Jun 25 7:45 am

Buel has been given lots of fluids so he was up and down a lot last night. Theresa got here at 4:30 last night so she will drive us home, hopefully today. Herb Turner came and visited Buel last night and he enjoyed that although he slept through most of the visit. Hospice is suppose to bring a bed and other things in today. We are hoping to go home today. I want to thank everyone for all their kindness, concern and most importantly, their prayers over the past 4 years and 3 months. We certainly could not have made it this far without you. May God Bless each one of you and I just ask that you pray for us to have peace. Thanks, tommie

Wednesday Jun 24 1:15 pm

Just spoke with Dr. Rivers, chemo Dr. and he said he would not give him any more chemo. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. He said he would put him on hospice and make him comfortable. They will coordinate hospice from here with the one in Greenville and get us set up with hospice. Please pray that we can have peace in this terrible situation. Tommie

Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:35 am

Dr. Yoder the Gastro Dr. said he just did a colonoscopy last month and he is not going to put him through another one. He said he knows what his colon looks like and there is no cancer. He believes it was the combination of the 3 very potent chemos that he was given. I have put in a call to the chemo Dr. to see if we are going to try this regimen again. Probably will be afternoon before I hear from him. However, we will probably be in ICU for the next 2 days according to the gastro/colon Dr. Yoder. His heart rate is too low and they will not dismiss him until that is up. Buel is sleeping almost all of the time. Please pray for Buel. Also, Theresa is on her way up here so please pray for her safe travel. Her mother and aunt are bringing her. Thanks, Tommie

Wednesday, Jun 24? 2009 8:30 am

There are orders in for a colonoscopy but it looks like it might not take place until Thursday. He is still in ICU Rm # 203. My cell is 903-456-1008. He is no longer bleeding but need to find out what happened Monday night. At this point, I am not sure when we will be home. Thanks, Tommie

Tuesday, Jun 23rd, 2009 8:35 pm

The Cardiologist just came in to check Buel over since his heart rate has been so low. Be believes that it is due to the Coreg and that it should come back up. If not, he still believes that with the medications the anestheologist has that he should be able to take a colonoscopy with no problems from his heart. Not sure when the colonoscopy is scheduled but will let you know asap. Thanks for your prayers. Tommie

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 3:35 pm

Dr. just came in and he is putting in orders for gastro to do a scope on Buel. He said it would probably be tomorrow before they could get it done. They want to find the source of the blood from last night before they send him home. Also, his heart rate is in the 30s and they want it higher than that. Not sure after that but that's where we stand now. We are not getting much attention at this point as there is a Code Blue in the room next door. Don't know her but pray for her as they are still working with her and she is in bad shape. Not sure when we will be going home. Thanks, Tommie

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 11:44 am

Buel is still in ICU. He is not allowed to eat or drink anything and is on several drips. He has roused up and used the bathroom, but is sleeping most of the time. They have not had to give him any blood yet. The Doctor is not expected to arrive until later this afternoon (around 5:30 pm). We will post again as soon as anything changes or we get any more information. Please continue your prayers, we need them bady. Thanks, Tommie

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 5:37 am

Buel finished his chemo at 2:00 am this morning. We have been in the ER since 2:30 am from bleeding. He was transferred to ICU on the 2nd floor at 5:15 am. I do not know of the plan from here. Will have to wait until his Dr. arrives. His blood count went down and they are checking blood supply and have it on hold if they have to give him blood. At this point, I do not know when we will return home. Thanks, Tommie

Monday, June 22, 2009 8:30pm

Buel is currently taking a chemo treatment which will continue until approximately 2am tomorrow morning. We plan to return home in the morning following the treatment. We appreciate your prayers and support. Thanks, Tommie

