it is college essay time...

...since tim has a doctors appt on wednesday this week i thought i would wait and update the "medical stuff" after that appt. but since every monday you all come to check in i didn't want to disappoint you. i hope meg doesn't mind that i posted this:

(diane...better get the tissues)

My entire life I’ve been asked the question, “Who has had a major influence in your life?” My entire life I’ve answered that question with different responses, none of which were really meaningful, until now. The past two to three years have completely changed my outlook on life, and it’s because of my father.
When I was younger, I always had the best relationship with my dad; he was my best friend. We’d go to baseball and football games together and I’d go “help” him with work, which was more of me socializing with his co-workers and being a distraction than anything. When we moved to Harrisburg, our relationship started to change. We didn’t get along as much, and little things slowly turned into big things. I wanted to spend time with my friends and wasn’t home as much. He worked a lot too, and we just grew apart. We both still loved each other of course, there was just a lot of tension at times and our relationship struggled from it, until recently.
On New Years Eve, 2005, my dad was admitted, for the first of many times, to Hershey Medical Center. Soon after, he was diagnosed with a severe form of lymphoma. Needless to say, over the past two to three years, the treatment went from good, to bad, to worse, back to good, to great, to not-so-good, to terrible, to a little better… you get the point. Eventually the doctors tried a stem-cell transplant, which ended up with great results. His body responded well to the procedure and for awhile the cancer was in remission. A few months later however, it was back, and tumors were growing in multiple spots on his left side of the body. After trying almost every type of chemotherapy his body could handle, a decision was made to stop treatment.
Some people would say that stopping the treatment was the equivalent to giving up and being weak. The truth is I’d say it was the complete opposite. The past eighteen years of my life I’ve looked up to my dad, regardless of how well we got along, and I still do, now more than ever. The reason he made that decision was so he could spend as much time that was humanly possible being happy and living life to the fullest. He wanted to see his daughters grow up, and be able to remember it, not lay in a hospital under heavy medication every three weeks. He knows he’ll probably die, but doesn’t everyone? Whether that time is in a few months or a few years, no one knows. When he does though, I’ll know he spent the end of his life doing what he loved, and living each day like he could never do it again. That takes strength.
When I looked up the definition of the word “fight,” this is what I found: to engage in battle; attempt to defend against, defeat, or destroy an adversary. My father may have stopped the treatments, but he defeated the cancer. He knows that there’s more to life than how long it is. The kind of strength it took my father to not only survive the first two to three years of the cancer, but to take control of the situation and finish his life off strong, is the kind of strength I hope I too can develop. I want to push myself for the rest of my life to make a difference and enjoy it while I can.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy (and megan)

where do you want it?

...a world wide web kind of thank you hardly seems to touch the surface of the gratitude that we have towards our family and friends and the friends of our family and the friends of our friends.

it is totally amazing to us how with all the "stuff" going on here and there (the dow is down and the gas is up and the election is coming) and all the everyday problems that other folks must have that we are STILL in the midst of peoples generousity and prayers and support. i know that i will not be able to touch on everything that has come our way recently but just so you can get a little taste of what we are experiencing i thought i would throw out some actual events:

first off...is everyone sitting down...because I AM BAKING BROWNIES!!! yes because of the generousity of a co-worker i have a brand new oven and it actually works. (and all that time i just thought i was a bad cook...who would have guessed).

i have already mentioned the "wedding ring" surprise in a previous blog and in addition to that another co-worker has contributed to the PASSPORT wish list. yes...my husband wants a passport...i guess now that his hair is growing back he is ready for a photo shoot>even if it is only canada to go see the falls (he actually wants aruba but i told him not to hold his breath on that one just yet)...he wants his passport and he wants it stamped.

other friends have helped with school supplies and school clothes and one without even knowing it had "perfect" timing to help make a college tour a huge success. we randomly get gas cards and grocery cards and fresh fruit and veggies delivered right to our door. we have friends doing bake sales (hey...i can bake now). many of these things help towards the co-pays and the pharmacy bills. (my daughter thinks we should have the pharmacist from the rite-aid over for dinner some night-we see her all the time).

in addition to this there are many many individuals that have sent a card of encouragement or a funny get well card and i can't tell you how many people we run into that tell us that we are on their DAILY prayer list...we can't begin to express what that means to us.

