Homeward Bound

After a week of being at the Dr's house, we are all four now home and trying to get caught up on rest. Tommy's foot looks great! He's had sponge baths for nearly two weeks, so finally we got him in the shower. He threw up Saturday on our way home from taking my friend Kim to the airport. Not sure why that was, he was all caught up on his meds and was no where near a break threw hour.

We are getting involved with Footprints Foundation. It's a non-profit organization for the children at Madigan Army Medical Center with life threatening diseases. There are about 75 children in the program - not all with cancer (about 20 have cancer). We support the children and families with a back to school program where we rally up as much school supplies as possible. Holiday parties, toys, gift certificates, blankets etc... and each cancer child gets an "Off Chemo" party celebration. If you or anyone you know who would like to donate to this cause, please email me directly at kdjrealtor@msn.com and I will get you the correct information.

May God continue to bless our Tommy and know we ask Him to bless each of you and thank you so much for all your on going support. <><

Pics from Surgery & Back to Chemo Update

This is where they did the bone core sample from.
This is the site of where the cancer was found. NO new cancer was found at all.

We are on chemo treatment 6 of 15, so after Saturday, we have 9 more to go. After having a little time off from chemo, we were a little rusty at the routine. Good news, Tommy's not sick! Now I am positive of the medicine being the blame of Tommy's behavioral changes. It's NOT a fun thing to watch and deal with. Looking forward to going home on Saturday and start the detox before we end up here in a transfusion next week.

Kim and Maggie have come up to see us two days in a row. With Tommy's altered behavior, I asked Kim to take a break today from coming and just doing some fun Maggie things. It's too stressful for all of us to have all of us here. Maggie has taken to Kim just fine, she's calling her "Mommy" - little vixen! That REALLY makes me feel good and I know Kim is more than able to care for Maggie -- she's a mother of FOUR! Thanks Kim, Dave, to your children, Pete and Shannon for allowing Kim to help and support us in our time of need. I don't know what I would have done without her this week!!!! Keep prayers going and know we thank you for it! <><

Round 6 of 15 Chemo Treatments

Monday we came back to the Dr's House to start yet another round of chemo - a six day treatment. Dad's across over the pond, Maggie's hanging out with her step-mommy Kim and Tommy's doing fantastic with his treatment.



Tommy takes several different meds to stop the throwing up and one of them really effects his behavior. One on one, it's challenging to deal with, but add guests to the mix of things and it's nerve biting to all. Kim and Maggie came to visit us the first two days, but today they are taking a break and doing fun things together. Tommy wants to go home to be with them or have them come visit, so he's not very happy that they are off on their own having fun.



Meanwhile, Dave (Kim's husband), Shannon and Pete (Kim's parents) are holding down her fort of 4 in the clan. Katie and Connor are VERY active 9 and 10 year olds with school and competitive league sports - and then there is Patrick and Dillon - 2.5 year old TWINS! Kim says she's board with just Maggie after dealing with her four and thinks this is really a vacation. Sounds like we'll need to arrange for a trip for Shannon next to get away :). Kim and I have been friends for over 22 years. She's a lot like a sister to me and her parents hold a special place in my heart.



Right now Tommy is watching a movie. I'm sure he'll be asking to go for a walk or to the play room when we are done here. He's up nearly 5 pounds since we started the steroids and looks GREAT! His foot is healing better than we thought it would and he's been walking on it for nearly a week. We took off the big bandage and have a smaller one on.

G R E A T N E W S ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Thank you Jesus! Keep your prayers going -- we're being heard and the surgery results prove it. It has been a L O N G week waiting to hear from Children's about the results. G R E A T news - no cancer tissues were found in the tissue they removed the tumor from and the area that was in question where they took three bone core samples from showed that at one point it was actually infected. It's a little mysterious as to why that bone area was infected at one point, but it's not infected now and it's not cancer!

This was the news we wanted to hear! Daryl left two days ago for the "Sand box" aka Iraq, but was able to deliver the GREAT news to him over the phone.

Monday Tommy will enter a six day chemo treatment and this is made possible because of my best friend Kim and her family. Kim is a mother of FOUR children in Scottsdale, AZ. Kim will leave her Chiclets in the hands of her wonderful and loving husband Dave and her mom and dad's (Shannon and Pete) hands! Kim will be taking care of Maggie while Tommy and I are at the Dr's house. It's getting to the point where we are needing help and having my parents here for Tommy's surgery was exactly what we needed. My sister Michelle will be here on a planned visit for when Tommy should fall for a blood transfusion to help with Maggie so Daryl can fly. Daryl and I are so thankful to all of your support and being here for us when we need you the most.

Keep the prayers and feel our love!
<><

Keep Faith and Keep Prayers

If you have ever seen a loved one go through chemo, than you know how hard it is on them physically and mentally. It seems a million times worse on a frail four year old young boy and it's hell as a mother to watch him endure it! I keep telling myself, we have to see him get sick in order to get better and not have the cancer spread, and so far it's working and thank you Jesus for letting him be "cancer free" in his recent test and surgery results. It just seems so wrong though that the chemo is the way it is on him! It's hard on all of us. Tommy is a prisoner in a hospital bed half the month, hooked up to IV's and getting pumped full of meds -- some to kill the cancer and some to help him from puking out his guts out and doubling up in pain. Or he's getting someones donated blood because he is not able to recover on his own because he's so down and out, or he's getting platelets because he's too week to reproduce them himself. Maggie is without her mommy and brother half the month, Daryl's without his wife and son for half the month, I'm like a ball in a pin ball machine living a robotic life while going from one thing to the next without any breaks.

A Prayer to St. Peregrine for Tommy

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty", "The Wonder Worker" because of the numerous miracles which you obtained from God for those who have turned to you in their need. For so many years, you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being.
You turned to God when the power of human beings could do no more, and you were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His cross to heal your affliction. I now ask God to heal Tommy whom I entrust to you.
Aided by your powerful intercession, I shall sing with Mary a hymn of gratitude to God for His great goodness and mercy.

Amen

<><

PICTURES - Enlarge to VIEW by Clicking on Pic

Tommy really wanted an Army cake - his wish was Cocoa Craig's demand. Uncle Craig got off of work and went to the bakery to find Tommy's Army cake. We have been blessed with a VERY loving extended family in Washington.
Uncle Craig and Auntie Grace bring in the band with "Happy Birthday to Tommy" and start his first of many birthday parties off right!
Uncle Craig also hand picked Tommy's birthday present - a remote control jeep - he LOVED it! Tommy's gotten pretty good with his jeep - can do spin outs and make it slide.
Here's my Fishing Tommy! First time out fishing - went to the Puget Sound - Ruston Way Pier just below where we live.
Dinner at Anthony's! Tommy's favorite - he LOVES fish!

Maggie helps out at bath time.
Tommy had a birthday party every day before his surgery it seemed like. It wasn't till I started looking at the pictures from this last week that I realized how much of a toll this is taking on me and Daryl - we both look and feel pretty exhausted. Having help this last week was VERY much needed and apprecitated - thanks Mom and Dad!!
Despite all the changes and stress in our household, we try to keep a normal routine as well so Baby Maggie Mae can still flash us her pretty smile! She's a great grounder for the stress and depression and VERY attached to Mommy!
Papa and his Pal at the pancake store (it's what Tommy calls it).
We spend a lot of time on the "boat" (aka our bed) and they each have their own spots and like to be with each other. I hope it's forever like this for them.

To help take Tommy's mind off the fact that he's having surgery, we did all the things he wanted to do. It's no surprise that he wanted to play golf with all the "golfing genes" in his blood. He's pretty good too - hope to get him in lessons next year.
He knows to line it up, keep your head down, eye on the ball and follow through. He's going to be a pro after his golf lessons from Papa.

Tommy's surgery update is blogged below - we are waiting for results this week! Here he is waiting before his scans. Claude (the beanie baby on his head) has become a new favorite.
With daddy and Papa being golfers and sometimes granddaddy - it's no surprise Tommy's following their footsteps. Believe it or not, Tommy picked out this cake on his own. His birthday was only days before surgery, and he wanted to celebrate with Gee and Papa - it was a good time for all and a good distraction from his pending surgery thoughts.
Gee and Papa with the Birthday Boy.

ALL summer long Tommy has begged to go fishing with Papa - so it was a must on our list of things to do. Tommy went to the store, picked out his fishing pole and tackle box and was the only one on the pier to catch a fish from the Puget Sound - FIRST time fishing too! All the fishermen came around to see it, it was one of those amazing times in his life and impressing as the mom to be there and watch it all happen.

Surgery Update

All went GREAT with Tommy's surgery! AMEN and thank you Jesus!!!! On the 7th, we did all the scans and it was great to see and hear that his lungs are cancer FREE and so does appear the rest of Tommy.

There is one area of his foot, the talus, which did not look "normal". They say not to worry about it and they feel it's a reaction to the chemo. To rule out any fear of cancer, they took three different bone core samples which will be tested over the next week to verify it's not cancer.

The hardest part about that is we have been down the road of being told it's not cancer and only to end up finding it is cancer. I don't want that to be the case again! I'm not allowing this to consume my life and thoughts, as I do not fear or feel it is cancer.

I honestly believe Tommy is cancer FREE and WILL live a LONG and HEALTHY life!

In addition to taking three samples of the talus, they cut out the previous scar and scar tissue. Now Tommy has his foot all wrapped up and isn't able to bear any weight on his toes or foot. They used surgical glue instead of stitches - easier to heal and no worries of needing to remove stitches. The poor child has been through enough hell, that's for sure!

Tommy is in a fair amount of discomfort and pain, although one would rarely know because he has such a great attitude and tolerance.

Daryl and I granted Children's permission to conduct a case study on Tommy and Ewings Sarcoma. We want to help do all that we can for future patients with this horrible disease. It's great to be a part of such a wonderful study and not only at Children's, we also granted the military to do a case study with Tommy's cancer -- good DOES come out of evil and here's proof. Tommy is at a higher risk of his body duplicating the chromosome 11 misfire - for a better lack of LONG terminology -- and Children's hopes to find out from Tommy's tissue, samples and future tests what makes the body do it, as it's still a mystery. We pray to God that Tommy's system doesn't duplicate the misfire and watching him over the next five years with check ups and tests every 90 days will help with the monitoring.

Now, Tommy only has about 10 more chemo treatments to complete and that should be done near February 2008. The chemo is hell! Please, please, please keep the prayers -- it's what gets him through this.

We hope to have tissue results back by next Wednesday and the bone results back by next Friday. There are pictures to be posted of the big event, but will post in a separate update -- getting a little late here. Much thanks for the love and support you all give, God bless my Tommy and Maggie. <><

TEST Day - Please Pray

On Tuesday, August 7 Tommy will be having all his scans done at Children's in Seattle. Our day will start at 5 AM and Lord only knows how late it will be till it ends. This is the first time we have done the scans since we started Tommy's chemo treatment. Tommy will be put "under" and there will be a CT scan, MRI, PET scan, Bone Marrow (that's a painful one) and x-rays to name the ones I can think of.

The good thing about the scans is confirming that the cancer has not gone else where in his body since starting the chemo. Tommy doesn't do well with waking up - he usually spends the next several hours puking. We hope that we can perhaps head it off with some sort of medication.

My parents (Kim's folks) are here -- and we can not express the relief they bring us! This is exactly what we needed - support and help while Tommy is actually having a procedure done. Especially now while there is no daycare for Maggie. Gee and Papa will be holding down the fort with Maggie and doing all the cleaning -- let me tell you, my dad cleans! Between him and my mom, the floors will have been swept and hand washed, dishes clean and put away, everything dusted, laundry washed, dried and folded on our beds, baths all scrubbed till the chrome shines and the mirrors sparkle! AND they'll have dinner waiting for us -- we'd LOVE for them to just move in!

Then on Wednesday, August 8 Tommy will have his surgery where they will cut out where his previous surgery was and any scare tissue from it. This is also being done at Children's in Seattle. Tommy and I will spend the night there afterwards and we believe the plan is to go home some time on Thursday with a post follow up a week or two later. Then we'll be back to chemo either the week of the 20th or the 27th.

We have the best family and friends! My best friend from when I was 14, Kim (yes, her name is also Kim) will be coming up the week of Tommy's next chemo treatment to help with Mag's while we have no daycare. Kim's maiden name is Eno -- while growing up I always called her Kim Eno (I still do, sorry Dave -- she'll always be an Eno in my mind) but said it so fast that it sounded like I was saying Camino and for years my brother in law thought her name was Camino, HA! Like the El Camino car - Kim got that her entire life till she married Dave. Now she's Mrs. Little. Good thing she didn't name any of her three son's Stewart, that would have been VERY bad!!!

Okay, well enough of the silly stuff. We ask that everyone keep the prayers going and put the white light around Tommy and say he's cancer FREE! Much love to you all! <><