogged or something.
• There will be another PET scan done after radiation is complete to make sure all cancer cells have been destroyed and then the lymphoma will be re-staged. We definitely vote that the stage is "cured" (maybe that's stage 0?)
• Nate's hair will continue to fall out for another 4-6 weeks at which time his hair follicles will recover and he will have a awesomely full head of hair again.
• We also learned that since Nate is doing chemo as well as radiation, the amount of chemo given, though an effective amount, should not cause problems down the line...that is a HUGE relief!

Things to pray for:

• First, join us in thanking God for his grace and kindness. Even though the road hasn't been easy (and is still looking rough for a time), we have learned a lot, grown stronger in our faith and relationships.
• Please pray for patience, energy and grace for our little family as the doctor's appointment schedule becomes crazy again right as the holiday/birthday season gears up.
• Please pray for the side effects of radiation; that there won't be any :)
• Please pray contentment during this next phase of treatment and life

We love you all!


 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13

Does Nate get to pass go?

We don't really have an update other than we would like to ask people to be praying for the CT scan tomorrow morning (10:30 a.m.). This scan will show the amazing doctors what the last two months of chemo has done to fight (and hopefully destroy) the cancer cells. If the results are good, Nate will pass go and move on to the radiation part of the treatment, if not good, he will not pass go and will go to chemo jail for another two months. Please pray for God's will and that God's will might involved healing :) .We trust God and his awesome plan, please pray that we will be content in the result. 

Both Nate and I are kinda done with this whole "bump in the road." We are tired and crabby and it's been hard to keep up with simple life things and even harder to keep up positive attitudes. However, we are so thankful, once again, for so many things. We are thankful for the amazing autumn weather. We are still so thankful for our amazing family and friends. We are thankful to not have needed to worry about making dinner for the last two months (you all rock). We are thankful for the time where we can laugh and the times where we can cry; both make us stronger and more flexible with life. We are thankful for a fantastic prognosis. We could go on, but we are ready to sit down, have a glass of wine and watch some of our new fall programing on TV :)

Thank you for your thoughts, kind words and prayers. We will let you know how things go tomorrow...we meet with Dr. H (oncologist) on Thursday for the results.

A little celebration...

How fun is this? So at the end of Nate's chemo session today, the nurses in "pod 2," where we always sit, brought out the kazoos and did a tiny celebration of Nate's (most likely) last day of chemo! They even made a certificate and signed it...see below :)

(Picture taken by the awesome Todd Stover who brought by delicious lunch!)

We also got his schedule of next steps before we left this afternoon: scans on the 16th and follow up and scan interpretation with the oncologist on the 18th of October.

Please pray that the chemo has done its job and that Nate can move on...we would hate to have his certificate of graduation taken away!

Last session of chemo!?!?

Here we are...at perhaps the last chemo session Nate has to endure! We got a great report from Dr. H, the oncologist, about his blood work-yippee! So now, after this fun day in the infusion room, the next step it to have Nate rescanned to see what his chemo therapy has done to the cancer cells. The hope is that there isn't a trace of malignancy and then Nate can graduate to radiation to seal the deal.

Right now, Nate is dozing in his reclining chemo chair and not feeling great...please pray for him to get rest and that the drugs will be working and that he will experience peace and not be so woozy.

We are so thankful for the amazing nursing and support staff here at the Kansas City Cancer Center. We are thankful for our amazing and talented oncologist. We are thankful for faith and for trials that bring us closer to God. AND we are thankful for all of our family and friends who have showered us with encouragement in all sorts of ways; we have been completely overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of people.

Give me a Boost

We have been meaning to update everyone all week, but things have been crazy busy. Last Thursday was my 3rd round of chemo. I was feeling okay after the treatment until Friday afternoon and then the rest of weekend was a hard one. I felt super tired and woozie and couldn't function properly. My balance was off and I couldn't sleep enough.

We had mentioned in our last post that my white count was down and that I might have to get daily shots to boost my reproduction of white blood cells. Well, it happend. Today will be my third and hopefully final day of the "booster shot." I guess we will see as my blood work will be redone. The shot is called Neupogen and the side effects are pretty awesome; sore joints and bones.

New research is showing that strength training  has been shown to be beneficial when going through chemo, so I got to work out this week on Wednesday and felt really good. Obviously I had to go lighter on my weights, but still managed to check myself out in the mirror (for medical purposes, of course).

We continue to be thankful for your thoughts and prayers and notes and meals and everything. They really give our spirits a "boost."

