The latest update

I really do apologize that it has been so long since the latest update. Due in part to me just not having a lot of extra time and the other part is because we had a virus on our computer and Time Warner cut off our access! Sean got us all set up again today.

We have quickly discovered that our lives are like riding a roller coaster. One minute we are up and the next we are down. The up part was the visit from Tom's brother John. We all enjoyed his visit so much and were really sorry to see him go. We also very much appreciated his taking Tom to his radiation treatments while he was here and going with us to the Oncologist. It has been pretty much down since then. When we saw Lindsey, the Physician's Assistant at the Oncologist's office, she was very concerned about Tom's loss of weight as he had lost 10 pounds in the last two weeks. She also was very upset that his blood pressure was so low, 87/44. They would not let us out of the office before he received an IV of saline solution to try and bring his blood pressure up. He was severly dehydrated and they had a terrible time just finding a vein to take his blood for his weekly blood test. This was due to a medication that the Radiologist perscribed to try and reduce the swelling in Tom's feet. Lindsey took him off that immediately.

I vowed that I would not fight with him over eating, but find that the Drs are telling us that we have to push as much at him as he can stand. It is either that or he has to go into the hospital where they will feed him via an IV. He does like the Ensure and is drinking 6 bottles of them a day. The good news here is that he has gained 5 pounds since Thursday. The bad news is that the combination of the steroids, radiation treatments and chemotherapy are really doing a job on him. He is as weak as a lamp and the steriods have raised his blood sugar and he now has a mild form of diabetes. This is making it very difficult for him to swallow solid food. He chews a mouthful of scrambled eggs for 5 minutes before he can finally swallow it and then only with a drink. Needless to say this just tires him out more.

I called the Oncologist's office this morning to let them know that we had had a rough weekend! They thought that it was best if he saw a doctor today and since he was going this morning for a radiation treatment, it was decided that his radiologist Dr Troutman would be the best one to see. Dr Troutman explained that he felt the best course to follow would be to just continue with radiation and chemotherapy treatments as well as the 1 1/2 steriods. He said that we would monitor him closely and if his condition continued to deteriorate, that they might want to consider stopping his treatments all together. He explained that due to the size of the tumor we only had a 40% chance of the treatments reducing/stopping the growth of the tumor. I have decided to take a leave of absence from work. Dr Troutman wrote me out for the next 30 days so that I could stay home with Tom 24/7. After the 30 days we will reevaluate Tom's condition and decide what to do from there. He will have finished his radiation and first round of chemotherapy by that time. Sean is here with us now and is going to stay through Wednesday when Mike is coming for a week. For the most part, I can take care of Tom, but if he needs assistance getting up, he is dead weight and I can not always get him out of the car or chair. And if he falls, there is not way that I can get him up. Tom and I are so very grateful to both of them for all of the love and support that they give us both every day!

Please continue to keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Tom & Lynne
Mike & Tina
Sean & Anna

We reached a milestone today

Sorry that it has been so long since we have given you an update. I went back to work on Monday and my evenings have been busy with Tom. Sean moved in with us last weekend (God bless him) and has been staying with Tom during the day. At first they had a few issues. They had to decide the best way to get daily tasks accomplished. Tom hated to bother Sean while he was working, but he is so weak, it takes him a long time to manage the simplest task like putting his socks on. Tom has finally has conceded that in the interest of concerving his strength, that he will ask for help when he needs it.

As of today, Tom has completed 1/3 of his treatments. He still continues to be handling them well. The Doctor has decreased his steroids again and he is now only taking 1 1/2 daily. This is down from 4 when they first put him on them. We are very hopeful that by decreasing the dosage he will begin to recover some of the strength that he has lost. He also has a new prescription to try and decrease the swelling in his feet. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he continues to do well with the decrease in the steriods. If he starts to have headaches or God forbid seizures, we will have to increase the dosage.

Unfortunately, he continues to loose weight. His appetite is good and he is eating well, but the treatments are causing the weight loss. We are feeding him cake and ice cream and anything fattening that we can think of. After years of watching what he was eating, it is hard to get in a mind set to each as much fat and calories as he can consume.

We are all looking forward to this weekend when our whole family will be together. Mike and Tina are coming tomorrow and Anna will be joining us on Saturday. Tom's brother John is coming next Tuesday and we are all excited about his visit too!

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Love to all,
Tom & Lynne
Mike & Tina
Sean & Anna

A Busy Couple of Days

Tom continues to show his fighting Irish spirit!! Yesterday he had both a radiation treatment in the morning and a Dr appointment in the afternoon. It was enough to leave me exhausted and I am not fighting this horrible disease! The appointment in the afternoon was with his Oncologist, Dr. Brick. Unfortunately, her office is located in uptown Charlotte. It is about a 45 minute commute from our home in Monroe. Tom and I continue to see the beauty in every day! We did not concentrate on the commute, but rather on our absolutely beautiful "Carolina" day. The Bradford Pear trees are all in bloom and the ride into Charlotte was wonderful. The appointment went very well and Dr. Brick was very pleased with Tom's progress. They did blood work and that showed that he is holding his own. He is still experiencing side effects from the steriods which include both weakness and stomach upset. They have however, decreased his doseage from 3 pills daily to 2 1/2 pills daily. We will continue with this dosage until Sunday and on Sunday further decrease his dosage to 2 pills daily. We are hopeful that the decrease in doseage will give him more strength and lessen the stomach upset that he has been experiencing. The steriods do reduce the swelling on his brain and we are watching very carefully to make sure that he does not start having headaches or seizures due to this decrease.

We continue to ask that you keep us in your prayers. We both know how very fortunate we are to have all of our wonderful family and friends praying for the miracle we are looking for.

Love to you all,
Tom & Lynne
Mike & Tina
Sean & Anna

Latest Update

Tom's treatments continue to go very well with very few side effects. However, he is also still on the steroids which seem to have more side effects than the radiation and chemotherapy! The steriods are causing swelling and sapping his strength. He also is experiencing both confusion and issues with his balance. We have decided that he can no longer remain alone during the day. He has fallen twice in the last two days and has not been able to get himself up. I am staying home the rest of this week to make sure nothing like this happens to him again. As much as we were hoping that it would not come to this, we have asked Sean to move in with us and be with his Dad during the day. Fortunately, Sean can work remotely from any location with his job. He can continue to work daily from our home and at the same time keep an eye on his Dad. Mike too has offered to come and stay, but his job is not quite as flexible as Sean's. I am trying to save as many of my days as I can, as I know that the day will come when I will want and need to be with Tom all day every day. We do not know what we would do without our two boys and the wonderful women who are there to love and support not only them, but Tom and I too. We thank God everyday for Mike, Sean, Tina and Anna.

So please continue to keep us all in your prayers.

Love to you all,
Tom & Lynne

Treatments are going well

Just wanted to let you know that Tom's treatments are going well. He has had 3 radiation treatments and has taken the chemo pill each evening since starting the radiation. So far so good. He does not seem to be experiencing any ill effects from either treatment as this point. We are all praying that this will continue. We do feel that they are helping his body battle this awful disease. He appears to be gaining each day! I am also happy to report that he is using the cane most of the time. It really seems to be helping him a lot with his balance. Of course there are plenty of times that he forgets that he is suppose to be using it, but for the most part I think that it gives him a sense of security. He has not used the walker very much, as the cane seems to be enough for him at this time.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Most especially for Tom and that he continues to see very little side effects from these treatments.

Love to all,
Tom & Lynne
Mike & Tina
Sean & Anna

And so the treatments begin!

Tom began his radiation treatments today. We have finally received the chemotherapy drug. (But it took me running out into the street and flaging down the UPS truck. Go figure, we are scheduled for two UPS shipments in one day and they put them on two different trucks). When the first truck arrived, we thought it was the shipment that we were waiting for. We soon realized that it was not. (Thank you Joannie, that one was from you). Of course by now the UPS truck is long gone. I went out and waited in the street for it to make its return trip out of our neighborhood and stopped him. Fortunately I had the tracking number of the coveted chemo drug shipment and that UPS driver was able to locate the truck that had the shipment and we made contact to ensure the delivery to our house. Nothing can ever be easy!

It has been decided that he will receive 33 radiation treatments. During this time he will also be taking a daily pill of chemotherapy. We are praying that the side effects of these two treatments will be minor. Tom is a pillar of strength and although we can see where this horrible disease is taking its toll on him he remains strong. He continues to be in good spirits and still maintains his wonderful sense of humor.

Since his balance has been effected by the tumor, the Doctor perscribed both a cane and a walker. You can imagine how this went over with Tom. Hopefully I have convenienced him that using them will be easier on him then a broken bone would be if he fell. If I really talked him into using them remains to be seen.

Once again we ask that you continue to keep us all in your prayers.

Love to all,
Tom & Lynne
Mike & Tina
Sean & Anna

Tomorrow we start the treatments

We are still on schedule to start the radiation and chemotherapy treatments tomorrow. We still do not have the chemotherapy pill in our possession, but have been assured that they are sending it overnight and we will have it for tomorrow treatments to begin. I will be taking Tom to his treatment tomorrow. After that, we have a very dear friend who has offered to come and get Tom every day. We are going to try that for a while and see how that works. Right now Tom's body is trying to fight this horrible disease all by itself. It has him all tired out and each day is a struggle. We are hopeful that the treatments will assist him in this fight. Please continue to pray that the treatments do their job!

Let me thank you all again for everything that you have done for all of us. In my previous note, I forgot to mention how much all of the cards mean to us. We have received so many lovely cards from all of you letting us know that you are praying for us. Some of Tom's favorites were some special hand made ones that he received from his great nieces, Siena, Angela,Ava and Tessa. They are right next to his chair where he can look at them during the day. Thank you girls, we know that they were made with much love! That is not to say that he does not enjoy all of the cards that he receives, but it is hard to beat those hand made ones!

I will update the blog again tomorrow after he has received his first treatment and let everyone know how he did. His spirit continues to be strong and we are counting on the "fighting Irish" in him to make sure that it stays that way.

Love to all,
Tom & Lynne
Mike & Tina
Sean & Anna