Okay, on to the next step. I'm feeling some relief now that we have a plan of action. Tom's surgery will be on October 27th at St. Mary's. There was a bit of a wait in the doctor's office this morning. I told Tom he must be feeling better because he was grumpy about waiting!!

We both like the surgeon and we think he's the best man for the job! He answered almost all of our questions before we asked them. It is definitely a long involved surgery. We expect Tom to be in the hospital about a week if there are no surprises or complications.

Now on to Coos Bay so we can eat our fill of crab and other fresh seafood and visit with friends. We've been watching the weather and the first couple of days may get rain but it should improve after that. Tom's rarin' to go. If the trailer were packed he'd be hooked up and on the road already.

Until the next time,
Jan

travelin' man

We decided to do a trial run to Graeagle with the camp trailer. We left Reno on Wednesday and came back home today, Friday. We also wanted to celebrate many things, one of which is today is our anniversary. FORTY-FOUR YEARS!!!! We also celebrated that Tom was feeling well enough to take this short trip. I celebrated with Mimosas and Tom stuck to red wine. Carbonation and Tom don't get along. We deemed ourselves ready for the trip to Coos Bay next week. The difference is that we'll have lots of help from great friends getting to Oregon and back home.

We stayed at Little Bear in Blairsden. The camp site had marauding bears a few days before we got there - appropos don't you think?? Fortunately, or unfortunately, we didn't see any live bears, only the carved ones in the camp ground. While there we visited our lake (Lake Davis), down town Portola and Graeagle.

We had an appointment with a surgeon earlier this week and will see another one next week. Then we'll have to make some decision on who, what, when, where and how. We'll keep you posted and want to say thanks for all of the support!

Until next time,
Jan

rest

Now that Tom isn't being abused on a daily basis, he's starting to feel better. He's eating better and probably putting on weight. He tells me that he is not ready to get on the scale just yet. We have appointments later this month with two surgeons.

We had a great visit with my brother and sister-in-law. Tom sure enjoys visiting with friends and family which we got to do on Balloon Race week-end. We are both looking forward to our annual trip to Coos Bay. I'm sure Tom will be a good adviser!

Until the next time,
Jan

WooHoo!!! Today was the last day of radiation and chemo. The Rad. folks presented Tom with a certificate, pomp and circumstance, and hugs all around. What a great group!!!

The next step is to rest and recuperate. In a few weeks we'll make appointments with a couple of surgeons and go from there. The expectation is that Tom will be feeling better in a week or two and hopefully will regain his appetite.

Until next time,

Jan

PS He still has hair.

Therapy home stretch

Today started a reduced area of radiation treatment and the next to last chemo treatment. Let's put it this way...we think that next Wednesday will be the last of the chemo and radiation treatments before the rest and recovery period needed prior to surgery. I'm fairly certain more testing is in the near future. The probable sequence of events is three to four weeks after treatments are completed we should see a surgeon who may or may not want another gastroscopy and who knows what other tests.

I've been brushing hairs off the shoulders of Tom's shirts. Natural hair loss???? Maybe??? His eyebrows are still bushy, but I have my eyebrow pencil sharpened just in case I need to use it on him. I'm now trying to line up some false mustaches. I think maybe a black one and he can wear a black fedora for a whole new look.


Until the next time,
Jan (and me too, (Bubba))