Chemo Carb Loading

Nate is cruising through his third chemo session as I type. His blood counts were low today and if they drop any lower he will have to have get a series of shots to boost his immune system. We are voting against that happening.

Otherwise, we are having a grand old time eating lunch, getting some work done and fattening up the Cancer Center with the donuts Nate brought as bribes for superior drugs (evidently the drugs are pre-set and aren't up for negotiation). Drat!

Please pray for the days ahead as the effects of the chemo start...it appears that the fatigue and wooziness will increase with each treatment. Pray for rest for Nate and that he will give his body grace as it fights.

We love you all and are so grateful for your prayer and support!

Oh say can you see!

There are many reasons for the subject line of this post. The most important is that we took Carter to his first professional baseball game this last Sunday. He stayed in his seat for a long time, saw his first Strikeout and then played with Grammy and Mommy in the kids fun zone!!

Second: as many as you know I was a pirate a couple of weeks ago. As a followup I was prescribed antibiotics and some goop for my eye. By that Saturday I was seeing quite clearly and was able to continue "normal" life. At my followup last week, the ophthomologist said everything was healing nicely and my vision was a whopping 20/20. Good thing those eye tests are easy- if you know your alphabet you can pass.

Third: Looking back to the last weeks. I had Chemo at my scheduled time on the 6th of September. I was joined by a great friend of mine that hung out with me all day. You rock! Thaddeus (that's his spartan name). When i was sitting there for hours we played games, chatted, and came up with the perfect name for one of the chemicals. We call it the Red Devil, cause it is powerful, evil,  and yes it is red!

After the treatment I was feeling not awesome, but OK. After some needed rest I was ready to go. Go where? to St Louis. Our good friends got married in St. Louis, which is a 4 hour drive for us. Congrats again Tom & Kristin. After a long weekend of dancing and having fun, we headed home. Throughout the weekend the chemo hit me. I did not get sick, but was feeling really tired and woozy. (all normal for chemo) 

By Tuesday I was back in action. Since then I have been feeling pretty good! So good that I got to watch my amazing wife run in the KC ZOO run, play with Carter at a local park, and enjoy the amazing meals that we are receiving.

I am missing a few key things from my normal routine. Working out. I feel like I have the energy, but just can not finish and it takes a lot longer than before to recover. Another is (I can not believe I am going to type this) Salad. I have to stay away from fresh fruits and veggies. (Doctors Orders, I swear!)

Getting geared up for this Thursday, when I go in for my 3rd dose.

A couple of prayer requests:

Continued prayer for Erin- Her patience and unending love is amazing.

Prayer for the nurses and doctors at the treatment center. Prayers for contentment during our adventure.

Prayer of thanksgiving for all our friends and family.

-Nate (MM)

To see or not to see...that is the question..

To SEE! To SEE! We had a great appointment this morning with our ophthalmologist. He said that Nate's cornea is already healing and that with some special drops, an antibiotic and a follow-up in a couple weeks, the eye should not have any permanent scARRRRRRRrrring or damage (sorry...couldn't resist).

Praise God! We are so thankful for this good news; it came as an amazing relief. We will still watch closely for infection, and Nate is still in some discomfort, but we are considering the matter closed.

Please thank God with us for showing us this grace!

ARRRRRRRrrrrrrggghhh...

That post title pretty much sums it up.

Earlier this morning, I woke up feeling great (like pre-chemo great) and excited to get back into a normal routine of work and play. In fact, yesterday, Dr. J, the surgeon, gave me a big thumbs up to begin working out (other than, of course, playing the violin and skeet shooting due to my port). I assumed that this also meant I could go back to rough-housing with Carter. Unfortunately, during our playtime, a tiny pointer finger found it's way into my right eye. After trying to shake it off as if nothing happened, it really hurt...like really really hurt...I couldn't open my eye and everything was blurry. Erin called Dr. S (primary care physician) to inquire if this was an eye-threatening condition. He said come in...today. So I did. After dying my eye orange and looking at it under a ultraviolet light, it was very clear that there is a severe corneal abrasion (hence the "patch"). Usually these things heal on their own given time, however, since it is directly on my cornea and could scar which would impact my vision permanently, I am meeting with an eye Dr. tomorrow. I'm also very susceptible to infection right now due to my chemo, so we are taking extra precautions.

Now, there isn't a lot of pain, just more irritation (my bandage isn't too comfortable or stylish either). I am unable to drive and depth perception is...well...non-existant.

Honestly, this has been a really hard day; our hardest yet. In fact, there was a moment this morning when everyone in the house was crying (including the dog). Apparently, for today, it was the straw that broke the Heide's back. However, we know that this too will pass...it better! Thankfully we are quick healers.

