Plan for 2009

This is the first doctor visit of 2009 and it went pretty well. Tom and I headed up to Lemmon Holton Cancer Center today for the appointment with his Oncologist. Of course no trip to the hospital would be complete without Tom getting poked and more blood drawn. We met with Dr. Campbell's Nurse Practitioner. We went over Tom's last PET Scans, which were clear. We talked about the fact that his last blood work had shown his Calcitonin counts were down for the first time, which were encouraging!

We discussed the plan for 2009. In 6 months Tom will have a chest x-ray and more blood work and then meet with the Oncologist to go over the results. It appears that we will live our lives 6 months at a time. In the meantime Tom will talk with his Surgeon at the U of M about his continuing post-op difficulties. He still wakes up most mornings with swelling and difficulty breathing. Tom describes it as living everyday with a noose around his neck. He doesn't complain much but I can tell he struggles. We will head over to the U of M on April 17, and I am sure he will donate more of his blood at that time. I want to move the appointment up but Tom will not let me. I think at this point he just wants to stay out of the doctors offices for a while and I can't blame him.

All in all this was a good appointment. Now we can spend the next months just worrying about "normal" life things; kids, bills, school, jobs. We still are taking one day at a time and not taking life for granted. I am trying to focus on what is written in I Corinthians 14:1 "Let love be your greatest aim"

Winter Blast

I can wait for the winter freeze that we will be getting this week. The kids are back on the "No School" chant around the house. I will not be surprised to find more spoons under their pillows! We are just trying to get into the groove for 2009 around our house.

Tom was sick on his birthday but is doing better now. He still gets tightening of the throat when he starts to get upper respiratory issues. However, his body is fighting his cold and his breathing is getting better and will hopefully improve, especially at night. Otherwise Tom is feeling pretty good. We even worked out 2 times last week.

Well, not much else to report in the Andrew's household at this point. That is a good thing; after an 18 month battle we are getting a chance to catch our breath. Tom's next Dr. appointment is at the end of the month. We are keeping our chin up and remembering what is important; God, family, and friends.