slight delay...

in order for tim to get his chemo on a particular day, the chemo lab MUST have the chemo orders by 5pm. (you also must be a patient in an actual assigned room). we were at the hospital visiting tims uncle with luggage in tow...until 5:10pm. no room at the inn.

they said that a room was going to become available "during the night"??? we didn't ask...so we are now waiting for the call to come in this morning. it will alter his schedule just a bit IF they can get started this morning we should still go home early sunday instead of very late saturday night.

we will be updating when we can...

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

the night before...

...a few minor changes to our usual routine. he requested his "last" meal to be lasagna so we went to his favorite lasagna place-pavone's. (he always craves something different before we go in for chemo because he knows it will be a few weeks before he is eating right again.)

somehow my work schedule got messed up and i am working tomorrow...so fred is coming down to get him to the hospital and through the admission process. then i will go up after work. you would think after all this time i wouldn't get nervous not being there...but i am...the check-in process is so crucial to him getting all the right medications at the right time so we are reviewing tonight and he has note cards so i am sure he will be fine (but i still worry a bit about that stuff--goofy i know).

his chemo "should" start sometime late afternoon and he "should" go home either late saturday night or early sunday morning. then the real FUN begins. it is a horrible week he faces after he gets home...his mouth is already sore and he has a touch of a sore throat...it should get very interesting. he already said he is planning on living on vanilla pudding.

well...i have some wash to get done before i lay down and i should take out the garbage.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

ps...for those of you who knew we had meg's car in the garage...it is back now and all better. it needed a brake or two or three or four and a few shoes and a few rotors and some oil thingy...good thing the government decided to boost our economy this month. easy come easy go.

sometimes...

...i feel like we are on an amusement park ride. a ride that keeps repeating itself over and over and over. a ride that you just can't get off. you have the flat parts and the climbs and the falls and the twists and the turns and then it starts all over again.

tim is getting ready to soon start his 5th round of chemotherapy. he had one in january and one in february and one in march and one in april and now in may...he has his routine pretty much down and knows when to expect his best times and when to expect his worst times...i think by now the whole family has the routine pretty much down and because of that things can kinda get a little tense at times. we try to get this in and that in. we try to schedule our lives around tims chemo... and although in my opinion we have done an amazing job...it can still get a bit tense.

most families have to look at a schedule and plan day trips or a vacation around a job or a sports camp or a church camp or a family reunion or wedding...take all of that and add in a week or two of dad being in the hospital and a week or two of dad being neutropenic and a week or two of dad being run down and weak and getting blood transfusions every couple of days and a couple of weeks of dad not being able to drive...and this senerio keeps repeating itself over and over and over again.

i think that this eventually wears a family down...i feel tired all the time trying to maintain some sort of a normal household. tim feels totally frustrated with the whole mess. i can't even imagine the thoughts going through our three teenagers minds at times...

i am not sure why i am saying all this other than the fact that sometimes life at the dewalt house is not as peachy as one may think...we had a decent weekend and tim is feeling pretty good (which is normal just before he goes back in for another round). but...so much more goes in to keeping this ship at sail than we can describe. maybe i am saying all this because i haven't had the best week emotionally. maybe i am saying all this so that you all can pray that things change...we need a miracle here. and now would be much better than later.

each round of chemo has hit tim harder than the last one and i know that he is dreading going back in on thursday. pray for us this week...the closer we get the harder it gets.

a side note: big day for megan. girls day out. (sorry tim). her first college tour is tuesday. we are heading out to penn state in the morning. very exciting. throughout this summer in between all the other excitement we will be taking her to tour about 4-5 colleges. (tim will try to get in on as many as he can).

well...sorry for the somewhat of a downer blog. things are really OK over here...but i am feeling a bit ICK...a bit ICK and a bit TIRED.

thanks for checking in.

have a great week...

tim and tammy

quick update...

things are running along pretty smooth...tim still has his rough times but overall is doing ok. his blood counts are holding in the "ok" range for them to give us an extra day off. we do not have to go back in until friday in hopes that we will have the whole holiday weekend off (which happens to be my weekend/holiday to work) oh well.

i have to work today...he is driving again so he is actually up and getting ready to take me to work so he has a vehicle. these early mornings are rough in the beginning but he thinks overall he feels better getting up and moving.

hope you all have a wonderful day.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

wonderful weekend...