I have a follow up appointment with Dr. H, the oncologist, on Friday for blood work to check red and white blood cells and platelets and to chat about how my first round of chemo went.

We would welcome some prayer for the eye doctor to say that everything is fine and no further action needs to be taken...other than maybe don't put tiny fingers in your eyes for a while. Also, please pray for positive attitudes for me, Erin and the rest of my supporting cast (i.e. whomever is reading this).

I will end with one of Erin's favorite jokes:

Why couldn't the kids go see the pirate movie?

Because it was rated ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGhhhhhh

The Adventures of Super Nate (and his Super-Sucky Sidekick)



Sorry for not posting sooner about chemo session #1...but here it is now. :)  So this photo was taken on Thursday just before leaving for treatment. Obviously Nate is a Super Guy out to kick some cancer butt, however, like so many adventures in life, we were a bit under-prepared for the toll that the treatment was going to take on our Super-Nate.

We reported to our oncologist's office promptly at 9:30 a.m. to grab some of the delicious Kansas City Cancer Center coffee (not being sarcastic, it's actually really good coffee!) and do a little more "chemo-training" where we were able to ask final questions, prescriptions were written, etc. From there, we went to the Infusion Suite (which sounds like a cool bar, but it's not). Nate's brand new port was accessed and a ton of "'pre-treatments" were given as well as his 4 different chemo therapies. The whole thing took about 6 hours...it was LONG. Thankfully, we had entertainment via our laptops, phones, each other and an awesome new iPad2 that some of our friends gave Nate as a happy-chemo-present! Also, we were pretty much the hero's of the suite because we brought Monster Cookies that Zach and Kristen brought over the night before.

Nate felt tired and like his body was working hard, but pretty much okay the rest of the afternoon and night (even made it to his weekly guys night for a while). He went to work for a half day on Friday and still felt pretty good other than being a bit run down. Yesterday was not as awesome; some nausea set in and lots of naps were taken. I know no one will believe this, but Nate's appetite is suffering as his taste buds are kinda off. All of these reactions are normal, but still not fun.

So as Super Nate continues to battle (and win) over this cancer, his little sidekick Chemo is helping and will save the day in the end, but for now, the "help" chemo gives is a hard pill (or infusion) to swallow.

Please pray that the good days outweigh the bad and that rest will come easy to Nate (even with a crazy and loud and totally awesome toddler in our house). Please pray for Carter; he knows something is going on and is having a bit of a rough time with sleep and tantrums (which I'm sure is also an age thing :) ). Finally, please pray for grace with one another; gentleness and patience in our house is neeeded during this crazy, overwhelming time.

We continue to be thankful for so many things; anti-nausea medications, amazing friends and family, tasty meals brought over, prayer and encouraging words from people and God's Word.

" For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Feeling "Port"unate

I got flowers from the nurses!!!! Actually they gave them out to everyone today. They did say I was an exemplary patient. I will take the compliment, but in actuality, our nurses and doctors have been incredible and should be the ones getting the flowers. You have to be a very special person to be in that field of work.

Well the portacath is in. They put it right under my left collar bone. It is great because it is under my skin and the tube is also inside, so nothing hanging out to clean.
Dr J did say playing the violin and shooting shotguns on that side of the body can affect the area a bit. (there goes my Tues night)

I am feeling better and recovering well from the surgery. But... looking ahead come the tough steps.

Thursday morning I start the Chemotherapy.

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts. Please continue prayer for the doctors and nurses.
Prayer request for me- for Erin and her strength thoughout this week in particular.
You are all amazing people and we treasure you all.

One way to get the most out of life is
to look upon it as an adventure.
William Feather

-Nate

We are so thankful...

Sunset at the Lake

After weeks of sitting in waiting rooms, meeting with doctor, going through procedures and surgeries, shuffling our little Carter around, rearranging schedules and making hard decisions, Nate and I were given some breathing room; no appointments, no procedures and no treatment for a whole week. Plus, a gracious person gave us the opportunity to get away for a few days, just the two of us (check out our view from the porch!)

