Tommy and Nurse Kim after connecting his port aka "Scooby-Doo Tail) so we can start our first treatment of chemo.
Tommy's bed turns in to a really cool fort -- here, he's with his two favoirte nurses who he calls "beautiful" Becky (left) and Beca (right - she's a PLU student nurse).
Nurse Becky giving Tommy his very first chemo treatment April 30 at 6:10 PM PST.

Our Brave Big Super Hero on his first day of chemo.

Chemo Treatment

We got to MAMC at 9:45 AM and at 6:10 PM Tommy started his first of many chemo treatments. He had much energy throughout the day and asked "why" and "what's that" to everything and when he knew better, he'd tell the nurses "no, I hate that". Yes, Tommy is in his Super Man outfit AGAIN. I promise you it's clean every time and washed daily. It's the easiest outfit he owns to put on and off, has no metal on it (which has been important for some of the x-rays and tests) and it makes him feel safe. Now he lays in his bed snacking on pop corn and watching Willie Wonka and the Choclate Factory (new one). He's mentioned that his tummy is sick. So now for the med updates: all our team DR's need to have a group meeting as we are hearing in between them all that Tommy will not have surgery on his foot, if he doens't have surgery than he'll have to have radiation treatments and it goes on and on with all kinds of scarry stories. From now till all of his treatments are over with, we have to wear gloves and masks when we help him to the bathroom and have to flush the toliet twice and it's best tshat he and Maggie don't take baths together anymore. Guess we have to opt for what they did in the old days and have the girls bath first and the boys jump in next. When they first connected the tube to his port, he was very upset and took both Daryl and Iand the nurse to hold him down. He was not comfortable with the port or having them connect meds to it at all. He's now getting better and calling things by their medical terms, although he has nicked name his port tail -- "Scooby-Doo Tail" and the bags of fluid are "Scooby's" drinks or snacks. Hey, whatever it takes at this point!!!!!!!!!! Keep the faith and the prayers. God bless and take care.

Port Implant Pictures - Click on Picture to Enlarge

Mom and Tommy waiting to go in to the OR room at MAMC.
Shortly after surgery, Tommy sits in the PACU Recovery Ward at MAMC the bandage on the left side of his chest is where his port has been implanted.
After being the recovery room for two hours, we can go home ~ yeah! Dad dresses Tommy so we can leave.
Under his "butt band aide" as Tommy calls it, is where they did the bone and bone marow withdrawls for his tests.
Tommy & Maggie on "the boat" AKA mom and dad's bed eating OREO's and watching cartoons while snuggeling with each other under the covers -- a typical spot these days to find the two of them together.

Implanted Port & Bone Marrow Test

Hello everyone. We SO much appreciate all the phone calls, emails, visits and your support and love that you give to us -- it fuels our entire family! Yesterday went better than we ever thought it would! Tommy was so brave and has been running around at nearly his normal pace and at times, even better!!! He now has his port implanted and the bone and bone marrow tests are over and today, he wants to go out and mow the yard with dad. As long as he's not needing anything from us, seems to be mobile and fairing the pain meds -- we're not holding him down. Maggie and him are like shadows and often laying side by side in our bed, also known as "the boat" eating snacks and keeping their piggies warm under the covers while watching the Boomerang chanel which is all the classic cartoons like Tom & Jerry, Jetson's, Flintstones, Popeye, Scooby-Doo, Superfriends. Monday we experience our first Chemo and over night at MAMC -- mom will be with Tommy and dad will stay at home with Maggie -- we plan to have a picnic dinner together in Tommy's room as a family. I'll have the computer and will update the day and post pictures so be sure to keep checking back and keep the faith for all our sakes (your family and ours that is). Take care and God Bless.

