i know...

...it has been a whole week without a blog update...i apologize to all you blog-addicts out there.

tim is doing pretty well...

he has a few side effects from the switching over to coumadin (blood thinner). unfortunately his platelets have started to drop the same week we are switching him to the coumadin and he is experiencing some minor bleeding issues. nothing requiring a transfusion but more of an annoyance. if he bumps his hand or arm he will either bleed or else form these ugly looking blood blisters. an occasional nose bleed or when he brushes his teeth his gums will bleed...stuff like that.

he needs to be on some sort of blood thinner because of his ablity to throw blood clots every so often...he has had three that we were aware of and that will require him to always be on blood thinner. we are entering into uncharted water with not having the chemo anymore and we are unsure how long it will take for the platelets to finally stabilize.

as far as the steroid drop...he is still hanging tough. it is going to be a rough road. my favorite explaination to this dilemma is that we are in a "catch 22". he was put on the steroids to help shrink the tumors and to give him some relief in his stomach. leaving him on the steriods is causing other side effects that we wish to avoid...so we are weaning him off the steroids and will wait and see what happens. long term high dose steroid is dangerous but so is reverting back to growing tumors and not being able to eat...we are going to have to re-evaluate the less of the many evils and make the decision as to what level to stop the drop. we will be monitoring his eyes and his tumor growth and his stomach issues and his joint pain and anything else that clumps into that very long list of steroid issues.

so...how has our week been...i think better than expected. he has moments of tiredness where he just needs to sit and rest and he has waves of an unsettled stomach (mostly later in the day) but overall he has been pretty good. he has been able to make it to some softball games, watch the olympics, watch the little league games, attend a friends birthday party, go to church (he actually made it to sunday school and church today), take a friend out to dinner, spend the weekend here visiting with his dad and the in-laws...pretty decent week.

i will update when i have anything new to say or at least every sunday night. i feel that if i update anymore than that it will grow into a reality tv show...just in blog form. i feel so wierd updating this blog when i don't really have any "medical" updates but i guess i need to remember that this whole adventure has been more than just medical...it has hit about every avenue one could think of and then some more.

i have said this before and i will probably say it again after tonight...we so much appreciate all of you out there in cyberspace...this blog site has not only helped you all stay in touch but in so many ways it has helped us. (i would have to admit it has been a huge blessing to me probably even more than tim but don't tell him that).

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy