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