Here we go again spending our vacation time at the University of Michigan. This should have been a routine follow up appointment and a farewell to Tom's surgeon but as things always go it was not that easy. They looked at a bump in Tom's neck that his physical therapist found last month. Dr. Teknos stayed very positive that this could just be a stitch or a place where he tied off a couple of vessels. There is really no way to tell for sure without a scan. They have moved up his September scan to get him in for one ASAP. Tom will also need a blood draw to look at his calcitonin levels along with a base line of his calcium. The good news is that we will now have all of these procedures done on this side of the state under the care of Dr. Hart. This was the first time the kids went with us and they were well behaved. We took a little time to show them around the hospital so they could get an idea where Mom and Dad have been disappearing to these last few months. Of course we could not leave Ann Arbor without taking the kids over to the Big House.
On this trip we were also able to spend a few days in Cleveland. This will be the kids only vacation this year and it was nice to just relax with good friends. We took the kids to the Cleveland Zoo and while the boys hit the links at the country club, the girls enjoyed laying out poolside and watching the kids play. The adults even got a night out on the town with a dinner and a show, thank goodness our eldests are now at the babysitting age.
This week will be the start of another round of phone calls to get the ball rolling for Tom's next step. I'm again glad for this blog as it saves so many phones calls and is convenient. Please remember to keep Tom in your prayers.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Doctor Who?
This is the week that Tom will discuss his future care and where that will take place. I hope that we will get all our questions answered during this visit. We will also discuss the prescriptions that Tom is currently taking, and see if he can stop taking some that the doctor previously discussed. I know that Tom is very comfortable with Dr. Teknos and this may be a little disturbing having a new doctor that will be in the drivers seat, but I feel more at peace with this step than when we first got the news.
Tom's neck is very tight and feels like a hard lump as I have been giving him neck massages. He says that I do a good job working the scare tissue. We were not able to get to the PT last week, but I guess I'm all he has got for now. I can't imagine doing these massages all day, my hands are sore after 30 minutes. Tom's energy level is about the same. I now hear the same old snoring some nights and believe it or not, it's a beautiful sound!
Please continue to pray for Tom's healing and direction of care. I thank so many of you that inquire what specific things to pray for and that keep our family in your prayer life. I know so many of you have "stuff" going on in your own lives and I appreciate it when we can all be "real" with our lives. Today our pastor shared peoples "Impossible" in their lives (some of the notes made me want to cry) that God can make "Possible" and it made me think of all the blessing along the road of trusting him as he shows us that nothing is impossible!
Tom's neck is very tight and feels like a hard lump as I have been giving him neck massages. He says that I do a good job working the scare tissue. We were not able to get to the PT last week, but I guess I'm all he has got for now. I can't imagine doing these massages all day, my hands are sore after 30 minutes. Tom's energy level is about the same. I now hear the same old snoring some nights and believe it or not, it's a beautiful sound!
Please continue to pray for Tom's healing and direction of care. I thank so many of you that inquire what specific things to pray for and that keep our family in your prayer life. I know so many of you have "stuff" going on in your own lives and I appreciate it when we can all be "real" with our lives. Today our pastor shared peoples "Impossible" in their lives (some of the notes made me want to cry) that God can make "Possible" and it made me think of all the blessing along the road of trusting him as he shows us that nothing is impossible!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Challenges
Happy 4th of July to everyone. I want to say thank you to all the people who have served and continue to serve our country. Even though we do not all agree on how our nation should go forward, and whom will be our leader, at least we have the freedom to voice our opinion.
Tom has been doing well. He has been pushing himself to get his energy level back to where it once had been. I was thinking the other day that it has been a while since I was up for long periods at night listening to his breathing. Next week I am going with Tom to his PT. I will learn the proper technique to give him a neck rub. Every time I do rub Tom's neck and he jumps from the "prickles" I stop, but Tom says that it is necessary to wake up his nerves. Tom was also able to see the new Lemmon-Holton Caner Center and said that is was quite impressive. I wonder how many times we will get to visit this new site.
Tom also received a letter last week from Dr. Teknos stating that July he will leave U of M to be affliated with OSU (yes I mean Ohio State University). Though we are saddened with this news we are wondering if this is an opportunity to bring Tom's care back to the West Side. I have since made phone calls and found out that we do have an Octreotide Scan here in GR. We will confirm with Dr. Teknos that his oncologist, Dr.Campbell and primary, Dr. Divic will continue Tom's care. It would definately be eaiser to plan a 30 minute trip than a half day trip, and nicer for the pocket book too!
Prayer warriors, please continue to pray for Tom's energy. Also for the path of Tom's continued care. Thanks be to God that Tom is doing so well. He has such a positive attitude. We have learned so much on this journey, more than we could every convey.
Tom has been doing well. He has been pushing himself to get his energy level back to where it once had been. I was thinking the other day that it has been a while since I was up for long periods at night listening to his breathing. Next week I am going with Tom to his PT. I will learn the proper technique to give him a neck rub. Every time I do rub Tom's neck and he jumps from the "prickles" I stop, but Tom says that it is necessary to wake up his nerves. Tom was also able to see the new Lemmon-Holton Caner Center and said that is was quite impressive. I wonder how many times we will get to visit this new site.
Tom also received a letter last week from Dr. Teknos stating that July he will leave U of M to be affliated with OSU (yes I mean Ohio State University). Though we are saddened with this news we are wondering if this is an opportunity to bring Tom's care back to the West Side. I have since made phone calls and found out that we do have an Octreotide Scan here in GR. We will confirm with Dr. Teknos that his oncologist, Dr.Campbell and primary, Dr. Divic will continue Tom's care. It would definately be eaiser to plan a 30 minute trip than a half day trip, and nicer for the pocket book too!
Prayer warriors, please continue to pray for Tom's energy. Also for the path of Tom's continued care. Thanks be to God that Tom is doing so well. He has such a positive attitude. We have learned so much on this journey, more than we could every convey.
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