Where did my hair go???

Thomas finished his first round of chemo on the 13th of August. He got really sick, couldn't eat, kept throwing up, and he was really tired all the time. On August 19th he had been having chest pains throughout the day, around 8 pm they were getting worse, so i took his temperature and he had a fever of 102.00!!! So i rushed him to the ER. Once we got to the ER were told them what was going on, and the dr said the wanted to get some blood work and a couple scans, so they came in to get blood cultures, and then they took him to get a chest x-ray and a chest CT scan. The dr came in a little bit later and said his white blood count was very low, it was 0.3.. where a normal blood white count is 3.0-5.2.. so his was low!!! The ER dr called the on call dr at huntsman and told him what his levels were, the dr at Huntsman wanted him admitted to their chemo floor asap!! both the xray and the ct scan came back normal with no findings. So we left the ER at 2:30am and drove to SLC. We got to Huntsman a little after 3am.. the Dr came in and said the plan was to get him on strong antibiotics for several days to get him counts up! So he was in the hospital for 4 days, he was released on the 22nd. In the hospital he wasn't able to eat, he got sores in his mouth, and he kept loosing weight. So the drs decided they wanted to put a feeding tube in, So the nurse came in and put the tube in. It was pretty intense to watch, it wasn't complicated or anything, but it just kept making him gag, and made it hard to breathe when he was gagging, his feeding tube goes through his nose and into his small intestines. He now is at home, he gets hooked up to the IV feeding machine at night, he gets fed 5 cans over a 12 hour period. were trying to get him up to 9 cans but right now his stomach cant handle it. And yesterday was two weeks since his first round of chemo, and his hair started falling out today!! So a few hours ago he shaved his entire body!!! Thomas starts his second round of chemo on Aug 30th!! Enjoy the pictures! I will update again after round 2!!

The start of Chemotherapy!!

Ok so lots has change since last time. We met with the new Dr. His name is Dr. Gouw, he is amazing, he is probably my favorite dr so far!! He is so nice!!!! Dr Gouw wanted to do a full body scan to see if his Cancer spread anywhere else, The results came back and it has NOT spread anywhere else, thank goodness!! And also he wanted him to get a biopsy done of his tumor in his lung to see if it is still Sarcoma. So he had the biopsy done at U of U, they sedated him and he had to lay on his back and they went through his back and into his chest to get the biopsy, he was only suppose to stay at U of U in recovery for 2 hours but during the biopsy his lung collapsed a little bit and so they needed to keep a close eye on him, so we ended up being there for 5 hours. The biopsy results came back and it is still Sarcoma, which sucks in a way because Sarcoma is more difficult to treat, but its good in a way because then there isnt a second type of cancer to deal with. Thomas had to get a port placed on Monday the 2nd. The port is used during chemo, and its also used to get blood. When he got his port placed they told him he would start chemo in one week!!! So we wanted to go on a little vacation before he started chemo, so my parents took me and thomas to VEGAS!! We were there from Aug 3rd-6Th... Thomas has never been to vegas before so he really enjoyed it!! So he started chemo on monday the 9th and today is friday the 13th and he goes home today. He has done really well through chemo, so far he hasnt had any side effects. He is doing great. He is really enjoying the free room service at Huntsman, he can call them anytime he wants and they will bring him whatever he wants! He has about 6 iv bags hooked up to him, 2 of them are the chemo, i have pictures below of the iv stand, but i took the pictures today and the chemo bags are already gone so i dont have pictures of those, i will get some next time. When they bring out the chemo they have to wear suits and gloves because they said its very harmful if it gets on your skin. He has so many fluids going in to him and so he has to go pee alot, which he isnt use to cause at home he never ever goes to the bathroom during the night, and now here at the hospital he goes 5 or 6 times a night. Thomas gets to come home today, and then he has to start treament again on Aug 30th. They said 7-10 days after his chemo treatments is when it gets scary, they said his bone marrow and blood cell count gets really low and so they have to have nurses come to our house and check on him, they said his immune system gets very low and he has to be really careful about going into public so he doesnt catch any germs. They said he can bleed alot easier, they dont even want him flossing his teeth because it could cause him to bleed. Check out the pictures below (also a few pictures from vegas!) I will post again next time!

Im Back!!!

Ok so i know its been forever since i last updated.. where should i start.. On my last post thomas finished radiation, since then, alot has happened.. he keeps getting infections in his face, where the tumor was, and it has been draining for the past two months, we have made several trips to Huntsman for the infection, the dr have prescribed two different kinds of antibiotics for it, they have cauterized it, and they even did a CT scan of his face to see if there was an abscess. Thank goodness there was no new growths in the mouth. The newest antibiotic has been working for him. And his face is now less swollen and its not draining much anymore. So hopefully the infection is finally going away!!! Thomas also had a CT of his head and neck to check for any new cancer, there was no new cancer in the head or neck but when the looked at the neck CT they could see some growth in his chest, and since we knew that Sarcoma can spread to the chest, we were really concerned about this, and so was the doctors, he wanted Thomas to get a chest CT asap, so we had an appointment for the next day.. so we went back to huntsman, got the CT scan and then waited for a week for the results. I started a new job and so i wasn't able to go with Thomas to his appointment, so Thomas mom and his sister went with him. I told Thomas to call me at work when he was done with his appointment, i was very anxious waiting for the call, and then finally he called me... it wasn't good news. He said the cancer HAS spread to his lungs and there are 4 tumors in his lungs. Dr. Bentz said he will need to see a new dr for the new tumor since its in his lungs, and Dr. Bentz only deals with head and neck cancer. Dr. Bentz said that Thomas will most likely have to go through Chemotherapy for this cancer, but he also said there is no chemo out there that has been proven to treat Sarcoma, so he said that he will be put on a "clinical trial".. that makes me a little nervous but i guess its better than not having anything done at all. Thomas has an appointment with the new dr tomorrow, the 26th of July, and again i cant be there because i have to work. I'm having a hard time not being there for him, we have alot of support from friends and family so he wont ever have to go alone, but i wish i could be there for him... Also, Thomas has lost 111 lbs since January.. he is so skinny now. so i thought i should post some pictures so you all can see! Well i think that's all for now, i will update again after his appointment tomorrow! Love you All!

Radiation is DONE!!

Wow i havent updated in a while. Thomas is finished with radiation! Thank goodness!! He finished about 2 weeks ago. He is starting to eat small things again, which is great! He has lost a little over 80lbs now!!! So im very glad that he is starting to eat again! He is still pretty tired, he works as much as he can, its usually 4 or 5 hours a day! He has a re check with Dr. Bentz on 05/19/2010, and then he will have his next surgery sometime this summer. Here is some pictures of the radiation mask that thomas had to wear during every treatment!

8 treaments left!!!

This is Thomas sitting at the table, he gets so tired that he falls asleep everywhere!

Is it over yet?!

Well Thomas has been going to radiation Monday-Friday, and he was doing really well until about a week ago, He is starting to feel all the radiation effects and he is having a tough time. He has canker like sores all over in his mouth, his mouth and tongue is swollen, he cant eat hardly anything. Its been really tough. The last few days his beard hair has been falling out, it got to the point last night where you could just touch his face and clumps of hair would just fall out. He has lost 53 lbs since January. He tries to go to work but now that he started radiation its really wiping him out, He gets extremely tired! Other than that he is doing good, his leg is healing great and the flap of skin in his mouth is doing great, the Dr said he will do his next surgery around summer time! Here is a few recent pictures that i took yesterday (04/03/2010)

Radiation day ONE

Wow its been awhile since i last wrote. Alot has changed. Thomas has gone back to work, he is working everyday for about 3-4 hours each day, he pulled his feeding tube out, he is eating normal foods, he can actually eat meat again. Its been great seeing his progress. He had his first radiation treatment today, He will go Monday through Friday at 1:00pm for 6 1/2 weeks. I know its silly but I'm going to take a picture of his face and the inside of his mouth once a week, i think it will help see the changes. The Dr's say his face is going to get really dry, and his mouth will be dry and have lots of sores inside his mouth, so i wanted to just keep record of his changes. Well here's pictures for day one! January 11, 2010