...it has been a very long time since i have said those words. but this past weekend was absolutely wonderful. maybe because we were "away" with a great group of friends or because we were just "away" the weekend was great!! i personally enjoyed the weekend because for 36 hours i didn't have to get in the car to drive to the hospital or cook dinner or do laundry or clean the house or pay bills or anything i didn't want to do. tim enjoyed the weekend because it allowed him to hold a golf club and ride in a golf cart and eat out every meal and mingle and mix with some really great old friends and make some new friends.

it would be hard for me to explain how much we enjoyed this weekend get-a-way. i guess the best way for me to explain it is to say that for the past couple of years i have felt like an overworked and underpaid mom and caregiver...but for 36 hours i felt like mrs timothy dewalt...wife of a pepsi man on a weekend get-a-way. we were pampered and spoiled and wined and dined and i loved it. i needed it. we are so appreciative to the individuals that were able to arrange such a trip for us. it was "perfect".

it has been a long time since we had someone turn down our bed and leave chocolates...

it has been a long time since i could sit out on a porch in a rocking chair and sip on coffee and read a book for hours...

it has been a long time since i have seen tim laugh so much...

thanks to all who helped make this trip possible...those who re-arranged our hospital appointments so we could go and those who helped with the kids while we were gone and those who prayed for us while we were gone.

yes, we are back to reality and had a hospital appt yesterday afternoon and had mounds of laundry to do and a soccer banquet last night and had to run to the store at 9pm because we ran out of milk...but that is OK. (congrats to kelsey for getting VARSITY MOST IMPROVED PLAYER AWARD) we are refreshed and ready to tackle whatever comes our way.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

definition...

today all i want to do is give you my definition of a TROOPER:

one who can go to the hospital for a liter of fluids and a unit of blood
then take his dad to a ball game
then take his kids to the mall
then go back the next day for a liter of fluids and a unit of blood and a dose of platelets so that he can take his wife away for a much needed 36 hour getaway
then go back the next day for a liter of fliuds and (the possiblity of more blood and/or platelets)

that is all i have to say today!

thanks for checking in

(tim and) tammy

PS

HAPPY 15th B-DAY ASHLEY AND KELSEY

decent week so far...

the day started early today and will end pretty late.

up at 4:30am

off to work for 6am

tim needs to be at day hospital at 1pm for labs and transfusion support if needed.

i get off at 2pm and will meet him up there.

after he is done there IF he is up for it we are heading to millersville to watch a soccer game (susquehanna made the district III tournament). kelsey plays tonight at 7pm.

them meet the bus back at the school at 10:30pm.

and start the laundry...if they win they will need their same uniform ready to take to school by 7am tomorrow morning.

tim is hanging in there...weird appetite but at least he is eating.

thats it for now...

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

we survived...

yes...we feel proud...we are not too old to host a house full of teenagers AND SURVIVE.

i didn't get the "teen" scoop yet but we think the party was a success. (there are still multiple bodies here and there...it appearantly isn't over quite yet) we didn't have to call any parents or the police. thank goodness the rain held off during the party and the kids could hang out out back and use the trampoline and roast s'mores on the fire pit (i love that thing). megan had to stay home and help chaperone (poor kid) but it must not have been too bad because before i knew it she had about 5-6 friends over to roast a marshmellow or two.

tim had an appt on friday at the day hospital. he was dragging going in but they must have boosted him up a bit while he was there because he was a real trooper last night. he had to get a liter of fluids and a dose of platelets. (i think they had dropped to an 8). his red cell count is dropping and he will probably need blood on sunday or tuesday. we are not sure when he will go back in for another round, but we are guessing memorial day weekend.

once we clear out the house and try to find the basement floor again we are heading to selinsgrove to meet my parents for a combined mothers day celebration. we are going to BJ's (one of my favorites). we decided to go out a day early because tim and i will be spending a large portion of sunday at the hospital. (hopefully we will not fall asleep during dinner).

have a wonderful weekend and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all you mom's out there.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

end of a VERY long week...

