The Tumornator: Tom's updates

 As most of you have seen, we've had a very busy April.   Tom, the girls, and I took a lovely 9/10 day trip with travel to Hawaii (Maui specifically).  We did have some hiccups and travel delays on our way out.  What should have been 9am-8p DSM time ended up being 22ish hours at airports and flights and arrival at 11p Maui time.  We routed through Chicago-Seattle-Maui; however our luggage followed our original path to Denver.  It did arrive the next day around 730p.  We had a great time exploring the beach, local farmers markets/craft fairs, whale watching, attending a luau, and relaxing.  We also had beautiful family photos taken at sunset.                   We are also celebrating some events early due to our travel and Tom's surgery schedule.  Vivian has her 17th birthday in May, but we are celebrating with her friends later this week and then she was invited to prom for a friend of he...

This is probably the least informative or blog worthy post that I've made since we started this journey 😂 Since Tom has been back from radiation, we've been pretty low-key and mainly hanging out at home.   His fatigue is getting a little better, but overall he definitely still gets worn out more quickly than prior to his cancer diagnosis.  He's been doing some walking with Vivian, Scarlett, and I depending on the day.  Anywhere from walking around the block to the park and back, which is about a mile.  His appetite is pretty good most days, but again not to pre-diagnosis levels.     We have all the important vacation requirements completed Plane tickets ✔ Lodging✔ Rental Car✔ Luau✔ We have a few other options we're exploring (whale watching, snorkeling, Road to Hana, etc) But otherwise, lots of time at the beach (or looking at the beach) is in our future. It was Spring break this past week, so Tom got to spend lots of times with the girls, runnin...

Several of you have already seen the photo below, but Tom finished his last radiation treatment on Friday 3/6 and he's been home and recovering since then.   He's feeling really tired and run down this week, which is to be expected based on what the radiation oncology team told him.  The girls, dogs, and I were all very excited to see him and to have him home this week.  The napping picture was from last Friday.  Both dogs immediately found a spot to snuggle together with Tom 💖 Overall, we haven't learned anything really new this past week.  Tom did meet with the vascular surgeon to put a face with a name and have him chat about the procedure in May.  As part of Tom's surgery to remove the tumor, they will also have to resect a couple major vascular structures in his abdomen and complete vascular grafts.  Dr. Rasmussen will be removing vessels from Tom's leg(s) to replace the abdominal vessels...and then replacing those in his legs with "fake" ve...

***Lots of education about upcoming surgery below*** please note, some info very simplified regarding organ/digestive function and such 2 weeks of radiation down and 1 to go!  Admittedly we are all getting a bit tired of being separated during the work week and then Tom having to drive back and forth on weekends.  His radiation effects are also catching up to him as he's been tired/fatigued/napping more.  We've been warned that this week will likely be the hardest and will continue for the next week since the effects are cumulative.   They will be doing additional bloodwork this week to make sure everything is holding steady from the radiation treatment and chemo pills.  This does include a CA19-9, but they've shared not to be surprised if it's much higher as radiation tends to increase the levels--however like most things, it affects everyone differently. Tom has been staying at the Hope Lodge run by the American Cancer Society in Rochester.  It's for...

Tom's almost finished week #1 of radiation.  He's staying at an AirBnB this week as Hope Lodge was full, however they've already offered him a spot next week so he can stay there for the next 2 weeks!  It's within walking distance from Mayo and is free (run by the American Cancer Society)  Overall he's doing ok with side effects so far, however it's increased his GI symptoms so he's not loving that.  His radiation team has told him he's doing a great job of holding his breath and lining up his sensor with his target.  They joked that he should teach other patients how to do that (breathing moves the diaphragm, stomach, pancreas, etc--so they practice specific techniques to keep it still) He's also had some bloodwork from earlier this week and was strongly encouraged to increase his protein intake.  We also got updated CA 19-9 numbers--it was 38 :-D  so not quite below the 35, but super close. Mayo has also been adding a TON of appointments while he...

 Apparently I skipped my blog update last week--sorry all!  We've been busy with all sorts of things around here. 1.  Scarlett's volleyball is keeping us very busy on the weekends with tournaments and a fair amount of travel--luckily the rest of her games are within 30ish minutes of home!  2. We bought a "new" to us car!  It was purchased specifically for Tom to travel back and forth to Mayo for radiation and future appointments for just him or the 2 of us.  It's a 2021 Jeep Compass that gets much better gas mileage than our current cars and has significantly less miles.  It will also transition to Vivian's car for college when Scarlett inherits my old Ford Explorer.  The neighbor boys think it looks like a stormtrooper 😁 3. I cut off a whole bunch of hair to donate, which makes it much easier to take care of.  The picture below is from when she styled it, but it's much curlier without all the extra hair as well.       ...