Better?

I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas. Our family was busy with all the family parties, food, and unwrapping of presents. This year we gave a "live" present to Cody. He loves his little rat and Kyle ended up buying one for his room as well. If either the dog or cat would've gotten them, they would have thought it was a grand Christmas as well! Hopefully this will not happen as we welcome Sara and Hannah to our home. They are soft and I have petted them each once, but I don't think they will be crawling on me anytime soon.

On Christmas day I noticed that Tom was talking above a horse whisper. The day after he said that he slept almost through the night. A few nights this week he did not take his cough medicine before bed. I think we are slowly turning the corner to a healthier Tom. On Thursday, December 27 Tom had a follow up appointment with Dr. Buth who said that Tom's skin was healing nicely. Tom will have hair growth again at the base of his neck, but Tom was told that he will probably never have to shave more than he is doing currently, so much for the electric shaver I bought him! Dr. Buth also said that if they do the PET scan too early it will give a false positive due to the radiation. Dr. Buth will contact U of M to see where the scan needs to be done and Tom said he prefers to do it in Grand Rapids. We still do not have a date set for the scan, but Dr. Buth thinks it will be set up for sometime in March or April. Dr. Buth is also referring Tom back to Dr. Campbell, Oncology, for a further consultation and a discussion about chemotherapy. I do not think that Tom will have chemo otherwise it would have been in the post op plans back in August. I am grateful that these Dr.'s are not taking anything for granted and Tom will go to 100 consultations (my opinion of course) until the group of Dr's are satisfied that Tom is cancer free. Tom, on the other hand is littlerly "sick" of Dr's and wants the whole ordeal over yesterday! His energy level has not yet increased and his right shoulder is numb. He gets jolts every once in a while on his right side, especially when touched in that area. I appreciate that so many of you are praying for Tom. Thanks for the wonderful Christmas cards. Your well wishes and generosity has been overwhelming to Tom and myself. Have a safe and happy new year!