Monday, June 22, 2009 6:15 pm

Buel is not a candidate for the chemo beads. He has too much diseased liver. The only other choice he has to is take 3 chemo drugs together, all of which he has taken before without success, but he has never taken all 3 at the same time. He is going to give him these 3 drugs every other week for 3 weeks, then do scans to see what is happening. If there is any improvement, they will continue. If this does not help, then he is at the end of the road. There are no other options because he has done everything there is available. They are going to give him the 3 chemo drugs started at 7:30 tonight. We will stay the night here and then come home sometime in the morning. The Dr. told him that if this doesn't work that he will give him pain pills to keep him comfortable but that he didn't think he would be in that much pain in the end. He said he wished he had more to offer but that everything had already been done without any success. Please pray for a miracle at this point. P.S. The chemo they are giving him tonight is not the same chemo that they cancelled this morning. That chemo was Erbitux. The 3 he is taking tonight is Camptostar, Avastin and Oxaliplatin. Thanks, Tommie

Monday, Jun 22, 2009 12:45

We did not get the best of news this morning. Buel's Oncologist has canceled his chemo treatments. They are not working. He has lost another 4 lbs and now weighs 129.5 lbs. Just to make sure I understood what the Dr. was saying I asked him if there was a Plan B and he said no and I asked him if we were close to the end of Plan A and he said yes. He sent Buel to have a CT scan of the chest and they are going to see if he's a candidate for chemo bead implants. He has so many tumors so not sure if that's an option. We have an appt at 3:30 this afternoon to get the results from the CT and I hope to find out if he's a candidate, but I'm not sure. Everything was coming at me too fast to catch it all. Dr. said the next step would be liver failure if he cannot do the beads. Please pray for us as you can tell we need a miracle at this point. Buel is very weak and tired. Thanks, Tommie

Sunday, Jun 21, 2009

We arrived at Tulsa around 10:15 am today. Buel had his scans and we have rested today. His first appt is 8 am Monday with Dr. Rivers and we will get the results of the CT scan that they took today. His liver enzymes were highly elevated showing some kind of poison last time so that's why they are doing the scans to see if there is more cancer showing up. He is scheduled for chemo around 10 am Monday. He will be home around 5-6 tomorrow night. Thanks for all your prayers and will post the results as soon as possible. Thanks, Tommie

Monday, Jun 6, 2009

We met with Dr. Rivers (Oncologist) today. Blood work shows that his liver enzymes are very high which means something is poisoning his liver. He's not sure if it is medicine or cancer. So, he is taking him off a lot of his other drugs (not chemo drugs) to see if the enzymes get lower. His CEA level is higher which indicates cancer but he said those are not totally accurate so he's not totally disturbed by the CEA going from 31 to 42. He is going to do scans again in 2 weeks to see what's happening. He is happy that the tumors are not growing but they are not shrinking either. Again, he said that the minute the Erbitux (chemo) stops working he is in bad trouble. The Dr. does not have a back up plan but is desperately searching for one but said he could not promise a back up plan because Buel has taken all drugs there is out there for colorectal cancer. He is going to try a drug called Revlimid which we have at home for 2 weeks but he is afraid the side effects are going to outweigh the good it might do. In a nutshell, he is not doing well at all. He weighs 133.5 lbs which is what he weighed last time. The Dr. could tell a huge difference in him from last time in that he is not doing well. He is taking his chemo and we will be finished here around 1:00 and then we will leave to come home. We should be home around 5:30 or 6. Please pray for Buel, the Dr. and a cure for this terrible disease. For those of you who can, please come to "Relay for Life" at Phillips Field in Greenville Jun 12th at 7 pm. I am hopeful that he will be able to make the survivor lap but Theresa and Mom will for sure be there to make their lap and then the 2nd lap is survivors with their caregivers. Thanks, Tommie

Sunday, Jun 7th, 2009

We arrived in Tulsa around 5:30 had dinner and are resting. His first dr. appt is 7:30 am and chemo at 10. Buel has not felt well at all this week so we are going to have to talk to the Dr. Also, I am thinking that the Dr. may put him on different chemo tomorrow, because he was doing research on the new drugs for colorectal cancer. Will post again tomorrow when I find out more. Thanks for all the prayers. Tommie

Sunday, May 31st 2009

Buel has a liver stent replacement Monday, Jun 1st. The stents are to keep the liver ducts open due to the tumors. He has these every 2 months. Next chemo will be Jun 8th in Tulsa. We will leave on Jun 7th.

Wed, May 27th, 2009

Had appt with surgeon today about hernia. Surgeon said he would have to stop taking chemo for about 4-6 weeks. Not really an option. The two docs will talk but doubt that anything will be done. Will just have to put up with it. We are home now. Next treatment is Jun 8th and we will leave on Jun 7th.

Tuesday May 26th, 2009 12:50 pm

Visited with Oncologist this morning. Buel has lost another 2 lbs. Down to 133 lbs. He told us today that the "final" report from the scans last time is that the tumors are not shrinking and are not growing. However, he said that he had to find another drug to go along with what he is giving him because with the drug not shrinking the tumors, that he is basically just keeping him alive. He said that when the Erbitux quit working then there was "danger" so he has to find another drug to work with this one. Problem is he has taken almost all the drugs there is to take and they have not stopped his tumors. They have continued to grow with all the medicine. He said there are a few more new ones on the market and he has to do research on them for colorectal cancer patients. Then we visited with the Gastro... Dr. and the lab work shows no bacteria to be causing the diarreha. So, no luck there. Our next trip here will be on June 8th for more chemo. He has an appt with a hernia dr. tomorrow at 10 and then we are heading back home. Please say a prayer for us. We desperately need it at this point. Thanks, Tommie

Monday May 18th, 2009

Buel had good results from his colonoscopy since "cancer" was not involved. He has colonitius (sp???) which is an inflamed colon which will cause diahrea. He gave him some medicine to stop the inflamation and we see him again on Tues the 26th. We leave for Tulsa for his next chemo treatment on May 25 for appts on the 26th chemo and 27th dr. appts for hernia. God is good and we give him all the glory for this good report. Thank you to all the prayer warriors we have on our side. Thanks again, Tommie

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

We got to Tulsa around 5 pm this afternoon. We had a safe trip with a little rain. We met my client here and talked to her for a little bit. Her husband is here getting evaluated. Will post more on Monday after the colonoscopy. We are scheduled to be downstairs at surgery at 6:30 am with colonoscopy scheduled for 8:30 am Monday. Please pray. Thanks, Tommie

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

We are leaving this afternoon for Tulsa. Buel has to do prep starting in the morning and last all day. Colonoscopy is 8:30 am Monday morning. Please remember us in your thoughts and prayers. He is not feeling well. Thanks, Tommie

Monday May 11th 2009 1:37 pm

Just spoke with Dr. and he said the CT shows the tumors are not smaller than in Jan but are not any larger either. He has a large conference of oncologists in a few weeks and so he wants to see the latest and greatest thing to give. He said he still had a lot of work to do but Buel was holding his own according to the tumors not growing. However, they are not shrinking either. He is scheduled for a colonoscopy here Monday, May 18th to see if there is any new problems there or see if they can find out why the diaherra is not going away. He cannot stand to lose another 9 lbs in 4 weeks. He will be finished with his chemo treatment at 2 pm today and we will be headed home. We are not going on our scheduled vacation to Indiana. We have canceled that trip. He is scheduled for chemo again on May 26th, and on the 27th, he will see a surgeon to talk about a hernia repair. Thanks for the prayers and we need more in the future. Thanks again, Tommie

Monday May 11th

Buel has lost another 3 lbs. They are going to do colonoscopy Monday, the 18th here at Tulsa to figure out why he is still having the diaherra. Were going to do it tomorrow until they found out he is on Plavix. He has to be off that 5 days. We do not have the results of the scans until this afternoon and I will post another blog then. He is getting his chemo now.

Friday May 8th, 2009

We are due in Tulsa at 11:45 am Sunday the 10th. He has a Dr. appt on the 11th to get the results of the scans and to take chemo. We will be home Monday night. Please pray that these scans show some improvement. Thanks, Tommie

Monday, April 27th, 2009 12:00 pm

We visited with the Dr. today. CEA level continues to get lower every time we come. It was 130 in Jan and today it was down to 29. However, he has lost 6 lbs in 2 weeks. He weighs 138 lbs which is the weight he was when we got here in Januaray. The Doc believes that is from the antibiotic he is on for his sinus infection (causes diarreha sp????). He has not been eating much because of these problems. The Doc did an Xray on his right hip because it has been hurting for about 3 weeks now. He believes it is bursitus (sp????????) but he is overly cautious with Buel because of all his problems and checks out everything. We saw the Wound Care Nurse today for his face rash which is caused by the chemo. She gave him cremes, lotions, etc. to help. All of which have lots of moisturizers in them. We are now waiting on him to have chemo at 1 pm. His next visit will be May 10th at 11:45 am for CT scans of abdomen, chest, etc. and then chemo on May 11th. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Tommie

Sunday, April 26th 2009

We made it to the Treatment Center around 4:15. We had dinner at the cafeteria (we shared a plate). Buel hasn't been eating well nor feeling well this week. We will address the issues with the Dr. in the morning. His appt. is 9:30 and chemo is at 1 pm which means we will get home late. He will weigh in the morning but I believe he has lost weight this week because he has not been eating well. Just wanted everyone to know that we are here and will write more tomorrow after our visit with the Dr. Thanks for all the prayers. Tommie

Thursday, April 23

Just wanted to report that my sinus surgery went well and my report came back good and I'm back to grooming dogs as usual. Buel has had a fairly good week. He went to Church Sunday but could not last through Sunday School. We are due back at Tulsa Sunday the 26th at 4 pm for blood work. He has a Dr. appt Monday the 27th at 9:30 and chemo at 1. That will make his 6th treatment of Erbitux. We will get home late on Monday night. The next treatment will be May 11th. We are due at Tulsa on Sunday, the 10th, at 11:45 for several scans and then Monday the 11th to see the Dr. at 8 and get chemo at 10:30. We are planning to leave from Tulsa on the 11th and head up to Indiana for vacation to visit some friend of ours. Thanks for all your prayers because we truly believe that all those prayers has helped. The Dr. told us that he was dying in Jan and his goal is to get him a couple more years. We hope that is God's plan.

Monday, April 13th 11:45 am

We visited with the Dr. this morning. His CEA level continues to improve. It was 130 in Jan and 31 today! Praise the Lord! He is taking his treatment now and we will probably be able to leave here today around 3 to come home. His next visit is May 10th and 11th and they will do scans, CT chest and abdomen, scan of brain/head to see where we stand. He said as long as the CEA levels were doing what they were that means the tumor size has been cut in half twice. He is sleeping and I'm going to eat lunch and get medicines for the upcoming weeks. Thanks for reading this blog and caring about us and our journey. God is good!

Easter Sunday

We arrived in Tulsa shortly after 3 pm. The roads were wet pretty much all the way. His first Dr. appt is at 8:30 Monday morning and chemo to follow. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday and we missed everyone at Church this morning. God bless.

Monday, March 30 10:45 am

We visited with the Dr. and things are going well. His CEA count when he got here in Jan was 130, last time were 60 and today were 35.7 which is good news, tumors are shrinking. As long as these numbers are coming down, he doesn't feel the need to do scans until a little farther down the road. We had a frank meeting with him today in which the Dr. told us that he was dying when he got here in January. With this new treatment plan, his intents are to give him some more "years" and he believes that he can, it's just a matter of picking the correct route to take because he has had all the drugs at Baylor that you would typically use for colon cancer and his tumors continued to multiply everytime we had more scans ran at Baylor. He says for now, he is going to keep him on the Erbitux since his CEA numbers are dramatically decreasing. The side effect of the chemo is that it causes his face to break out all over in a rash. Dr. is funny in that he said "I don't care what your face looks like, I want to kill those tumors"! His next chemo is April 13th. Thanks for all your prayers. God is good and we feel like we have a second chance at a few more years here. We were only married 3 months when we were diagnosed with this disease so I have had a hard time dealing with that but with God's strength, I am getting better too. Thanks again. Tommie

March 29th 3PM

We are here. The roads were in good shape but snow still on the ground in Tulsa. The lady that checked us into our guest room said they had blizzard conditions yesterday but today it is sunny but snow still everywhere except the highways. Thank God! Buel had already had his lab work so we are done for the day. Thanks.

Sunday, March 29th

Well Tulsa received 6 inches of snow on Saturday, the 28th, so we are hoping that Sunday it will melt. We will be leaving around noon on Sunday and he has blood work when we get there. His Dr. appt. is Monday, the 30th, at 8:00 am and then chemo at 10:00 am. The chemo and all meds will take approximately 4 hours so we will be headed home as soon as we are finished. Thanks for all the prayers and God Bless You.

Monday March 16th Chemo

Buel received his chemo treatment today. All went well. The Dr. said that he is shooting for 12 total treatments (this is his 3rd) and then they will probably do scans to see what the chemo has done to the tumors. He also said that he could be on this treatment "long term" if it is shrinking the tumors. This chemo causes Buel to break out in a rash on his face (acne) and they gave him some prescriptions to help with that. His next treatment is March 30th. Thanks for all the prayers!

Thursday Feb 26th 8:30 PM

Buel had his Dr. appt this afternoon and then had chemo treatment. He finished up at 7 but had to wait 1 hour to make sure he didn't have a reaction. He is doing fine. However, the chemo does cause a rash and he developed a rash about 1 week ago from the first treatment. So, we are assuming that the rash will just get worse. The Dr. may also combine a pill form of chemo with the iv infusion that he is getting. Buel's platelets were up today 102,000 and have been being around 54,000, which is great! So, he is doing good and feels pretty good. His next chemo treatment is Monday, March 16th. Thanks for reading and praying for us. God bless you.

Chemo Thursday Feb 26th

We will be leaving Thursday, Feb 26th for Buel's next chemo treatment. His first appt of several appts is Thursday at 12:45 pm and has chemo at 5 pm. We will be spending the night since it will be too late to come home. This will be his 2nd treatment of the Erbitux. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Wed Feb 11th 3:00 pm

Buel has just started his chemo treatment and so we are not coming home tonight. It would be after 11 before we could get home so we are just going to stay here tonight and go home in the morning.

Wed Feb 11th 11:46 am

We visited with Dr. Rivers today and the test he did on his 2005 tumors came back highly mutated which means he can take the drug "Erbatux" and have insurance pay for it. This is the drug that Dr. Chittoor in Mesquite would not give Buel because if he gave it to him and Medicare audited his file, we would have to pay back $144,000 for all the treatments. However, Dr. Chittoor did not run the proper test (KRAS test) and Dr. Rivers did which showed that it WAS highly mutated. So, I have a beeper on and we are waiting for them to be able to give Buel chemo. We had actually visited with all the Drs., checked out of our room, and were waiting on valet to get our car when they called on my cell and said the test had just come back and he could give him the Erbatux infusion. So, I had them load the car with our luggage and park it again. We have a chemo education class at 1:30 and he cannot take the chemo until he finishes the education class. The infusion is about 1 hour long and we plan on heading home as soon as he finishes with the chemo. Thanks.

Tuesday Feb 10th 4:00 pm

We are here. Buel has already registered and done his lab work. His first appt is tomorrow the 11th at 8 am and we have appts all day long. So far, all we have are appts the 11th. If so, we may attempt to come home tomorrow afternoon but not sure. Thanks for praying for Buel.

Monday Feb 9th

We will be leaving for the Cancer Treatment Center in Tulsa, OK again tomorrow, Feb 10th. He has lab work on the 10th and then Dr. Rivers appt at 8 am on the 11th. Not sure how many other appts he will have or what they have in mind. Hope it doesn't ice again like it did last time.

We're Home

We're home!

We're Home

We're home!

Praise The Lord Wed Jan 28, 10:53 am

The MRI showed that there is no cancer in Buel's brain. The CT picked up on some irregular shaped arteries but the MRI said "NO". I know this is because God answered all our prayers. Thanks so much to everyone for "the power of prayer". He has a CT on his arteries at 1:30 today just to satify the Dr. about the episode of the shortness of breath. He wants to make absolutely sure there is no blood clots because "I am paranoid" to quote the Dr. He has an appt with Naturopatic Dr. to get some supplements to help him. Nutrition Dr. at 8:30 am tomorrow and we will be coming home Thursday afternoon or Friday, depending on when it thaws out here. Buel will be receiving some Revelimid chemo pills today, via Fed Ex and will take 2 a week because his platelet count is so low. We will come back on Fed 10th for a Feb 11th 8:00 am appt. He is going to do some research between now and then and will see how his blood count does with this new chemo drug. He has also ordered Nexavar but we will hold it until his platelet count comes up. That's all for now. Thanks for all the prayers and they were answered.

Wed Jan 28

Here's today's schedule: 8:30 Dr. Rivers, Medical Oncologist; 9:30 Dr. Taylor, Radiation Oncologist; 2:00 Nutrition Dr. and 3:30 Naturopathic Dr. Will write more after the 9:30 appt.

Tuesd Jan 27th 2:50 pm

Still snowing here but still have electricity. Just received some good news that a new chemo drug that Buel is going to get will be here tomorrow via Fed Ex. He takes it for 21 days and off 7, back on 21, off 7. The really good news is that the drug is $5000 for 21 pills and we will have to pay $50 and there is a Chronic Disease Foundation that picks up the rest. This is a program that is not available at Baylor. God is good and we are blessed that the drug will be here tomorrow so he can get started on the chemo. Will write more tomorrow after our dr. visits. Stay warm!

Tuesday 9:35 am

All doc appts today have been cancelled. The weather is really bad. We now have Medical Oncologist appt at 8:30 am Wed and Radiation Oncologist at 9:30 am Wed. So, weather permitting, we should have our "Treatment Plan" Wed. Thanks to everyone that is posting comments. I love reading them. If you can't post, email me at tkerr@argontech.net. The walls begin to close in on you after awhile so I enjoying coming down here to the Library and reading emails. Allison, email me please so I canhave your email address. I left it at home. P.S. We still have electricity for now. Have a blessed day.

Tuesday 8:00 am Jan 27th

Buel rested very well last night and is still sleeping. Brandon (my son) called this morning to see if we were ok since Oklahoma has been declared a state of emergency. So, I looked out the window and it is beautiful! Snow everywhere. However, I just heard a patient say that they were staying at the Radisson and that they had no electricity. So we will praise God that we will have electricity and hope to keep it! Cars are moving pretty well on the Interstate but a slower than normal. Will post more this afternoon. Our last Dr. appt with our Treatment Plan is at 4pm so it will be a little late today when I post a blog.

Monday, Jan 26, 7:15pm

Buel is back in the room and doing much better than when we got to the ER. He was dehydrated plus was taking too much blood pressure medicine since he has lost so much weight. Dr. said that was okay when he was 170-180 but not 141. So they gave him an IV to hydrate him and removed him from some of his medicines. Some followers of this blog have said that they cannot post a comment. For those having trouble, just email me tkerr@argontech.net
Thanks and God bless you. Will write more tomorrow when we have a plan. PS It's very cold and rainy here, more like ice!

Monday, Jan 26th 4:29

The CT scan showed 2 brain tumors so they did a MRI today. We will get the results tomorrow and get our "Treatment Plan" Tuesday. Buel has decided that whatever the treatment is, he will take it here. Baylor never even suggested that they should look at his brain and that's the first thing Dr. River told us here. So, to wrap things up, he has 2 tumors in brain, too numerous to count in liver, several in each each and has tumors in his bowel tissue. Dr. River said it was "urgent" category. We meet with Radiation Dr. tomorrow and Dr. River again. We have been very busy this afternoon. They had to "sedate" him for the MRI with Valium, went very well. He had no "panic attacks". However, he had a lot of shortness of breath this afternoon and so we had to go to the Infusion area which is their central ER type place. He is now getting an IV because he was dehydrated (hasn't drank anything today) even though Paul Wright from Indiana calls and stays on his case about drinking water. Plus, the Dr. said he had to not take as many pills for his blood pressure. It was something like 69/45 when he stood up. Not good. He took him totally off Zetia at night and cut his Coreg (heart med) in half, 6.25 am and 6.25 pm. Was taking 12.5 am and 12.5 pm. Just taking it down too much. Anyway, he is fine now and he is getting his IV for dehydration and I'm headed to get him a fruit smoothie with protein. If anything changes tonight, I will let you know. It is 27 deg right now and raining. Traffic is running very slowly on the Interstate but that God we don't have to leave here. Will write more tomorrow after we have our plan. God bless each one and please pray that these brain tumors can be treated. We need urgent prayers. Thanks for reading this, Tommie

Sunday, Jan 25th, 2009 8:30 am

We are just resting today. Getting ready for tomorrow. We have our CT scan reviews with Dr. River and should get our "Treatment Plan" in the morning at 8:30, our Case Manager Review at 10:30 am and Naturopathy Dr. at 11 to give Buel the proper supplements to go along with the line of chemotherapy that he is going to put him on. It is suppose to freeze rain here Monday, Tues and possibly Wed so not sure what we are going to do. We have met so many wonderful people and a lot of them have been misdiagnosed until they got here. One lady we met had colon cancer and they (being Florida doctors) thought breast cancer so they did a double masectomy but it was metatisized colon cancer to her breast so they removed them for nothing! She is now being treated here for colon cancer that has spread to other parts. Totally different chemo treatment and everything. It is a whole new ballgame here. Everyone works together to get you well. Such a breath of fresh air. We have not had to leave the complex since we arrived on Wed afternoon. Will write more Monday after all of our appts. God bless.

Saturday, Jan 24th 10:53 am

We are just resting today. Buel had breakfast and his 10 am smoothie. We are now waiting on lunchtime. He has to have something about 5-6 times a day. He is feeling a little better. He is walking the halls a little and sitting out in the lobby. Our room is a little small so we try to sit in the lobby or here in the library. Have a great weekend and will write more tomorrow. God bless you.

Friday Jan 23 5:15 pm

We have seen the Naturopathy Dr. who will wait to tell him what supplements he takes until Monday at 11, after we have been given the results from today's CT scans and receive our "Treatment Plan". We also saw the Nutritionist at 3:30. She wants him to eat 5-6 times a day and all high in protein. She wants him to gain some weight. She has told us to get Jay Robb Whey Protein and add it to his eggs, yogurt, shakes, etc. Just add it to anything he eats so he can gain some weight. So, we are finished until Monday at 8:30 am. We are going to just rest this weekend and maybe catch the shuttle to the Mall (he said he may just stay here not interested in shopping!). He is eating much better and I believe the medicine may be helping him that will give him energy. It is suppose to be freezing rain here Monday and Tuesday. If we are going to go home Monday and is freezing rain, we will stay here and wait until it gets above 32 deg. However, my assumption is that he will want to start treatment asap and we may stay here for a while. Won't know until Monday. Have a great weekend and thanks to everyone for their comments on this blogsite. We love to come up here to the Library and look to see what everyone has written. God Bless You. Buel & Tommie