I corinthians 12:6 says "GOD works through different people in different ways, but it is the same GOD who achieves HIS purpose through them all".

just yesterday i had a guy knock on my door and ask "where do you want it?" i said where do i want WHAT??? he said...the wood. i heard you needed some firewood...where do you want it? i guess we should put it right next to the neighbors lawnmower that they let us borrow because ours died.

we have been so blessed...it is a strange feeling. i know that i have often said that i prefer to be on the giving end than the receiving end (but i have to admit it has been so COOL to see how GOD is working in our lives on a day to day-sometimes on an hour to hour basis) it is amazing to be able to show the kids how GOD is working in our lives...we are not embarrassed nor do we hide the fact that we are being helped. we are very open about things-all things. our prayer is that someday (even if we can't) our kids will be able to remember what it was like to be blessed and they will go out and DO THE BLESSING...

no one knows why we are living through what we are living...but i do know that i can't deny that GOD has had HIS hand on the entire situation and that my friends is why we can sleep at night and get up in the morning and make it through another day.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

happy first day of fall...

it was a crazy week last week and we are hoping for a much calmer one this week. Kelsey has an 8am doctors appt to get "cleared" to play field hockey again...she is ready!!! she was only out 5 days but missed three games (including the one that she got hurt). they have another 3 games this week.

tim is hanging in there...i hate to keep using the word "issues" but we have no other category to put his problems into except maybe "annoyances". i guess you get to the point when you have to decide what you are going to tell the doctor and what you are going to just let slide and see what happens. that happened late last week. i wanted to call the doctor and he wanted to wait...mostly because he wanted to spend ALL DAY sunday at the bloomsburg fair (which we did and it was GREAT...family, friends and food...PERFECT DAY)

he is having some problems with his legs and his circulation or perhaps his veins...we are not quite sure exactly what it is but it sometimes causes quite a bit of pain followed by bruising in his lower legs. at first it sort of resembled a blood clot but he is on the blood thinner and it later hit both of his legs so we ruled that out. he is still QUITE functional but like i said it is just an issue or an annoyance. if it doesn't get any worse my best guess is that he will just follow up with the doctor on his next weeks appt. he goes in for bloodwork today but doesn't have to see the doc until next week.

the doctor is "extremely" interested in what a PET scan would show on tim...that is the scan that shows the "hot" spots that are cancerous. he has a few new bumps and lumps that are making us all curious...BUT due to insurance rules and regulations and us not having the many thousands of dollars to pay cash...we have to wait until mid-october for the scan. that seems to be OK with tim.

so for now...we do what we do. we deal with each day as it comes and enjoy it as much as we can. that seems to be working pretty well so far. have a GREAT DAY.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

crazy week...

...sorry i haven't had time to update on tim this week. things have been kinda crazy around here. for the most part he is stable. he has some new issues popping up occasionally and some we choose to tell the doctors and some we choose to just suffer through. overall...he has had a pretty decent week and has been able to work quite a bit this week plus made it to 3 field hockey games (one more to go) plus a 7 hour ER visit plus the high school open house (and that is INTENSE...three kids and two parents-fun times).

kelsey is going to try to go to school today...say a prayer for her. she is still having quite a bit of pain but doesn't want to get any farther behind in school work...she has missed a couple of tests and has to deal with all that make-up stuff-ick!!!

well...gotta get to work.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

you are not going to believe this...

