Terminating cancer

Right now I'm sitting in the depths of wolverine territory at the U of M Hospital. Typing this post via the iPhone that my friend have me to use as an iPod touch, due to the fact it no longer works as a phone (he got a new one). This is day two of being at this hospital, so I think that I ought to begin by filling you in about monday.

Monday at the hospital

Brittany getting shot by a laser cannon.
Actually, she is getting her radiation level measured.

Pretty easy day today, did some blood work on Brittany to check out some stuff. Mainly to see if she is preggers, which she isn't, thank goodness, and to check her TSH level. That stands for thyroid stimulating hormone. Basically what this is, is the stuff that regulates the thyroid. The thing is, Brittany doesn't have a thyroid, so her TSH is really high, which is what causes the side effects of being tired, some short term memory loss, irritability, some soreness, ect. A normal persons TSH count is right about 0.3-3, Brittany's is at 67! This is good for treatment though, because thyroid cells are the only cells in the body that uptake iodine. The higher the TSH, the hungrier her thyroid cells are for iodine. The treatment for thyroid cancer is to attach a radioactive isotope to iodine, so that the thyroid cells eat up the iodine and are killed by the radiation. If you are anything like me, you probably were thinking, "but she doesn't have a throid.". Well, when cancer spreads, it always stays the same cells as where it started. So if cancer starts on the thyroid and spreads anywhere, it will always be thyroid cells where ever the cancer is. And we are trying to get rid of every last thyroid cell!

Brittany also had a chest x-ray and a test to measure the raiation levels already present in her body(radiation is everywhere, it's just normally so minut, that it isn't harmful) to establish her baseline for future tests. That is what is going on in this picture. After this, she was given a small dose of radiation (sorry no pic), so that her thyroid cells will light up on all the scans they do on Tuesday. She just drinks it through a needle, and they keep it in this big lead case.

Tuesday

Back at the hospital today. Got here at 9:30 and got right to the scans. I will post a pic below.  She had a full body scan, a chest scan, and a throat scan.  As well as a CT scan. We met with the thryroid cancer specailist doctor and she was really happy with the scans and decided that instead of tomorrow, we could do the radiation today!  What a huge blessing and will save us a trip back to Ann Arbor.  Perhaps more important than saving a car ride is that their isn't much cancer left in Brittany's body after the surgery. The only cancer left is in the neck, Praise God.  So they gave her the radiation, (I wasn't allowed to watch), and now we let that kill all the cancer cells :)

We now have Brittany in isolation in her room.  She isn't allowed to have any direct contact with any living creature for the next 3-5 days.  There are a buch of crazy rules too.  They aren't hospital rules, they are given by the federal government.  Here are some:

We have to keep all her eating utensils seperate, recommended using disposable utensils.

We have to keep her laundry seperate.

She has to flush like three times after she goes to the bathroom.

No one can use the toilet that she uses.

We have to keep her trash seperate.

Just a sign outside a room at the hospital

Brittany getting a full body scan.  Look carefully, she is in there

Brittany getting ready to get her radiation treatment with our awesome radiation technition!

We have another appointment on Friday, more of a check up type thing.  And she will get another full body scan. Shouldn't be a big deal, we will keep you posted :)

Update!!!

This past week, I had the distinct pleasure of teaching Alexa how to change a tire.  For some reason, that I cannot figure out, she decided to drive over a screw, which punctured her tire.  Alexa was a great student and dominated the spare tire.  I have full confidence in my student that if she were to decide to run over another screw, that she could handle herself and change her tire :)

Anna was prrrobably the biggest help...

Here is Alexa with her new friend Jack

One of the most traumatic events recently was Alexa cleaning her room.  This was a multiple day extravaganza that included rakes, shovels, a small crew of day laborers, and a dump truck.  One of the things that was unearthed was her collection of nail polishes.  I'm  not sure if we actually counted them, but there was well over a hundred bottles of polish.  She mentioned that her life's passion was nail art and wanted to open a nail salon.  We'll see what happens.

Here she is, in all her glory

This is Jenna just being a snuggie

Room for two more??  Brittany and Lex decided to pop by!!!  And D.O.G. wanted to participate

I literally have no idea what is going on here and don't know why it's on our blog. 

This is actually a long story, but I will try and summarize it for you.  A couple of weeks ago, Jenna and Alexa lost Pearl's keys (Pearl is our Honda Fit's name).  The keys literally disappeared.  So, after scouring every square inch of the planet, Jenna and Alexa settled on this rough payment plan.  A couple of clarifiers:  The hotel was because I needed to be back in Detroit for work on Sunday and needed a place to stay.  I ended up leaving earlier so that I could get let into to apartment by the management.  The Vera Bradley is a little pouch connected to the keys.  The Keys still haven't found their way home yet, so Jenna and Alexa have started to replace things.  This is actually a pretty accurate estimate, minus the hotel, if you lose your keys.  The cost for the car key and apartment keys is flipped. 

Moral of the Story: Don't lose your keys, it's an expensive hassle.  Just ask Jenna and Alexa

Us at Sandy Pines!!
Our crew: Mark, Brittany, Ben, Anna, and Alexa

Just playing on the swings.  Note to our readers, swings are less fun now, then when we were kids.  More nauseating too...