Ray Wallen,Friday Jan 23rd, 1:30 pm

We would like to say thanks to our wonderful Sunday School Teacher, Ray Wallen. He sent Bro. Stephen McAbee (sp?) to the CTCA to visit with us today. He is a very nice young man and we were blessed to meet him. He offered to help us with anything we need and also offered to bring us a car to use. Great man. We just wanted to say a special thank you to Ray and let everyone know how good Ray is to us. We are truly blessed to know Ray. Thanks and God Bless You.

Friday 10:30 am Jan 23rd, 2009

Buel had 4 scans this morning. CT abdomen, brain, chest and spine. We ate breakfast and are waiting on our next appt. We have an education class on a new chemo drug (I left the name of it up in the room) at 1:00 and then Nutrition Dr. at 3 and Naturopathy (natural supplements) Dr. at 3:30 then I believe our day is finished. Our next appt and "Treatment Plan" is still scheduled for Monday @ 8:30 am. We are so pleased to be here and know that God's presence is with us. We met a man yesterday that was on the cover of the cancer magazine here. He told us that he was given 4 months to live, could not walk and could not eat when he got here. He is now a volunteer and is here everyday. He said we would get help here and that this is the place to be. Anyone with cancer that is reading this, please consider coming here. I am so excited. Will write more tonight. God bless everyone and thanks for your prayers. There is a presence of God here. Thanks for taking time to read this. We love each and everyone of you.

Thursday, Jan 22nd

We love it here. Buel had an appt this morning with Dr. Rivers. He reviewed all of his previous medical records and told us that he had to stop the downward spiral that he was in. He also told us about some more lymph nodes that were in the Nov. CT scans that we were not even told about. He has ordered a CT scan of brain (he said no filters between lungs and brain and it had to be checked for cancer or any blood clots), CT of abdomen, spine (back hurts) and I can't remember what else. Those scans start at 8:30 am Friday, Jan 23rd. We are seeing a Naturopathy Dr. today at 4 and a Nutritionist Friday. Buel weighed 141 lbs today with clothes, shoes, etc. Dr. Rivers said they had done the wrong test on his (2005 tumors) cancer tissue this past summer so he has already ordered the correct test from Baylor and hopefully will have that soon. They have moved up our "Treatment Plan Review" from Wed the 28th to Monday, the 26th. So we will know by Monday what he wants to do. He has already put him on Predinozone (sp???) to give him more energy. I am very excited about this place and it appears that we are going to get the "correct" help. He wants to do the latest and greatest and get this downward spiral stopped. Will post more tomorrow. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. God bless each one of you. Thanks for the comments Betty. I am reading them every day so please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks.

Wed Jan 21

We are here. This is a very nice place and everyone is so friendly. We have checked into our guest room, ate and walked around a little to get familiar with our surroundings. Buel made the trip pretty good but was tired. It was a little over 4 hours to get here. Our first appt starts in Thursday the 22nd at 8:00 am, 8:30, 9:15 and an Oncologist visit at 10:00 am. I am very excited to see what they have to offer. There are lots of people here and everyone is very nice. We are the fortunate people that are here. Some are very sick. Will post another blog tomorrow afternoon. Our last visit on our preschedule is for Wednesday, Jan 28th. That is the day that we have our "Treatment Plan Review". We just ask that everyone keep us in your prayers. Thanks!

Tulsa, Oklahoma

We will be leaving on Wed, Jan 21st for the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Tulsa, OK. Our first appt is Jan 22nd at 8 am. Please check back for updates. We should have internet service so that I can update this site daily. Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks.