The Tumornator: Tom's updates

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.       ...