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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.