Sobering News

Summer is about half way through & we are trying to enjoy these days before the crazy schedules start again. Tom has been working many hours & my work days seem to fly by.

There have been 3 grievance letters to our insurance company to get Tom back into the test mode. We are back to waiting for the approval. Prayer warriors, this would be my top request at this point in time. Tom continues to have breathing issues & noticed more swelling in his face. This brought about the decision to call his primary doctor. On Friday he went over many things with his doctor. First of all I again have to say how impressed I am with Tom's doc. Tom said he felt a little lost without his Secretary with him to give that last oncologist visits, and such & that was the good news of the day. Doc gave Tom his perspective of Tom's disease:

He first said that every time he sees Tom he believes it is a miracle. He said that after seeing the scans he would not have thought Tom would be in his office today. The swelling that Tom has been having is because he does not have the lymph nodes to reduce the fluids that build up in Tom's face and neck. It pools up while he is laying down & takes most of the day for the swelling to reside. This has been causing his breathing problems, headaches, & lack of sleep which has lead to exhaustion, anxiety & depression. The doctor is going to send Tom to a specialist on August 14 to see if there is anything they can do to reduce his swelling. The doctor is also putting Tom on new/more medication to see if it will help with this. The doctor has ordered an overnight study to see if Tom's oxygen levels are dropping significantly at night. The doctor has also put in a request with the insurance company to see if Tom would qualify for a hospital bed at home. Tom will follow up with the doctor on September 5.

Tom talked about his day to day struggles. Tom was reminded that he doing incredibly well after such a major surgery. They discussed the fact that the cancer is still active and he is by no means cured. Tom needs to focus on what is important right now. The surgery bought him 5 years & if they can stay on top of the cancer he will continue to look at life 5 years at a time.

I told Tom that none of this is shocking to me. I stopped reading all the website information a year ago because it all confirmed this. It has been in the back of my mind for that past 2 years. I try very hard not to take a day for granted (though at times I have greatly failed). So hearing this was once again very sobering and I again thought about how fragile life is. Then verses come to mind. I will share this one:

Psalms 44:5
O God - my God! O my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God! I shall again praise him for his wondrous help; he will make me smile again, for his is my God!