...but we just spent over 7 hours in the hershey emergency room (again).

yes...it is MIDNIGHT and we are just getting home from the ER. the most exciting part of the evening is that it was NOT ASHLEY.

kelsey was the culprit this evening...she was 12 minutes into one of the best field hockey games against lower dauphin and she got "taken out" by a STICK in the FACE. it was a full swing drive connecting with her left cheek bone and jaw...OUCH!!!

instant purple and blue

instant swelling

slight delay and intense pain.

the general consensus was a possible broken jaw or facial bone...but the CT scan showed just a deep contussion and she is going to be fine (very sore and swollen but fine). she was so upset...this was such a big game. (we held them to 0-0 until losing 0-1 with 3 minutes left in over-time...bummer).

the ER was a mess...but the family doctor said ER was our only option. the athletic trainer agreed...so off we went for another fun filled evening. we are just glad she is going to be OK.

well...gotta get up in 4 hours for work-gotta go.

i will update on tim later on this week...sorry.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

ps...is it normal for 3/5ths of my family to LEGALLY be on narcotics??????

tims wedding surprise...

we hope aunt peggy didn't mind that during her ceremony on saturday tim and i were having one of our own...

about 13 years ago tim lost his wedding band...and up until recently it really didn't bother either one of us. but since tim has been sick he has REALLY wanted to get another wedding band. i really couldn't see why after 13 years it was so important BUT apparently it was important to him. (he is definately the true romantic in this relationship)

one day i had mentioned this to a co-worker and within 48 hours i was told that i was not to do anything about the ring (not that we could have even if we wanted too) that it was BEING TAKEN CARE OF...and about 13 days ago i was given a pouch with a beautiful gold wedding band for tim. i was going to wait until our anniversary in november to give it to him but then i decided to take advantage of the wedding this past saturday.

so...when the minister asked what symbols yada yada yada...i gave tim his NEW wedding ring and put it on his finger while the "repeat after me thing" was going on...then i proceeded to give him a card that said something sappy like "mr and mrs has such a nice RING to it...so don't lose this one!!!!" well, maybe it really wasn't all that sappy.

he was THRILLED...and i was happy i made him happy. the girls knew that i was going to do it during the ceremony so they sat by us and watched the whole thing...it was SO COOL>

thanks to the night shift at HMC that helped make one of tim's wishes come true!!!! you guys are awesome...some day i hope you can meet this wonderful man that i married. you really blessed us with something that will be remembered forever. (the kids made us re-inact for a photo shoot)

thanks aunt peggy.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

ps...stay tuned for a medical update tomorrow night.

special request...

we seem to have adopted a fury fellow...and we are not the least bit thrilled.

it is not bad enough that we have squirrels and groundhogs and cats and kittens but now we have a skunk. we have had numerous "sightings" of this critter and he seems to like when we make a fire...but one story in particular stands out.

the other night tim and i had just gotten home from picking up kids at church and he decided to help me drag the garbage cans down to the road for pick-up the next morning. it was dark and we have cans with "issues"...the squirrels have eaten their way into our cans. they have eaten the lids and they have eaten the sides and they have eaten the bottoms...and occasionally (like on a daily basis) they throw garbage all over our back yard. so...tim was doing his routine of kicking the garbage back into the hole in the side of the can and i was grabbing the can lid and reaching into the side of the can (because they have also eaten this particular handle) and when i pulled the can towards me to drag it down to the curb...guess what was looking up at me...you guessed it!!! the skunk was in the can...and my husband was kicking it in the butt each time he kicked more garbage into the can...IF ONLY ONE WOULD HAVE HAD OF VIDEO OF WHAT HAPPEN NEXT...i know we would have won america's home video show's top prize.

it is hard to exactly describe what took place in the seconds following but i can tell you that tim can still MOVE...just not for very long...i am still trying to get the grass stain out of his jeans!!! luckily the skunk was laughing to hard to spray us and just waddled out of the hole and through the back yard. tim was able to get up eventually...and nothing was broken.

yes...we know we need new cans. everytime we replace the cans the squirrels eat the cans. the metal cans are way to small for the amount of trash this family of 5+ puts out there. we have tryed repellant and we have tryed duct tape and we have tryed hot peppers and we have tryed things that i won't even list here on the world wide web...

just another typical week here in the land of the dewalts...the wedding was great!!! i will have an update on tim's wedding day SURPRISE later on this week. i also will be updating on our doctors appt that we have tomorrow...so stay tuned. you will not have to wait a week for the next update.

thanks for checking in

tim and tammy

ps...any advise on squirrels or skunks?? send it our way.

a quick update...

