Surgery is Booked

I talked to the doctor today and surgery is booked for Friday, December 12th and we have a meeting with the two surgeons on Monday the 8th. So in the next two weeks, we hope to continue getting ready for Christmas, strengthen Tim up and try to do some relaxing. (Yeah right!) Please continue to uphold us in prayer during this trying time. At least we now know and don't have to wonder anymore...

The Verdict's In...

So we had our long awaited meeting with Dr. Leibermann today to go over the results of Tim's scans from Monday and Tuesday. The chemo has been working and then scans show that the size has been reduced about 50%. The cancer has not spread anywhere else and the chemotherapy is finished. (almost for sure). Praise the Lord! However, they do want to remove the rest of the mass as much as possible through surgery. There is still tumour in the original location (which includes the right psoas muscle (behind the kidney) and thru the nerve foramen and in the spinal column.) General surgery will address the muscle component by going in thru the front and the neurosurgeon, Dr. Gunnerson, who we had previously, will also be there to see if it is possible to get anymore of the tumour out of the spinal column safely. It will be a team effort.
We don't have a date booked yet as spots are tight for the O.R. But the doctor said it should hopefully be within the next two weeks. So if you could pray for an opening, the sooner the better! This is still a very risky surgery so we still need to meet with the surgeons to go over the procedure. We also need to to decide on the risks of NOT having the surgery as the tissue remaining could just be dead tissue and fine to leave in. Dr. L. recommended the surgery route but nothing is set in stone yet. I will keep you posted. They should be calling soon to arrange a time for surgery.

MRI complete

Tim had his MRI this morning, which went quite well... considering that making a baby fast is not so fun. However, he did great and didn't even complain too much. Last night the latest he was allowed to drink a bottle was 2:00 AM so I was going to wake him up then, but it was really neat... Ken and I were reading some Bible passages and praying for Tim at 10:30 last night and he woke up crying. He NEVER wakes up so this was quite odd. Turns out, Tim just wanted to join us as we prayed for him. He downed an 8 ounce bottle (which he also never does) and had a snuggle, and back to bed he went with a full tummy. He also woke at 1:40 AM because he was stuck on his tummy. I tried another bottle but he didn't want it. Then this morning he stayed asleep until 7:15 when we had to go. Pretty amazing...

It was funny watching him wake up after. He was so groggy and drunk on Propofyl (sp?) which is a general anaestetic. He took a good 40 minutes to wake up and then his head was bobbing all over and he was all wobbly. Poor guy. But now we are home and he is sleeping. His counts were good in the clinic as well. Now we just have to do it all over again tomorrow for the CT scan. Oh well... one down, one to go! God is good! Please keep praying!

Results Pending

We are enjoying our time at home and had a nice weekend with the family. Saturday night we put up the Christmas tree and decorated the mantle. (pictures coming soon) It looks so nice and homey here now!



Tim has his MRI booked for Monday and his CT scan for Tuesday. He has to be put for both of them and has to fast 6 hours prior, so if you can keep him in your prayers, that would be great! We will keep you posted on the results. Right now he is doing great. He had good counts on Monday at clinic and there is another clinic visit Thursday.

Asleep at last

Well... it's done. Round 4 is officially over and we are heading home in the morning. Timothy did much better the last 2 days except that yesterday he did not sleep AT ALL during the day! He gets really wired from the drugs and it is just so noisy there. Something is always beeping and people coming in and out. He had a couple short naps today and was much happier afterwards. Thank you for all your prayers and please keep them going the next couple weeks as we await the CT and MRI which will determine if treatment is complete or not. Here are some of the photos from the Ronald McDonald photo shoot...

Is this this final round??

Today is Wednesday already and Timothy has already undergone his first day of hopefully the last round of chemo. He was in good spirits as we arrived, and has already had his first photo shoot as the new "poster-boy" for the Ronald McDonald house. That was pretty neat. They had a professional photographer come in took about 50 frames in the Ronald McDonald family room. It only took about 15 minutes which was good because Tim was pretty tired. You gotta wonder what he was thinking with this big camera pointed at him and the lady bocking like a chicken to make him smile. (I told her to bock as chickens are Tim's favourite!) Too cute.

