Thank yous

Everybody is asleep in the house right now, so I thought this would be a great time to say thank you to everyone who has brought cheer our way. Thank you to Uncle Toogie and Aunt Frances for the flowers. Thank you to Torie & Eric Shores (our neighbors and friends) for the yummy chocolate cake. Thanks to Carolyn & Mike Sacco (Carolyn used to work with Troy in Syracuse) for the goody box with all of Troy's favorite sweets inside. Thanks to Angela & Bill Coryell (their son, Blake, is in Derek's class) for watching the boys all day long while we were at the hospital for Troy's port surgery this past Wednesday. Thank you to the entire GE management team (Dawn Wolterink, Brandon Smith, Brian Hinchman, Michelle Woock, Brad Hegemier, and Joe Egitton) for the HomeBistro.com gift certificate. Please let me know if I missed someone on that list as it was given to me by a third party. A second thank you to GE and any management involved in allowing Troy to work from home. This is HUGE for us and has alleviated a tremendous burden both mentally and financially. We cannot express how grateful we are. Thank you to Bridget McGrady (Bridget works with Troy in Atlanta) for the chocolate/fruit arrangement that was delivered. Thank you to Elizabeth Ministries and Cristi Kent for setting up food deliveries each week to our home. We received our first delivery yesterday from Elizabeth and Luis Albor and it was really tasty, so thank you to them as well. Receiving the meals from the folks at GE and from the people involved with St. Catherine's church is another unbelievable burden that has been lifted from us so we can focus on the kids and getting Troy better and not have to worry about preparing meals. The endless calls, emails, prayers, and cards that we have received are noteworthy as well. I know there will be many more thank yous to come, but I wanted to start somewhere by saying how appreciative we are just knowing that people are thinking of us during this difficult time that our family is going through. It really helps knowing we have this huge cheering section behind us. God bless you all.

PET scan completed

We left around 12:30 today and got home around 5:30 from the lab. The PET scan itself lasted about 20 minutes, but Troy had to sit around for an hour or more and wait for the radioactive injection to travel through his body. I took the boys to a nearby park and made the best of a day at the cancer center. Some guy with a metal detector talked my ear off and Derek killed ants while Ryan tried to eat rocks and leaves out of the sand. They had a lot of fun swinging and playing on the slide as well. Anyway, there isn't much to report until we meet with the doctor on Wednesday and he reviews the results with us. Troy is very tired today and I asked him how his pain level was and his reply was "I don't know. It's all starting to feel the same." I guess this will be helpful for any other pain to come. Have a nice holiday weekend!

News from nurse

This morning Troy returned a phone call to Karen, the nurse at his oncologist's office and she delivered some promising news. She said the testing that had been done on Troy's tumor for the EB virus (Epstein Barr) came back negative. This is good news because the presence of that virus tends to make the spreading of the cancer multiplied. Troy has been sore and nauseous all day, but is getting around slowly and will hopefully feel better tomorrow before his PET scan in the afternoon. We'll let you know how it goes.

Derek had a great 1st week of school. He really seems to love it and got all green stamps on his calendar (the yellow and red stamps are not good). If his clothespin gets moved on the stop light from the green light this means he didn't have a good day and misbehaved. It's still real early in the school year!

His preschool really packs a lot in for the 12 hours he is there for the week and he should be ready for Kindergarten before we know it.

First 2 Weeks After Surgery

I decided to start this blog because it is quite overwhelming to keep everyone that we love informed as to what is going on in our daily lives. This way anyone can check this whenever they want and I can get rid of all the frustration that I feel by typing it out. Hopefully Troy will feel comfortable enough to type once in a while too!

Quite honestly, the past two weeks since the surgery to remove his tumor have been hell. Troy has a list of about 10 doctors or facilities that he has been to for either consultations, follow-up, x-rays/scans, or surgery. His port placement surgery was today and he is in a lot of pain. That surgery was to place a device under his skin (on his left chest side) that will deliver his chemo medicines to him once he starts the medications. We do not know when that will be. We have a meeting with his oncologist on Wednesday.

Tomorrow will be a "quiet" day for us as the only appointment he has is with the dentist, which is only a mile from the house. They are requiring this appointment as a pre-radiation exam. The only thing we know at this point is that he will be having induction therapy. He will have 3 cycles of chemo (3 different drugs) to start and then it will be followed by 7 weeks of radiation which will occur on a daily basis. The doctor (Dr. Bruce Goldsweig) is taking an aggressive approach due to Troy's age and health. He has a PET scan on Friday and an MRI scheduled for Sept. 4th. This is to check and see if the cancer has spread anywhere else.

Troy and I have our moments when we feel like complete crap, but we try to pull ourselves out of that dark place to the best of our abilities. The good thing with Troy and I is that we counterbalance one another. I usually can pull him out of his slump and he snaps me out of it when I'm having a moment. Of course I try and hide those moments from him as much as I possibly can. Unfortunately this disease doesn't always let you be discreet.

I am going to try and keep this updated on a nearly daily basis, but quite honestly I may just be burnt out and not make it here as frequently as I would like to. It means a lot to us that you care. You can communicate to me via my email (soothcage@bellsouth.net) or just post something here if you want to. If I don't reply right back to you, it just means that I am probably wiped out.

The kids are great. Derek seems to love preschool. He started this week and goes from 9-12 Mon. - Thurs. His teachers at St. Catherine's of Siena preschool are Miss Betsey and Miss Cassi and I can't begin to tell you what a great support system there is for us through the church and preschool. And Ryan has been walking for the past couple of weeks! He has a temper and a smile that could melt glaciers! Derek knows that Daddy is very sick, but he is just happy when he is here - even if that means laying in bed and resting. Ryan is happy just being loved and fed.

Troy's parents will be returning soon (around the 9th of Sept.). They left on Saturday after staying for a couple of weeks. This of course is taking a toll on them as well as the rest of our families. I'm probably the only daughter-in-law in America who can't wait to see her in-laws!! Their help is invaluable to us and even though Troy is 35, he is still their baby and they want to be here for him. Thank you Donna & Ang and thank you to everyone for your prayers and concern, and know, more than anything, this keeps Troy and I strong. I really believe that he will be cured because so many people care.