We want to take this opportunity to write about how thankful we are, even in an unideal situation we find ourselves. Nate and I have been blown away by the grace of God and our family and friends during this time in our lives. Here are just a few of the things that are keeping us going in the right direction:

• We are thankful for our faith; without it, I think our outlook on life would be a grim and bitter one
• We are thankful for our families and friends: their gifts of time, love and support are inspiring
• We are thankful for living close to both of our families: their amazing support and their care of Carter has been irreplaceable
• We are thankful for our doctors: we have an amazing team of gifted and caring doctors that we trust and have the utmost respect for.
• We are thankful that Nate is on the young-side :-) and healthy: his chances of kicking this cancer for good is great and the fact that he takes care of himself make his odds even greater.
• We are thankful for our past experiences that will help us through this time in our lives
• We are thankful that Nate's lymphoma is one of the most curable and that it was found in an early stage
• We are thankful that both of us have jobs that are flexible.
• We are thankful that Carter is such an amzaing kid, who keeps us on our toes at all time and frankly makes it impossible to feel down about anything for more than 10 seconds at a time :)
• We are so thankful for all of the prayers being said over Nate and for healing and patience

There are so many other things to be thankful for, but that's the quick list for now.

Please continue to pray for our attitudes. We want to have the best possible during this time (and for all times) in our lives, and lately we have been struggling with feeling tired and overwelmed.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

The Plan of Attack

Just quick update on the plan of attack. Next Monday (8/20), Nate will have a port put in to make it easier to administer chemo therapy. He will have a few days to recover from the surgery and then chemo will start on that Thursday (8/23). The current protocol is that Nate will have 4 treatments of chemo over the course of 2 months (one treatment every two weeks) and then, if new scans show improvement, he will pass go and move on to radiation. The radiation will be administered every day for about a month…wowzer, right? And then, hopefully, that’s it! J

We thank you all for your prayers and support!

Opinion number two

Met with Dr Y today. Gave us a great and confirming second opinion. He explained that there is a 90% chance of cure when using combo chemo and radiation. ABVD (the chemo treatment regiment) has been used for the last 50 years with much success. We feel ready to move forward now that we are confident on the direction to take to kick this thing.
What is next you may ask yourself? We are scheduling a port placement and a consultation with the radiologist oncologist. Yeah!
We just ask for continued prayers and good vibes for the port procedure, and patience with the chaotic scheduling of appointments (so thankful for such a flexible work situation and amazing wife).
Like in the olympics- we are "on our mark."

Nate

Stage is Set

Monday afternoon: Met with Dr. H. and got a chance to look at my PET scan (kinda cool looking) got to see where exactly where this lymphoma is located in my body. Also got report back from the Biopsy of my bone marrow- NOT in there!!! Back to the Scan... There was only two areas that were lit up and they were both above my diaphragm. So what does that mean you ask- It means that I am only in Stage 2. Normally I go for the highest score possible, but I'm ok with it this time. We are thrilled with the outcome.

Dr. H. went through our treatment plan (don't worry, a second opinion is in the works) but we are very confident that I will be going through Chemo and Radiation. The chemo cocktail recommended is ABVD- and if you really want to get all the long and confusing technical scientific names, we will be happy to share. He said that we wanted to give a little of both, because too much of a bad thing is still a bad thing.

We are all very confident my uninvited cancer is packing its bags. He mentioned that it was not just because I am physically able, but also my mental state is solid.

We had a nice little tour of the infusion room and sat in the massage chairs and met with the nurses. They said bringing in food was encouraged as long as there are some cookies are involved!!

Got a chance to connect with our local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Live Strong. They sent us a lot of material (we had to reorganize a whole book shelf). It is great that we have resources right here.

So what is the next step- Second opinion, then get a port (a little bionic looking device) put into my chest, then on the road to remission.

Feelings- Ready to go!! Loving the great thoughts and prayers that continue to pour in. Keep them coming.

Prayer requests: Coordination of appointments/ doctors and continued positive attitude.

"All battles are won before they are fought". Sun Tzu


-Nate (MM)

Quote of the week...

Today is the first day in a few weeks that Nate hasn't had some kind of Dr's appointment...TGIF!! So, in celebration, I just wanted to share (as a very proud wife) how amazing my husband is handling things. Not that it's not frustrating and irritating and, let's face it, a bit scary to have cancer, but Nate is definitely a hero in my book for braving this new stormy adventure with one heck of a positive attitude.

This week, our pastor, Mark Seversen, asked Nate what his initial reaction to his current predicament was. Nate sat back, thought for a minute and then said this: "Well, after this thing is over with, I will have another title. I will be a father, husband, brother, son, etc., but I will also be a cancer survivor."

Don't you just love that!?

Bone marrow biopsy success!

Nate just made it through his bone marrow biopsy like a champ...and though still a bit woozy, he is eating loads of food and joking around (shocking, right?)

We should have the results of the biopsy in about a week.