So yesterday over three hours they pumped in Carboplatin, Etopiside and Doxrubicin. A nasty, potent cocktail of chemo drugs. It's pretty amazing that Timothy starts to get cranky within about 20 minutes of the drugs going in. Then the rest of the day he is restless, can't sleep and kinda grumpy. Poor little guy. He sure is a fighter though! This morning he was just like new again! All smiles to see me and feeling much better. He has a few hives and is kind of itchy, but they are going to keep an eye on it. Besides, he has one of his favourite "girlfriends" as his nurse today so of course that makes him feel better too...

Some recent photos

Here are some of our recent photos including a make-shift bath on the floor in Tim's hospital room. (He wasn't allowed out all week so we needed some excitement!) Ken is wearing a mask because he had a sore throat. Also, you can see how Tim is bearing weight standing now!

We're Out!

Hey everyone! We are now out of the hospital and enjoying our new home. On Monday the repeat cultures came back negative, leading the doctors to think that it was only a contaminated sample to begin with. This means we were there a whole week and there was no infection! Argggg! He did have a fever though, which the doctor couldn't explain. I just think it was from teething or something. Tim got 4 teeth in one week, and yesterday he got 2 more! So at least we get to come home for a week before we have to go back. Next week is the fourth and hopefully final round of chemo! I am so excited you have no idea! He has a CT scan booked for Nov 25 but no word yet on the MRI.


We are much more settled now as the house gets more and more finished. I am learning how to use my new kitchen. The stove is a cookstop with all touch buttons, no knobs. It will take some practice. Hopefully laundry will be hooked up tomorrow and we should be getting the dishwasher. It's amazing what you take for granted until you no longer have it.


We enjoyed the weather the last few days, taking some time to try out the swing and meet the kids next door. Tim is totally his old self, Mr. Happy. He is turning into quite the ham as his little character is shining thru. He is always making us laugh and pulling faces and waving his arms around frantically.


That's all for now folks...

Had a nice time this past weekend with Ken coming down Saturday at noon and staying until Sunday evening. Kate came Saturday evening with Grandma and Grandpa Sommer, had a short visit with Tim and then we went out for dinner. Kate is so precious. It was so cute to see her. You can tell she really misses us all being together. (as do we!) Hopefully we can be together soon.
Ken and I spent the day with Tim, Ken getting some much needed rest. We are such polar opposites as he is crazy busy all week and just wants to do nothing, and I am bored out of my mind and can't wait to go somewhere! So that makes it hard for us to spend time together and agree on activities! I am hoping to get some answers today as to when we can skidaddle. (boy... that's a funny word when you type it out!)

Anyways, I keep taking it one day at a time, as that's about all you can do around here...



Love you all! Have a great week!

Still Here...

Well... we are still at the hospital and have been since Tuesday. Timothy is still in isolation as his blood cultures came back postitive for bacteria in both lumens of his Hickman (access site for chemo) and yesterday they also did a repeat culture to make sure it wasn't just a contaminated specimen. This also showed postive. The good news is that although he has an infection in his blood, he has been on IV antibiotics since he got here so they started working right away. He hasn't had a fever since Tuesday which is also good. They told us that the earliest we can go home is Monday but who knows? They don't really tell you anything around here unless you drill them with questions. Sometimes it seems as if a lot of the meds are trial and error until they get the right one. I guess we just have to trust the docs and out our faith in God that the right treatment will be given and that it will be successful.





Yesterday Kate came down with Grandma to be in the costume parade. Lots of people come from the community and give out candy and crafts and all kinds of stuff. Kate was in her glory parading around as a bride, complete with high heels and all! Each kid got a stuffed animal, a costume if needed (donated by Disney!) and got to do some cool crafts after. It's pretty amazing how they treat the kids here. I took some cute pics but I can't upload them until I am home unfortunately. Kate and Tim also got to meet Elmo which thrilled them both to pieces. Speaking of thrilling... I went thru the car wash last night. That's right folks. This was quite the excitement for me on a Friday night. I don't get out much. Ken had a meeting Saturday morning and so he didn't come Friday. So I had an adrenaline rush with the touchless car wash and a great chick flick. Yep. Fun.



Anyways, I am really missing having a normal life. I miss my patients a great deal and can't wait until I can practice again. My dad is doing a great job filling in but I really miss everyone! Most of all, I miss not having our whole family together. That's probably the hardest part.



I hope I can see you all soon! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.