An Uphill Battle

This posting was created by Teresa, Tom's sister.

Tom's cancer challenges have been quite rough lately. To date he has undergone 4 rounds of chemo and 13 radiation treatments. Suppressing the immune system and then walloping the body with industrial strength medicines can leave one's body feeling a little beaten up!

In the past 2 weeks he was hospitalized after passing out when he got up out of bed. Turned out he had low potassium and magnesium levels and dehydration. That hospital stay lasted 2 days and once he got into the habit of eating bananas more regularly and keeping track of his water intake all seemed OK and the treatment went on. A week later Tom blacked out again and it seems that time low blood pressure may have been the culprit. Now he tries to maintain his activity level and salt his food more often!

Over this past weekend the side effects of the radiation/chemo appear to have emerged in full force. The multiple doses of radiation have made Tom's throat extremely swollen and sensitive. He has been experiencing a lot of discomfort, pain, a swollen tongue and difficulty in swallowing....and he's got 22 more radiation and 3 more chemo treatments to go! Today when he went to begin the radiation treatments for the week the doctors took an assessment of his vitals which included a slight fever and possible infection and determined that he needed a break from the treatment and time to recoup his energy to fight this battle and eliminate any infections. So it was off to hospital again, this time to get Tom on antibiotics, additional blood work, increased fluids and further lessons on using the feeding tube and making the most of a liquid diet. With so much of his throat and mouth either swollen or sensitive it has also made talking extremely difficult so we rely on Tom's sign language skills (which basically consists of air-writing out words) to figure out what he needs. Cancer is battled by many and Tom's army is huge, consisting of an exceptional team of doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff!

Through the challenges Tom maintains a sense of humor and positive attitude. I'm sure his optimistic outlook is fueled by the well wishes he receives regularly. All the thoughtful expressions of concern and care by Tom's relatives, friends, and colleagues are so greatly appreciated - please keep them coming! Tom may not be able to respond to your cards and notes but he reads them all and is genuinely touched by your encouraging words of support and thoughtful gestures.

Finally, cancer is an insidious disease that affects the whole family, not just the cancer patient. So many thanks to all who have kept Tom's immediate family in their thoughts and prayers, especially our Dad who has carried the responsibility as Tom's primary caregiver through most of this battle. We feel blessed with the support extended to each of us by so many of Tom's acquaintances!

Stay tuned to hear from Tom soon...for now, keep those well-wishes coming!