Nate has another day full of fun appointments and waiting rooms tomorrow. He will have a PET scan as well as a cardio echo. Later this week, some pulmonary function tests will be performed as well. The bone marrow biopsy and PET scan will help stage the cancer (if it is progressed past the currently assumed stage 2). The cardio echo and pulmonary function tests are to basically establish a baseline before treatments begin.

Please pray for patience while going from appointment to appointment. It's kinda a drag :-)

We love you all and thank you for comments/emails/texts of your support and encouragement! We can't imagine keeping a positive attitude without your help!

A New Adventure with the Heide's

Can we all agree that life is one amazing adventure after the other? Nate and I truly believe that whatever comes our way, it's an adventure. Some are challenging and some are fun. Some are painful and some are full of joy. But they are all adventures that you can learn a lot from!

Our newest adventure started about a couple months ago when Nate was checking himself out in the mirror at the gym (only a slight exaggeration-he would tell you he was "checking out his form to ensure proper lifting technique"). He noticed that there was swelling right above his collar bone. The bump didn't go away after a few days and thus Nate headed to a Dr. for the first time in almost a decade.

Dr. S, the primary care physician, said that overall, Nate was the perfect male specimen (he may not have used those words exactly, but you get the idea). The only abnormality was the enlarged lymph node on top of his collar bone. After and an X-ray that demanded further investigation via C-T scan, it was found that Nate had several swollen lymph nodes along his collar bone and in his chest.  When we were called back into the office of Dr. S for the test results, he was baffled. In fact, he said “Nate, you are a very confusing patient. On paper you look great…but you have these swollen lymph nodes I can’t figure out.” He explained that Nate’s blood work was normal, he was in great shape and experiencing no symptoms, so what was wrong?

Dr. S., confused and concerned, referred us to an oncologist named Dr. H. We were able to get in to see him the very next day. In the consultation with Dr. H, he was also baffled by Nate’s lack of symptoms and the scan results. He said the best course of action would be to remove one of the enlarged lymph nodes and have it biopsied to see if it was lymphoma as well as do a full blood panel to rule out infectious and autoimmune diseases. Therefore, our next stop was to see a surgeon, named Dr. J.

At our consult four days later with Dr. J, he was optimistic that Nate’s swollen lymph nodes should not be a concern, but that we were doing a biopsy to be on the safe side. We were so relieved at the prospect of this being “nothing.”

On Friday, July 13, after not being able to eat anything since mid-night, Nate was wheeled into a 40 minute surgery at 3:30 p.m. (he was super hungry!). Surgery went super well and we were promised results in a week.

After a weekend of recovery and a sad Monday of missing softball games due to stiches in Nate’s trap area preventing throwing and batting, we went in for a follow-up with Oncologist Dr. H. The Dr. said that the blood work came back clean (Praise God!) but the preliminary pathology reports confirming some type of lymphoma. We were shocked. Like really shocked. Plus, we wouldn’t know which kind of lymphoma for another few days, so the waiting game began again. We had a follow-up scheduled with surgeon Dr. J that Friday (7/20) to check on the incision and hopefully to get full test results. Dr. J came into the room rather surprised to see that the initial findings indicated cancer. During our visit with him, the pathologist called and gave us the diagnosis of Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Though not our first choice (which of course would have been “healthy”), this was not the worst diagnosis that we could have received. This form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is the most common of the four types and is often completely curable with a bit ‘o treatment  (generally speaking chemo therapy and perhaps some radiation).

Today is Saturday…we got the results yesterday and this next week is going to be a bear. Nate has several tests and procedures to find out what stage his cancer is in. On Monday, he goes in for a bone marrow biopsy (yuck!) and later in the week he will have a cardio echo, pulmonary test of some-kind and a full body PET scan (it’s not just for cats, dogs and goldfish, people!). Currently, we know that Nate is in stage 2 (since there is more than one lymph node affected in two areas of his body). And as such, his treatment will most likely 4-6 months of chemo therapy.

After getting the results of the test next week and meeting with oncologist Dr. H, he will give us a set course of treatment (which we plan on getting second opinions to confirm).

Nate’s super-strong, like a super-hero, but even super-heroes get knocked off balance every once in a while. But for the most part, he’s ready to fight, kick some cancer-butt and complete part of his adventure even stronger than he was before (if you can image…).

Right now, we need prayer for:

·         Patience, flexibility and continued positive attitude through the process

·         Clear test results and communication with the Drs

·         Easy and convenient scheduling of the many, many appointments/tests/procedures coming up this week.

That’s the news. Check back for updates as our adventure continues….