It’s been a pretty miserable few days. We did 13 hours of chemotherapy on Tuesday — which surprisingly wasn’t terrible. They put all kinds of poison in my body to kill this cancer. One of them looked like cherry cool-aid that the nurses referred to as the red dragon. Wednesday was a complete meltdown — exhaustion, nausea, headaches. I’ll be honest, these drugs mess with your body and your spirit. I was miserable but felt good to be at home with lots of love from family and notes from friends. The nausea continued into Thursday and I’m trying to figure out my diet to help control it.
I have a nightstand of medicine to take all with different instructions — take on full stomach, take at bedtime, take every eight hours, take every 24 hours, etc. Some are follow up treatment to the chemo and others are to help keep me more comfortable — nausea prevent strokes and I think one prevents gout. These all mess with my body as well.
I’m not sure how I’ll continue to react over the next 18 weeks. I’m trying to get back into a little bit of control physically and mentally — I went for a short walk this morning in the rain, figuring out what bland foods wont upset my stomach and going to try and rest up because…
…I have to go for another round of poison (I know I should call it treatment) on Tuesday. It’s suppose to be shorter. But after 13 hours, hard to imagine anything longer.
I’m the type of person who breaks things down into manageable segments. If I’m doing a 45 minute jog I say to myself 5 minutes into it, “you got this, your 1/9th of the way.” My problem today is that I’m not even 1/18th of the way so it feels a little overwhelming.
Not to worry, I found some inspiration this morning on the radio after taking Amelia to school. Shannon and I saw Adele this summer and she has the most amazing voice. I know its a break up song, but with a slight word change by me it became, “Soon This Cancer Will be Water Under the Bridge.”
Christmas will be extra special this year. I’m reminded what is important in life and I’m thankful for all of you.
Below the Fig Tree 
You and the Ross family are in our constant thought and prayers. Love you all and we are here for you. Thanks for posting these. Hugs! Merry Christmas.
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Mike Hayde and I had dinner this week and talked about you . Hang tough man . We are all praying for you !!
Dan Young
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Thank you for sharing your story. For those of us praying for you, it helps us know what we should be praying for. I’ll continue to pray for healing and for you to be able to control your nausea and headaches. You’ve got so many people pulling for you, know that you are in many peoples prayers around the country. Merry Christmas Tom!
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Red dragon or red devil as they call it here is the toughest treatment I had. It knocked me for a loop. Please tell your doctor
If you have numbness in hands or feet. God Bless you….I survived
And so can you. Be positive and patient…it brings rewards.
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I’m sorry that your going through all this stuff. But I like your attitude and your positive outlook. I also really like that you keep us posted on facebook. It makes me feel better knowing how your doing from you. I love that song of Adele’s also. Im praying for you Tommy. Much love and happy holidays to you and the family too. Good luck Tommy. We love you very much. ❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍
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Thanks Tom. Our prayers are with you, for endurance, maintaining mindfulness about steps of progress, and a fighting spirit when the chemo seems almost worse than the cancer. The poison is a blessing within a hair of actually poisoning you. It’s great you have such support of family, friends and colleagues. Will pray specially that Christmas will provide hope, and the New Year a goal of success.
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You got this Tom! It’s ironic that filling our bodies with “poison” will result a positive outcome. Just imagine the “Red Dragon” searching for the cancer cells in your body and attacking them with ferocious vigor.
I am sending you god vibes and positive energy. I hope the nausea subsides and your taste buds enjoy some of your favorite holiday foods. Day by day you will get through this. Enjoy your holiday with your family.
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Tom, so sorry you are facing this challenge. Cancer sucks, while ours are different the battle is the same. I found that keeping up a routine helps to take focus off of the pain and discomfort.
They have come a long way with the anti nausea meds, they kept mine under control pretty good.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, lean on them when you need to it was the only way I made it through. Just had my 18 month follow up with ENT and still clear.
If there is anything I can do please let me know. If you want someone to talk to that has been down a similar road I am glad to do it.
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God love you Tom! Praying for you everyday as you go through your treatment. Love to you and your girls.
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