Tim + Drama = Our Lives

For some reason it doesn't seem like we can get through a month without some sort of medical drama with Tim. This month we got really lucky & ended up with 2 fun drama-filled events.

The first was when he split his hand open (which he didn't really give y'all the full story on). It started when he decided to make himself a parfait the week prior in our drinking glasses, which are like large stemless wine glasses. When he finished his he didn't rinse the glass and put it straight in the dishwasher. The dishwasher didn't get all of the yogurt/granola out of the glass so rather than using the dishbrush immediately to the right of him, or just soaking the glass, he put his hand in it to try to dig it out. According to him it was "just out of reach" so he pushed his hand in further and the glass broke which split his pinkie all the way up the side. I was facing the other way and turned when I heard him yelling to find him shaking his hand all over the place. Lets just say we're still finding spots of blood throughout the kitchen and the shirt I was wearing will never be the same. :) Luckily that is all healing nicely now and the stitches are finally out. Hopefully Tim has also learned a valuable lesson about not putting hands in objects where they do not belong. He most likely will also be getting a dishbrush in his stocking this year from Santa. :)

Over the past 3 years (ever since the mets in Tim's lungs were found) it has been drilled into our heads that coughing, shortness of breath and spitting up blood are very bad things. Every doctor visit includes a line of questioning about those three things so you better believe we are vigilant about tracking them. I get really nervous when I notice Tim's coughing increasing (usually while he is sleeping) even when I know that it is related to allergies/a cold/etc. Sunday we were doing some yardwork and Tim complained a little about not being able to catch his breath. He'd been complaining all day about the yardwork so I thought he was probably just being overdramatic and wanting to quit :). I told him just to check in when he went in for chemo the next day and not to worry about it. He forgot to mention it on Monday and didn't mention it to me again.

Tuesday afternoon I got a very nervous call from him saying he had just coughed up blood. I could tell he was scared and thought we'd probably have to go in to get him checked (and he isn't allowed to drive while on chemo after he almost took out our garage wall but that's a different story) so I headed home to work for the afternoon & get him checked out. They ended up thinking that he has some sort of irritation within his lungs/bronchial tubes and he now has a prescription for antibiotics. He got rechecked yesterday when he was unhooked from chemo and hopefully this is the end of that drama. He is still coughing but there is no more blood so we're taking that as a good sign.

There are a few different possibilities of what could be going on, some as simple as the fact that the biogenetic he takes works by killing off newly formed blood vessels which cuts the blood supply to the tumors and starves them off (which is why chemo was delayed for a week with his finger needing to heal). He could've had some sort of scratch, irritation, broken vessel in his chest already from the coughing from the allergies and the Zaltrap just weakened it which caused the blood to appear when he coughed or it could be the indication of something more serious. For now we'll just keep a close eye on his numbers and the rest of the symptoms and trust in God's plan. In good news, his numbers did drop a slight amount this week which is always a very good thing.

If you have a moment or two over the next few weeks please say a quick prayer for this all to be allergy related and that the Zaltrap continues to work its magic. Although the chemo every other week is a burden at times, its also so nice to have some stability in our lives for once. The switching, and ambiguity, really weighs heavily upon us and if we could just get into 2014 on the same schedule it would make life so much easier on us!

Also, please keep a few of Tim's colon cancer chemo buddies in your prayers. One is about to have her baby after finishing just over 1/2 of her chemo rounds. Life is about to be even more exciting & crazy for her & her husband. Hoping for a safe & easy delivery, quick recovery and that her last few rounds after the birth go smoothly for her! Another is one we've known for about as long as Tim has been getting treatment. He's no longer getting treatment and has been in some pain recently. He & his wife are incredibly strong but please keep them both in your prayers as they continue through the journey, I can't begin to imagine what they are experiencing now.

Thanks all & hopefully Tim will become better at updating more frequently than every other month. My side of life has become insanity so I don't have the kind of time I used to anymore therefore updates have fallen to the king of procrastination. :) If you notice that he hasn't updated in awhile and you're wondering what's going on don't hesitate to ask him, send him an email, text, facebook message, etc. to spur him on writing a post. :)

Finally, with everything I have going on right now, I won't be able to help Tim with the golf tournament this year. I'm going to miss being as involved with it and will still be around to help answer questions, etc. but just can't dedicate the time that is needed right now. In my absence, we need someone who is organized, has a fair amount of free time they can devote to getting the tournament off the ground and wouldn't mind helping Tim run it this year (which includes helping to keep him on track ;)). He'll hopefully be getting started on it in the next two months (although that kid can procrastinate like nobody's business :)) and we will let you all know more as the time gets closer but if any of you think you could commit to that amount of time over the next few months (or just want to know more about what's involved with it) just let us know!

Finally A New Post

Well it is exactly 2 months from the last post that I wrote.  I am sorry for not keeping up with this blog better than I do.  One of my best friends Kip got married this past weekend and I had one of our good friend's mom asking me if I was writing these anymore, so I figured that I need to get back at it and post a new one.

Like I have already said we went to my buddy Kip and his new wife Jessica's wedding this past weekend.  We had a great time being back in Columbia and hanging out with friends.  My last 2 years of high school I played summer baseball with a team based out of Charleston called the South Carolina Diamond Devils.  At the wedding there were 7 of us former Diamond Devils.

From left to right is Me, Kip McAlister (groom), Justin Calliham, Charlie Lisk, Matt Campbell, and Brett Anderson.  I said there were 7 of us and for some reason Russell Triplett got left out of the this picture somehow.  Must have had a photographer that had a little bit too much to fun.  Haha.

15 days ago from today I was emptying the dishwasher and accidentally sliced my pinky finger opened on a glass drinking glass.  I had to skip a treatment last week to let it heal properly.  So I am sitting in the infusion room right now and just had my stitches removed and I am getting my treatment.  (Fun times)  I am now not able to play golf for about another month which that in itself is enough punishment for me.

On the cancer side of things, everything is still going good.  My numbers had gone up just slightly over the past month but my doctor thinks that it is plateauing and it should stay around that number for right now.  The treatments themselves aren't that bad.  I still feel good and get in the gym as much as I can to keep my strength up.  Plus this weeks treatment won't be too bad since college football finally starts this Thursday and yes I will not miss the game.

I hope that everyone has a great week.
Tim