the roller coaster of life...

well...monday has come and monday has gone.

the doctors appt went VERY WELL...he seems pleased with tims progress and is willing to start making some changes to his routine. he thinks it is time to see how tim does "on his own" which means living without the fluids and stuff that he gets in the day hospital every three days or so. he is going to need to have bloodwork done every 48 hours to monitor his labs but this is a good thing. we are a little nervous about the "cold turkey" but as long as they are having him go in every two days for labs i guess we will be fine.

he also said that he would be willing to try to get him off the LOVENOX which is the very expensive medication (shots) that he takes for his blood clot. we are switching him over to coumadin...they are hoping to be able to make the switch within the next 7-10 days. this would mean a savings of about $420 a month...this is a good thing too.

so why the roller coaster...because even though we had a good appt and things are heading in the right direction he had a REALLY CRAPPY night last night...felt achey and his stomach was a mess and had the chills. it is about 5am and i just talked to him and he seems a little better this morning...but pray for him when you get up this morning...i am off to work and will check up on him a bit later on this morning. (meg thinks he just gets feeling better and over-does it a bit...she may be right...we will see) it just gets frustrating...you have good news and want to feel good and can't. but...one day at a time!!!!

well...thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

sunday morning

it is 3:57am and all is well...

i am off to work

ashley is in baltimore with nana

kelsey is at a friends house

megan is home with dad ( i am not sure but i think she just went to bed before my alarm went off)

not much going on today...tim is hoping to get to church and other than that we are just patiently waiting for the monday morning doctors appt...

have a great day...

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

impressed...

...i don't know if it was the dress shoes or the nice "express" pants but tim really impressed his day hospital nurses yesterday. i think he really has turned a corner and is starting to feel better and have a bit more energy to get out and do more.

it was a semi-long visit yesterday because they have been having issues with his PICC line and had to flush some "TPA" through the lines which takes an additional 45 minutes or so...they haven't been able to get a blood return but after that flush yesterday it seems better.

we see the DOC on monday morning and "hopefully" will be given some sort of direction for his future.

kinda strange around here again...ALL THREE GIRLS are home and sleeping here. no missing kids...no extra kids...kinda strange!!!

i work this weekend...tim will be in charge...wish him well!!!

thanks for checking in...

have a great day!!!!

tim and tammy

mid-week update...

things are going pretty well. tim is doing more but i think he is getting a bit "run down". i think we are going to have to try and pace his "come back" a bit more. lots of aches and pains...but we think they are mostly from getting out and doing more. today should be a more restful day...i have to work and will not be home until after 5pm. (this will be a loong day for him).

we are back to the day hospital tomorrow.

meg is still at field hockey camp-we went to watch a game last night in e-town. they are 4-0 and very psyched!!!! it was great to see the team so excited.

well...i gotta run.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

monday morning

this has to have been one of the BEST weekends we have had in a long time. tim really felt pretty good almost the whole weekend (he had a minor stomach issue on saturday night).

he was able to make it to church on sunday which is a huge accomplishment since that is in the morning. (his mornings are still a bit rough). he enjoyed getting to see everyone on sunday. then we got to visit with my parents in the afternoon and some friends stopped by to check on tim and we had a really nice visit with them too.

i got some more info on the GOLF tournament...but i have yet to figure out how to attach it to this site...but i can tell you the date and location and stuff:

FRIENDS OF TIM DEWALT
2nd ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2007 8AM START
DEER VALLEY GOLF COURSE 101 STOUDT RD. HUMMELSTOWN PA 17036
18 HOLE FOUR MAN (OR WOMAN) SCRAMBLE-SHOTGUN START

DINNER AFTERWARDS AT HARRISBURG FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD (can just register for the dinner only if you are not a golfer-that would be me)

QUESTIONS: contact John Packer @ 717-554-7209 or 717-652-7698

this is where i get lost...there are golfers and hole sponsors and silver sponsors and gold sponsors and a penn state ticket raffle and it would be best to contact John Packer for those details or if you are local give us a comment or a ring and we can drop off a registration form. the tournament is limited to the first 124 golfers but i think the dinner is open to many more.

i know that tim is hoping to have his PICC line removed in time to swing a club but if not he will probably hang out at the "hole in one" contest like he did last year.

hope to see everyone there...they are calling it a benefit but i tend to think of it as more of a CELEBRATION that he is still around. i have already begun to pray that he is well enough to participate and feel good on september 22...

off to the day hospital today...

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

pretty good weekend

so far things are going pretty well. friday night tim and i were able to take kelsey to play mini-golf and ride go carts...yes, tim got into a go-cart and rode against kelsey. (i won't tell you who won)

today...he decided he was up for a ride so we headed south on 83. the last time we did that we drove until the road ended which happens to be what we did again today. phillips crab soup and a nice walk around the harbor. it was a beautiful day today. his endurance is getting better each day which was a good thing today because we parked on the 4th floor of a parking garage BEFORE we read the sign that said the elevators were out of order!!!!! i am not sure which one of us was in worse shape after climbing 4 flights of stairs...i hate to admit it may have been me.

meg leaves for field hockey camp in the morning and will be there until thursday.

ashley is coming home in the afternoon (she had a blast with nana and pop pop and is now a HUGE fan of the orangeville carnival's homemade ice cream)

we were at the day hospital on friday and his labs have stopped dropping...infact some of them actually were higher than the last time (this is a good thing). we still haven't got a clue where we are headed from here, but hopefully on the 30th we will be given some direction when we see the doc again.

have a great rest of the weekend.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

friday already...

being back to work part-time really makes the week fly by...i feel like i am 5 days behind in "stuff" and i only worked two days!!!!

tim is feeling decent...he is getting out a bit more everyday. we did see the doctor on wednesday and he had no explanation for the dropped blood counts and said that we will have to wait and watch...goody>

so we are back to the day hospital on friday.

i am not sure of all the details yet, but i hear that there is another benefit "golf tournament" coming up in the fall. this one is being held here in the harrisburg area. my understanding is that there will be a morning golf outing for all those who golf (or those who want to try) and a luncheon afterwards for those of us who don't golf who would like to join in the fun. i am not too good on this computer but if i can i will try to copy the info onto the blog somehow.

thats it for now...

thanks for checking in...

tim and tammy

ups and downs...

tim has good days but even through his good days he has some bad spells...he still gets some pretty wicked waves of nausea and stiff and sore joints and bones. he tires out quickly and for some reason still to be determined his blood counts are going in the wrong direction. every couple of days his white blood cell counts and his red blood cell counts and his platelet counts are dropping. he also has experienced a big drop in his potassium...which required him to stay an extra 3 hours on monday to replace what he had lost.

he has to go back in wednesday to check on his blood levels and we are going to try to sneak in a quick visit with his doctor and see if he has an explanation. i am going to work again tomorrow and meet him at the day hospital in the afternoon.

fred was down today to entertain tim while i was at work and he took ashley and her friend back to berwick for her turn at that "quality nana time".

i will update if we hear anything...

thanks for checking in...

tim and tammy

wow

...sorry for the long break but the long break this time means things are GOOD!!

we actually were "kid-less" for 52 hours and we took advantage of all 52 hours.

we took an overnight road trip to berwick (first time since easter i think)
visited his dad's new pad
ate homemade ice cream at a local carnival
ate his favorite berwick pizza
played mini-golf (he lost)
ate out (often)

the kids were at harrisburg invasion...the latest poll shows that there were over 3000 people in that community (18th and derry street) that attended the block party and 60 responded to a salvation message. the kids had such an awesome time. it is a humbling experience to go into certain parts of the city and mingle and see how others live...it really touched my kids lives too.

the girls have been filling us in on numerous stories and testimonies of how kids lives were touched over the last few days...it brings tears to your eyes. thanks go out to all the staff that made this experience possible.

well...the crew is coming home from soccer practice. time to start the washing machine AGAIN.

thanks for checking in.

we go back to the day hospital on monday but don't actually see the doctor until the 30th.

tim and tammy

not much news...

if you hear that there was a TIM SIGHTING...they are probably right!!!

he actually was at the mall on wednesday. he no longer has pants that fit so we had to go and buy a pair of dress pants so that he won't have to wear sweats to church. (we can't promise that he will be in church this sunday-but when he is ready we want to be ready).

he tuckers out pretty quick and still has waves of nausea but overall i am seeing improvement each day.

all the girls are gone for a couple of nights...they are at our church doing an inner-city outreach. they are expecting about 60 students from 7 different churches (to help) the last i heard. they do a great job and it is a fantastic experience for all involved. it is part "out-reach" and part "community service" and part "awesome personal growth".

well...it is getting late and we are back to the day hospital in the morning.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

no more tests...

that was a direct quote from my husband this afternoon.

he is tired
he has a sore throat
he is sluggish

but the test result showed that there was NO evidence of any infection in the heart lining. so we are celebrating tonight being the last night of IV antibiotics. his antibiotic is dripping in while we are watching the all-star game. (fun fun)

we have the day off wednesday and we go back to the day hospital on thursday.

thats about all the news for today...

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

ps...we are glad that the state is back to work. meg really wants that drivers license next week.

back to hospital...

tims little vacation is over...we have a noon appt back in the day hospital today. and tomorrow at 10am he is being put to sleep to have a trans-esophageal ECHO cardiogram (?). the ECHO is to check the lining of his heart to make sure that there is NO bacteria hiding in there. he has had two relatively close STAPH infections and this will let them know if the staph entered into the heart lining.

he survived me working the weekend...and better yet i survived working the weekend. it is a challenge trying to coordinate THIS household- trying to work plus juggle the medication times, the shots, the IV antibiotics, meal times and all the teenagers. but we survived.

kelsey comes home from berwick today. she had a great time with nana and pop pop.

well, i am going out to mow the grass before it gets too hot. my parents are coming down to mow this afternoon but 96 to a tad bit too hot!!!!! i am going to try to get it done before they get here.

have a GREAT day. our thoughts and prayers go out to all the state workers who are off work today...hope this thing gets settled soon.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

USARPSC

did anyone besides our family watch this last night?? it was great. i think we may have evened the score with tim a bit...he loves watching sports and ESPN and we found a ?sport on ESPN2 that we made him watch last night (he is still whinning). we figured just before the home run derby and the all-star game it was our turn to pick the sporting event.

2007 UNITED STATES of AMERICA ROCK PAPER SCISSORS CHAMPIONSHIP

we haven't had this much fun watching TV in a long time...megan thinks that next year she would like to go out to vegas to compete. (incase you only caught part of it-the guy with the oven mitts didn't win)

tim is doing great this weekend...especially since we gave him the TV remote back. his stomach is improving and each day that he goes without getting sick is a huge blessing. he is still exhausted with any little activity but this will improve with time.

i have to head out to work...two days in a row!!!

thanks for checking in...hope you get out to church somewhere today.

tim and tammy

weekend update

it is tims FIRST whole weekend OFF in a very very long time...he actually has 2 days off in a row without having to go to the hospital. (unfortunately, it happens to be my weekend to work...bummer). he is not thrilled that his first weekend off he will be spending it without me, but he will just have to adjust. he is feeling well enough for me to feel comfortable picking up some time and this is really a GOOD THING>

things are looking a little better each day...he needs to DRINK LOTS of fluids this weekend so if you talk to him ask him if he is drinking enough.

i gotta go and get ready.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

all is well...

not too much to say...tim did well yesterday. that means we are heading into day 6-yeah!!!

we have a day hospital appt today. not to eventful. (this is a good thing)

if all stays well i work saturday. this will be a short one today...gotta go get the van's oil changed and tires rotated and investigate a starter or fuel injection something or other...have a great weekend.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

so far so good...

each day that tim goes without getting sick to his stomach is one day closer to him starting to gain back some weight and feel stronger. today we are heading into the 5th day...i believe this is a personal record.

