horizontal is good...

vertical is bad, very bad. anyone out there ever have a "spinal headache"? tim is suffering with all the common side effects-the stiff neck, the headache, the nausea, and the cold and clammy. he feels pretty good when he is lying down, but every time he gets up it hits him hard.

yesterday (friday) we spent all day at the hospital again having tests to prepare for the transplant. he had a cardiac work-up in nuclear medicine which he did fine, but then off to the pulmonary function testing. it was difficult to do the testing there because of his bell's palsy effecting the lip and because of the spinal headache, but they think that he did well enough to be able to proceed.

we have a weekend with no trips to hershey scheduled (unless the headache doesn't go away-then they may do a blood patch-but they want him to try and ride it out if he can). just softball practice at noon and a soccer game at 4pm and "fall" soccer try-outs at 6:30pm. pretty slow day today!!

well...it is official...tammy is OFF WORK until after July 4th holiday. it kinda feels good to not have to worry about fitting that into our already crazy schedule. and when i go back in july i will be an official "day-shifter".

thanks for all your interest in our lives and all the prayers.

tim and tammy

boring THURSDAY (thank goodness)

not much new to report...no ER visits, no day hospital visits, no clinic visits...just a typical day without much to do. tim has had a headache and stiff neck most of the day but other than that not much different. his equilibrium and depth perception is off a bit from having to patch the left eye, but he is doing well.

tomorrow we go for some nuclear medicine cardiac testing and some pulmonary function testing to make sure that he is strong enough to handle the transplant.

more update when we know anything.

tim and tammy

a little scare...

today we spent all day 8+ hours in the hershey medical center emergency room. all in all i guess it turned out ok, but we decided we don't like the game of "let's rule this out" and "let's rule that out". that game consisted of a CAT scan and MRI and a LUMBAR PUNCTURE (three attempts to get the CSF) and tons of bloodwork.

the final diagnosis was that he didn't have a stroke and he didn't have a mass in his cheek or jaw and he didn't have an infection in his spinal cord and he didn't have a host of other things...what he does have is a case of BELL's PALSY (go figure). he has the droopy lip and the goofy eye and is back on the steroids and has a really cool pirates patch!!! just another day at the dewalts...

we did get good news today though...TIM IS OFFICIALLY CANCER-FREE as far as the negative PET scan and the negative bone marrow is concerned. they were able to get the cancer into remission and now we are going to proceed with the transplant. one may ask--if he is cancer-free why proceed with the stem-cell transplant...good question!?! because of the very aggressiveness of the cancer and the wierd chromosomal abnormalities (i love to use those big words) the doctors feel that the cancer will not stay in remission for long and then when it does come back...they are not sure that they will be able to put in back into remission. we have been told (in so many words) that his best chance of being able to walk his girls down the aisle some day is to go with the transplant, so...off to transplant we go!!!

more updates on that later.

enough for one night.

keep praying.

tim and tammy

get this one over...

new years eve 2005...when it all began at Hershey Medical Center (hmc).

the first admission and soon after diagnosed with DIFFUSE LARGE B-CELL LYMPHOMA. thoughout jan. we dealt with liver issues and wicked fevers and lots of steriods and started on a round of chemotherapy. we were in the hospital about 25 days this month.

feb 06 found us getting more chemo and eventually having the liver settle down and the fevers got better. we were in and out of hmc as an in-patient and were introduced to the 6-Day hospital as an out-patient.

mar 06 was pretty much the same as feb. more chemo and more day hospital and home for a day or two in between. the doctors have been very pleased with the way the cancer has responded to the chemo and we have all of you and your prayers to thank for that.

apr 06 we finished up our last round of chemo and it looks like we are heading for a stem-cell transplant soon. as most of you already know tim's brother mark is the donor and has a 6/6 perfect HLA match. (more answers to prayer). we still don't have an exact day but we are looking at the middle of may for a big "maybe".

it has been quite a ride so far...we have gone from a world of PEPSI, SOCCER, and DINNER OUT to a world of CYCLOPHOSAMIDE, DEXAMETHASONE, METHOTREXATE, CYTARABINE, DOXORUBICIN, VINCRISTINE and RITUXIN.

and words like BALD, TIRED, HICCUPS, NEUTROPENIC, GERM-X, PLATELETS, RED BLOOD CELLS, AND OXYCODONE became part of our everyday vocabulary.

we have been so fortunate and blessed in our lives and we have had it proven over and over again in these last 4 months. we don't know how one could go through something like this without the love and support of friends and family and the knowledge that GOD is in CONTROL.

thanks to all of you who have taken a moment to read our story...may God Bless You.

keep on praying...we will update whenever we get a chance.

tim and tammy

attempt #1

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what more can you say...you have to keep smiling. i have spent hours trying to get this picture on my "blog" and not on my post. i guess i will have to break down and wait for the kids to get up. today or tomorrow i hope to compile a short abbreviated version of where we have come and where we are headed...stay tuned.

clueless...

today we decided to move forward with tim's stem cell transplant and we decided we should make a place where anyone who may be interested could go and get an update...so here we are. (this is for you diane k.)