Hot day + small child + ice cream = this

We went to Brittany's high school friend's wedding this past weekend.  Here is Brittany, Michelle(the bride), and our friend Alyson.  Alyson is home for a couple weeks from California, so that is pretty cool.  Michelle's wedding was beautiful, like something out of a magazine.  My only complaint: it was about 95 degrees with 95% humidity and no breezzzzzeeee.  For those of you who know me, I start to sweat when I peel an orange, so needless to say, I was a sweaty messsssssss.  It was rough. 

This is senor Hansen.  He came over and made us this delicious authentic Spanish meal.  We had goat cheese, churizzo, payaya(sp?), and some other stuff.  It was so good.  Senor Hansen teaches spanish at Plainwell high school. He is also the most interesting man alive.  World traveler, plays frisbee, home brews, and is just plain cool!!

Alexa and Ben just acting casual

This is me describing how much I love Bell's Oberon(in moderation, of course).  Brittany decided to perch on me :)

So that is our life in a picture summary!

- Mark

Lies and Truth

Hiiiii its Brittany, I thought I would share some things that God is teaching me lately with this whole cancer situation. My thoughts are first, then the truth that God reminds me of. I was trying to think how to best update our life right now, and where we are at, and this is what I came up with (I have been studying all morning so hopefully it makes sense).

• This is not fair, we should not have to deal with this -  Nope this is not very fair, but life is not very fair.  I sometimes believe the lie that because we are seeking God and trying to live lives that glorify God, that we will have an "easy" life, well that is certainly not the case. In 1 Peter 4:12-13  it says "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed". When I read that I am humbly reminded that Jesus promised suffering, and that this is an opportunity for us to grow closer to God. And I read this quote this week and it totally fits..."Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian."

• We have been trying to be such good stewards with our money, and have been saving for PA school and a house someday, and it sucks that now we are using it all on medical bills - This truthfully is one of the hardest parts of this whole thing for me. Anyone who knows Mark and I well, know that we are obsessively frugal. We have saved well and been faithfully tithing, and God has blessed us. Thanks to Dave Ramsey, and awesome parents, we have been taught how to budget and save, and make a dollar stretch. I actually take a lot of pride in this I am discovering. And God is taking (okay hemorrhaging) it all back, and revealing and getting that sin out of my heart. It was never our money anyway, every dollar that we have saved is, and has always been His. We will just live every day faithfully serving Him, and he will provide what we need, when we need it.

• Its so frustrating that all my classmates at PA school are finishing up the semester, and get a break, and I have to keep studying until fall semester- Then I am reminded that my school has been so great working with me, and extending me extra time to make things up I have missed. I am also so thankful for my classmates and how amazing they have been. They have been so helpful and encouraging. I cant even really believe I didn't know these people three months ago. They have recorded lectures, sent me flowers, sent encouraging emails and texts, and collected lecture notes for me. I am truly blessed.

• I am gaining weight like crazy and feel so gross - This is only for a season (hopefully!), and Mark is so encouraging and tells me I am hot.

• I have craaaazy mood swings  - This one too is only for a season (hopefully!), and I have a family that gives me grace and is understanding and forgiving. This has actually been crazy, I literally feel like bursting out crying over everything, and get so mad over the dumbest things (like got furious with Mark for beating me in Mario, or with my mom for accidentally making a noise while I was on the phone), I feel like my capacity for stress is at 1%, which is not very helpful for this situation. Only a season.

• Making decisions about our future and treatments is too big of decisions for us right now - This is a bit overwhelming at times. We have given us great options for treatment, and we should be thankful. God has not deserted us in these decisions. We have great family who love us dearly, and friends to talk with about these things, and people praying for us, we just have to press on.

• My insurance sucks - Yup, it sure does. But, Praise God that we have the little bit that we do. (Side note to anyone our age who thinks they can go a little time without insurance (like we both thought we could)- this is a perfect example of why that idea is a bad one - things can change sooo quickly).

• It is such a bummer that Mark does not have a full time job - But then I actually think of him being gone all day during this, and not being so available after surgery, and I literally cannot imagine it. I am so thankful that he has not been working full time and has been able to help me, and be there for me all the time. Mark is still looking very hard, and we have seen over and over that God will provide.

• This is really scary - This is scary, yep. I am scared of what God is doing with our life, and feel so fearful sometimes. I am scared I wont do well when I go back to school, that they will find something more with testing, that we wont go back to our "normal" life. Then I am reminded what God says in Isaiah 41:10 - "Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand". Perfect.

Anyway, that turned into a much longer post than I thought originally. But if you are still reading, thanks and we are so appreciative of everyones prayers and encouragement. The tentative plan is that I am going to start intense testing and get treatment at University of Michigan starting Monday Aug 23rd, and that will last all week. We are still having a consultation with the people in Battle Creek, but with UofM being the best in the US in thyroid cancer, and it being closer to Detroit, its what we are doing now. Mark promised to update today or tomorrow, about the more fun aspects of life :).

This is an oldie but a goodie (this is us in Holland taken on a self timer sitting on a log)

Love,
Brittany