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