you would think after a week like this we would want to just sit and relax and take it easy...i am not sure if it is that tim is on too many drugs or i am not on enough drugs but we let the girls convince us to have a birthday party here friday night. twenty some kids and about 13 or so are sleeping over...

the twins turn 15 on the 16th of may. it is not possible for us to have a party that weekend so we bumped it up a bit...kinda have to schedule stuff between chemo and neutropenia and my work schedule and soccer. it appears that this friday is the best day within a 6 week period. it was supposed to be an outside party but the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating very well...wish us luck!!!

tim still feels pretty crappy but has definately improved over the last few days. he is totally wiped out. he goes back into the day hospital friday at 1pm. hopefully he will not need too much "stuff" we have a party to chaperone at 7pm. i have to work from 6am until 2pm. we still haven't worked out all the transportation kinks yet...you may be getting a phone call.

in the midst of all the crappy we have had some good too...more blessings were showered on us this week...perfect timing as always...i will update more on that later on.

well...i have tons to do before bed and i have to get up at 4:30am so i had best get going.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

first off...

...i have been scolded for leaving you all hanging for a day and for that i am sorry. i just think that sunday was such a bad day for tim and a struggle for me to see him like that and i just couldn't really talk about it. he hadn't had a day like that since his transplant and it was kinda scary. his whole system went "south" all at once.

today has been a better day...in fact i would have to say that every couple of hours i can see even more improvement.

throughout this weekend he has gotten lots of blood and lots of platelets and lots of fluids and lots of potassium. he has had fevers and chills and sweats and a tongue and mouth and throat full of ulcers and nausea and headaches and body aches and dizzy spells and chest tightness and i could go on and on and on. but the weekend is over and his counts are starting to rise again and he is starting to feel human again.

he will still need platelets and blood throughout the week and we go back in every 48 hours but he is showing signs of improvement. each round of chemo is hitting him harder and harder all the time. the good news is that he does eventually recover. the bad news is the tumors come back faster than his immune system does...our goal is to slow down the cancer and speed up the recovery time. this is becoming a challenge. but we are still trying.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

bad day...

...sunday was just a REALLY BAD DAY.

hoping for a better one today.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

about a week out...

...and still feeling crappy. this is definitely one of the worse weeks he has had in a while...but there is a flicker at the end of the short tunnel.

the nausea is still around but he had not actually gotten sick for a couple of days now. we still are packing a "bowl" when we travel back and forth to the hospital...but that is improving some. unfortunately about the time that he starts to feel a little better the ulcers come. he can feel them coming now...his throat and mouth are getting more sensitive and sore. he has lost 10-11 pounds since his chemo last week and will probably lose a little more before he can really begin to eat well again.

his counts are dropping...

the white blood cell count went from 29 to 2. (this means that he can not fight off infections and they classify him as "neutropenic". different diet. wear a mask and avoid sick people and prepare for the mouth ulcers)

the red cell count is holding at about a 10...when he gets to around an 8 hemoglobin they will start to transfuse the red blood cells.

the platelets have taken a dive...from a 29 to 12. he was having nose bleeds on wednesday so we had suspected they had fallen. he received a dose of platelets yesterday.

they gave him the day off today...he goes back in tomorrow (thanks larry for the taxi service). i have to work from 4am until noon so i will go up after work and stay with him until he is done.

thanks for all your calls and concerns...somedays he doesn't feel that he has the energy to talk much so i have been intercepting some of his calls. don't take it personal...keep on checking on him...if he can talk he will and if he can't he won't. you are NOT bothering him. when he gets weak he sometimes loses his voice a bit too.

although it is a terrible thing to go through he is finding some relief in the fact that he has done this before (a lot) and he always eventually feels better. this was round #4 and he is getting the routine down...in the morning we will sit and talk and he will say "well, if i am on schedule this or that should happen today"...sad but i think sometimes the known (even if it is bad) is better than the unknown.

well, that is the update for the day.

gotta get the kiddos moving a bit faster...boy, you can tell that we are getting to the end of a year.

(for those of you that just love to hear ashley health related stories...she finally got back to playing soccer this week and yes...you guessed it...she is hurt again. apparently while playing she had a high kick and now has what they call a HIP FLEXOR...nothing major but she will be sitting the last couple of games on the side lines again...bummer year for that poor kid).

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy