And our adventure continues...

Today we got some frustrating news. Blood has been pooling for some time in Nate’s left arm (same side he had his port put in) and there has been some discomfort and neuropathy along with that. Today Nate went to a vascular surgeon since this puts him at high risk for blood clots. The surgeon believes that there may not be enough room between Nate’s top rib and clavicle (collar bone) and so blood is not returning efficiently, hence the pooling. Sooo…they are considering removing his top rib to provide relief…yikes…right?

Friday, Nate will go in for a procedure to see if that is absolutely necessary since that surgery and recovery would be kind of a big deal. Nate will be sedated and a catheter will be inserted in his arm all the way through the vein in question. From there, they will be able to tell if the cause of the swelling/pooling is scar tissue, a blockage or because there isn’t enough from between the surrounding bones.

We need prayer…it feels like we have been running a marathon only to cross the finish line and be told that we have to keep running more than the 26.2 miles we had energy for. Nate is feeling crushed and frustrated as am I…Carter is awesomely unaware (although he has the stomach flu…making this week extra awesome J ) Please pray for healing, pray for hope, pray for faith and patience.

Much love,

The Heide's

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....