labs were good yesterday. we are getting bits and pieces of the CAT scan report and everyone we have talked to say that it is a WONDERFUL report. we haven't seen the main doc yet but we ran into one of the other ones in the hall yesterday and he said that what he has heard was that it was negative for tumor activity. (we are not sure what direction that will take us for sure but if they are happy we are happy).

we needed some GOOD news for a change.

megan and i are driving kelsey and a friend to berwick this afternoon...they are going to spend some good quality time with nana and pop pop and hit a carnival and probably mini-golf and ice cream and good stuff like that for a couple of days. each of the kids like to go to nana's for a few days in the summer. ( i wish i could go to nana's for a few days this summer)

well...that is it for now. hope you all had a wonderful 4th...

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

HAPPY 4th OF JULY

happy birthday judy...

hope you all are finding somewhere to picnic and watch some fireworks tonight. tim is really feeling quite a bit better these last couple of days. i don't want to jinx him but it seems as though we may have turned a corner on the stomach issue. he still has waves of nausea but we are heading into the 4th day of not being sick to his stomach. (this is big)

we are heading to the hospital today (yes, the day hospital is even open on the holidays). he has a 12:30pm appt to get blood work and fluids. it usually only take about 3 hours or sometimes less depending on how busy they are.

ashley seems to be back to her old self...it is like on the 7th day of feeling crappy the symptoms started to go away. it is looking more and more like she had a viral kidney infection...bizarre.

enjoy the day.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

a decent day...

it took him awhile but he eventually got home yesterday. at the last minute they decided to do a contrast CT scan of his chest and abdomen before we left. (i am not sure when we will get those results back nor are they sure exactly what they will be able to tell us).

he has now gone two whole days without getting sick to his stomach...he still feels crappy at times but this is a huge improvement. he is able to eat and drink a bit more. we follow up with the day hospital on wednesday afternoon.

ashley is feeling a little better...she actually got off the couch for awhile yesterday and was able to go play some mini-golf with nana and pop pop.

i am off to work this morning...my PTO time is getting low and everyone is feeling a little better i am going to try to work a whole shift today...wish me luck. i need to re-locate my brain to work and not home and that is sometimes a difficult thing to do.

have a great day.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

home today...

if all goes as planned tim will be coming home today. his new PICC line was inserted yesterday and his blood cultures are still negative. this means that his STAPH infection is gone...but due to the fact that he has had 2 STAPH infections in a relatively short amount of time they are going to do an ECHO of his heart. this will tell them if the infection has made its way to the heart and if he will need to be on IV antibiotics for 2 more weeks or 4 more weeks.

we are schedule to go home today and follow up with the day hospital...no surprises there.

he had a pretty good day yesterday...lets hope that today is just as good. he is very excited about being able to get home...all the kids are home from here and there...ashley is still under the weather. we should get her culture results back sometime today. she was running a temp again last night.

have a great day.

thanks for checking in.

(tim and) tammy

sunday update

tim is still in the hospital awaiting a new PICC central line to be inserted...we heard a rumor they were going to try and put it in today if possible. the blood cultures that were monitoring his STAPH infection have started to come back negative-this is a good thing. he is still getting sick to his stomach and has waves of nausea throughout the day.

ashley is still a bit under the weather...we are not certain but all symptoms are heading towards a wicked viral infection targeting her left kidney area...her fever came back yesterday and she also aches all over (probably from the fever). we will hear back on the culture report they took at the doctors office on monday and see if it is a bacterial infection or a viral infection for sure.

kelsey comes home from creation today...she had a wonderful time.

meg heads back to work tomorrow. she has been a huge help around here lately with holding the fort down. i often wonder what these girls are going to tell their husbands and kids about their middle school and high school years growing up...this certainly would not have been the life we would have picked for them BUT they have all been such troopers. GOD has blessed us with great kids.

tims dad is coming down to help me out today in the whirlwind of life and my parents are heading down tomorrow to help out around the house and stuff. my moms b-day is today...if you see her say HI and HAPPY BIRTHDAY>

thanks for checking in

(tim and) tammy