Done a lot in such little time

We are all exhausted and have not begun the actual chemo treatment yet. I was released from the hospital on Monday, April 16 after a five day hospital recovery stay from my surgery. And on Tuesday, Tommy started right in on his testings, Wednesday my parents came to assist and help -- thank goodness they did! So today is Tuesday, April 24 and so far Tommy has had chest x-rays, several vials of blood drawn, EKG, echo grahm, CT scan, MRI, two bone scanes and today was his PET scan. Today was the hardest on Tommy of them all. Our report time to MAMC was 8 AM PST, he was not able to eat or drink - minus whatever water it took for him to swallow his "loopy" pill. He was on a major high from the pill -- admiring how strange his faced felt, phasing in and out on conversations, having a hard time remembering his full name, unable to support himself / own weight standing, walking and sometimes even just sitting. It was kind of ice breaking for us to see him like this -- he was like a cute, happy drunk. Then came the Wicked Witch to do an IV -- she sucked! Blew the first one, had Tommy in a total stage of panic, Daryl was crawling out of himself and I was stuck in the middle of it (thank goodness I'm still taking my pain kilers...if you know what I mean). Daryl and I helped the nurse get the stupid IV in Tommy and then shortly thereafter, we were able to walk Tommy in to the PET Scan room and stay with him till he "went under". It was nearly 12:30 PM when were back in route home -- Tommy hasn't done so well with being put under, he up chucks -- lovely! So here we are in my SUV and Tommy dumps a nealy full bottle of soda pop on my floor -- no real harm or big deal. Then out of the blue, he nearly turns blue and tells me he's going to throw up. Thank goodness we took a little tub for this type of thing -- he fills it and we are in a mad dash up 509 to get home. Once home, he gets sick 3 or 4 more times and shortly thereafter goes to sleep till nearly 5 PM. They really druged him up -- I think they over did it. Our neighbors are wonderful, they brought over dinner knowing our situation and mom and dad are leaving in the morning. Maggie gets a quick bath and then swept off till bed and Tommy starts telling us he's tired and wants to go to bed. We retire to the "boat" and then he wants to sleep with Papa and Gee (my parents) AMEN! Go for it son -- I'll have room in my boat tonight. So now here I sit, fighting my eyes from closing and feeling those body twiches one gets when they have over done it. Friday will be more hell :(! Tommy will be put under AGAIN, have a port placed in his chest which he'll have for the next couple of years (used to inject his medicine) and he'll have a marrow test AND bone test done. And on Monday, April 30, he'll have his first "chemo" treatment and just found out Daryl might leave that same day or the next! Keep the prayers and know we keep the faith and love you all for your support.

Here's "Super Man" the day of his surgery on March 1, 2007 before we knew it was cancer.
Just seconds before he went under for the first surgery. He's a brave Super Tommy!!!
Kick'n it on the "boat" aka mom & dad's bed just hours after surgery.
For two weeks he was in this shoe -- just like the summer before when he broke his right foot.

Here's where the tumor is and the sight of the first surgery.

The First Sign

It all started on July 30, 2006 on Tommy's 3rd birthday. While getting him dressed that morning, there on the bottom of his left foot was the this little bump on the rear outer edge of his foot. Hhhmmm...this was strage - no pain was related to it, Tommy had never mentioned so we went to the Dr for his annual check up and even she was dumbfound as to what it was. In fact, she thought maybe it was possibly a wart that was still under the surface. We were told to watch it, so we did and it grew so we went back to the Dr. It was then that Tommy was sent to a foot Dr who looked at it, thought no big deal of it and said to watch it and if it changed in color or size to come back -- he was never alarmed. So we watched for the next several months and it started to grow in size, so back to the Dr we go, he still seemed to have no worries. The Dr said if wanted to talke it out he'd have no promblem doing it but we could also leave it alone. No, at this time Tommy had started to tell us it was hurting him when he walked and we just wanted it out of him. On March 1, 2007 it was removed and all was GREAT...so we thought. We went to his post op and it by the 2nd check up they told us the tumor was a rare form of Infancy Tumor -- which are not cancer tumors. This type though is so rare, they were amazed to see it so they sent it off to Walter Reed in San Antonio Tx to be turned in to a case study. It was here that this tissue they removed that went in to some additoinal testing and then discovered he has Ewing Sarcoma Cancer. On April 10, at 9:15 AM PST, Kimberly got "THE" phone call no parent ever wants -- Dr. Jones was telling her it was cancer! How could this be? We had already gotten the results, this was a mistake, they were calling the wrong person, my Tommy was healthy, happy, hell he was at that very minute playing at daycare with his frinds -- this Dr. Jones called the wrong person. Uh, no! It didn't work out that way, they called the right person and Tommy does have Ewing Sarcoma Cancer. A VERY rare cancer -- so rare he shouldn't have it! Only 150 - 200 cases of Ewing Cancer are reported every year world wide, with the majority of the cases being white males between 10 - 20 years of age. For whatever reason, God has chosen Tommy to have it and now we must kill it out of him and he will have a long longevity life!!! He WILL!