Hope!

Jan has pronounced me in charge of blog updating and as you may have noticed, I’ve been tardy in taking up the responsibility. Really, it was more about a visit to the doctor last week in which my blood tests looked to be normal and my lungs sounded clear, both a big change from my last inspection. In fact he pronounced it quite amazing. His curiosity and our hopes thus piqued he ordered another full contrast CT scan. Reluctant to jinx the outcome of the scan, we were pretty quiet about the good check-up, hence no blog entry. A full contrast scan means I drink some stuff and then they inject me with dye to highlight my internal organs. That was done yesterday (Thursday) and Jan and I went in to get the results today. I’ve been feeling increasingly better these last couple of weeks and had fair confidence that the results should be good, but as the time drew near, anxiety grew. By the time the doctor entered the room, we were both ready to pounce. As there had been insufficient time for the images to be interpreted by a radiologist, he loaded the new CD into the computer and then brought up the scan from my time in the hospital last month, so we could view them together. Back and forth we evaluated different ‘slices’ through my chest comparing the view of the lungs and lymph nodes and in the process learned what most of my other major organs looked like. In my lungs, where there had been large, ugly blotches previously, now looked like what the doctor assured us, lungs should look like with just a spidery network of blood vessels. Lymph nodes in my upper chest that showed previously as oversize dark spots now were unperceivable. The relief that I feel, that my chest seems now to be clear, is literally a ‘new lease on life’ for me! The area down around my colon where we know that there are still problem nodes also showed them significantly reduced in size. The doctor said that these results were as if I had visited a (successful) faith healer.

I can’t thank you all enough for your prayers, good thoughts and positive vibes there is no doubt in my mind it made all the difference!!! THANK YOU.

The plan is to continue the chemo for the next five months, to maximize the chance of complete eradication of the cancerous cells. I will have my down weeks with the annoying side effects but after each treatment the side effects subside as the days pass. Ironically, I’m at my best the day I go in for my next treatment. Small price to pay for the chance to see my boys grow, share the love of my wife and feel the sun on my face. Next time you hear that old axiom “at least you have your health” appreciate it and think about what it means.

Tom

A very different week

Tom is having a very good week. He has more energy, much less nausea. We met with the Naturopath this week and Tom was very excited to hear her list all of his chemo side effects and offer a potential solution for each of them. We spent the rest of that day running around finding strange potions and powders, some of which poor Tom finds pretty nasty.

At this point the biggest daily problem is food, his taste buds are way out of whack. He has eaten so little over the last two months, that even when he finds something that tastes good to him he doesn't have much capacity. Tubby Tom has lost more than forty pounds. Two and a half months ago Tom was on Weight Watchers, now I'm pushing ice cream, cheese, pudding, oil, butter. Come on Tom, have some Tater Tots with ranch! Can I bring you home a milkshake?

Tom is even sticking a toe in the water of work. Monday we stopped by his office to visit the guys, hugs all around! It was great for him to see them and hear what was going on. Last night Tom had a long phone conversation with his new boss Kirk, they talked about Tom beginning to work on some projects.

More chemo next Tuesday.

Tom did come home Saturday. He's feeling much better, just mild chemo side effects. It was a very hard week, we're glad it's over and glad chemo is finally under way.

Tom went from a bit queasy, to... something a lot less pleasant, pretty fast yesterday. He's been working hard to control the nausea and what happens right after nausea, I'll spare you all the details. I don't want to speak too soon, but he seems to be improving. He is not going home today after all.

Unexpected!

Dr. Weinstein came in this morning, we told him how much better Tom was feeling. Tom's blood oxygen levels have greatly improved, (you didn't even know they were down), shortness of breath gone, pain way down. Dr. W. explained to us that even with pneumonia you wouldn't expect his lungs to sound better yet, it takes a while for the junk to clear out. I was watching his expression when he was listening, I'd call it puzzled. He said "that's unexpected, his lungs definitely sound better, not all better but better". We don't know if it's the antibiotics or the chemo, but whatever it is it seems to be working on his lungs and probably whatever was pressing on his nerves, causing all that pain. Dr. W says it doesn't matter which, it is it only matters that he's improving.

Now the chemo, luckily he had that good day yesterday, we got quite a bit of nutrition into him, because now the nausea has set in. He is getting good medicine that is reducing it from, "I'm going to throw up", to "not hungry and a bit queasy".

We're on schedule to go home tomorrow.

Thanks again to every one that has jumped in to help, driving kids, doing deliveries, taking care of critters and house. Also, thanks to everyone supporting us with prayers, good vibes, energy, incense, positive thoughts, emails, texts and comments. It's all a huge help and today it seems to be working.

Jan

A new day

Tom is a different man today. Nobody knows why and we don't expect it to last, but he has zero pain and hasn't had any pain med since 8:20 this morning. He has had the first infusion of chemo and the rest will continue to drip in until Thursday night. He has also had two doses of antibiotics and we can only hope, think, pray that something they've given him has caused the inflammation to go down and the pain will stay away. Still in the hospital, should be going home Friday.

Not the way we planned it

After all this withdrawal, nausea, pain, suffering, Tom is back on the Percocet and then some. He has been having terrible pain that we thought was part of the withdrawal. Last night was so bad, that we ended up in the ER this morning. A CAT scan showed that the cancer that remained after the surgery had grown and the pain was likely due to the enlarged lymph nodes pushing on a nerve. Tom has also been coughing a lot, so they did an x-ray of his chest and found some stuff in there as well. The Doc said that it's not a typical cancer pattern and hopefully it is just some sort of infection, so he'll be on antibiotics for a while. As long as Tom was here they decided to check him in, pump him full of pain meds and do the first chemo in the hospital. Often the fast growing cancer will respond fast to the chemo too, hopefully this stuff will shrink up quickly. The new Oncology wing at St. Vincent's is really nice, the rooms are huge and the nurses are great so far. They have a guy that makes milkshakes on request and it's way closer to home.

A happier ending to a pretty scary day.