...once in awhile we will go into the oncologist and think we will have a "normal" in and out in 3 or 4 hours appt...then there are the times that we know "something is up" and we expect him to start pulling slips for this exam and that test and another referral and it takes days.

i think this week we sorta fell into the middle...had a little weirdness going on but we weren't really worried. apparently the oncologist did not have the same thoughts!!! we sorta freaked him out a little and he started pulling those darn slips again. FORTUNATELY all of tims followup tests this week showed that he just had a NON-CANCER related blip in the road-no big deal!!! whew!!! that blood thinner and low platelet count can really mess ya up.

so...all is well as it can be for now. we are still hitting field hockey games (sad face...we lost to mechanisburg last night) and we are excited to hit a wedding this weekend. (tims aunt is getting married in berwick).

does tim still have issues...absolutely. but untill those small issues become big issues we are just going to leave them be. you know the saying "DONT SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF" and "...LIFE IS TOO SHORT" are really sinking in these days. get out there and make the best of today because who know what tomorrow may bring!!

thanks for all your prayers.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

another sunday night update...

this week really flew by fast...

lets start with ashley. she had to come home from school early on tuesday last week with severe pain but after that the week seemed much better. her cyst pain is somewhat annoying but tolerable.

the field hockey girls have three games this week and four games next week...guess what we are doing?!?! we are 4 wins and 0 losses. this has been an exciting start to megans senior year!!!!

school is school...lots of projects and papers and the usual stuff (although i am quite sure that we didn't have this much stuff when we were in high school...maybe not even in college...times have changed). between schoolwork and yearbook and field hockey and church and friends and an occasional family meal...things sometimes get a little scary around here. (plus add in watching the occasional varsity tennis match and varsity boys soccer games and varsity football games and senior tail-gate parties and tons of sweet 16 parties PLUS having three teenagers and only one "awesome" computer- thanks to our pepsi family- and only one shower and only one working van...things actually get a lot scary around here). there are days that i feel fortunate that we all still like each other BUT...at the end of a crazy week we just look back and see we made it through and we wouldn't trade the craziness or the togetherness for anything in the world...life is good.

tim was jealous...megan was invited to attend the STEELERS game today with a friend...she had a blast.

tim is getting his fill of football this weekend...we have high school football and we have college football and we have professional football...we have football highlights and we have megans favorite past-time...the ESPN bottom line...we even were able to fit in an hour of watching tennis this afternoon. i need my own TV set.

tim had an appt with his eye specialist on friday and he said that the eye was showing some signs of improvement. the swelling was down a bit and the pressure had improved a bit...we go in to see the oncologist monday afternoon. i will update mid-week on the high points of that appt.

tim still has waves of "good" and waves of "bad" but overall he is doing OK i guess. we don't really know what we are to expect so i guess each day that he can get up and get moving is a good day.

hope you all had a wonderful week.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

happy labor day...

most of our circle of friends have today off...sorry about those of you who are my friends and co-workers who still have to keep the hospital functional...but for those of you that are OFF-ENJOY THE DAY!!!

i told tim tonight while we were sitting out under the stars enjoying our fire pit that i was feeling guilty because there are tons of people having their world turned upside down awaiting that hurricane down south...we said a prayer for them.

update on ashley...she is doing much better...she still has some pain on that right side but she is able to control it with motrin. i think she is going to be fine.

update on tim...still having good days and bad days...sunday started off as a bad day but got a little better as it went. he has been having a lot more nausea and a lot more pain the last few days. we go back to see the eye guy on friday and the cancer guy a week from monday. we don't know why he feels the way he does...it could be tumor related stuff or it could be medication related stuff or it could be something new...time will tell so we just keep him comfortable as we can without turning him into a zombie and wait it out.

update on field hockey...for the first time in i don't know how long we can say that we are undefeated!!! 2 wins and 0 losses!!!! megan is doing an amazing job on defense not allowing anyone to score and kelsey is doing an amazing job on offense putting the ball in the net whenever she can. (i know we are probably a bit partial to those two players but we think they are great). it has been fun to watch...tim is really enjoying the games and fred came down to catch a couple games this weekend too.

update on me...i am tired and going to bed.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy