Medical Update

Dave and Kathy had an appointment with Dr. Lapp yesterday and it appears that there will be no more surgery for the time being. All of Dave's Docs have decided that more back surgery is not necessary in the near future. He is going to control any pain that he has with meds and if the meds don't work then they will discuss more surgery. But for the time being, Chemo will continue, which is working on the Myeloma. His numbers are still very good. He is content to be upright and able to do some things around the house, as well as take care of himself. He has a very healthy spirit, one that will not be beaten down at this point. But every day is a different 'carnival ride', sometimes exhilarating and fun (can't wait to get back in line to have another ride), and sometimes a little scary (not going to get back in line for that one!)
So for now, he is continues to eat well, sleep well and stay focused on what's important. Kathy's Mom has gone back home to Arizona to visit her new grandbaby, so Dave is doing a little cooking!! And, of course, he is still chipping away at those 'Thank Yous' to everyone. He remains extremely humbled by all of your attention to his situation.
Keep those happy thoughts.
Marilyn

If you haven't written a friendly message in the Guest Book-please do so. I have been printing them out and putting them into a nice book for him to pick up and look at when the 'ride gets a little scary'. Your friendship really means alot to him.

The "Tous Team" -Over Their Goal!!

Our Team Goal

Goal: $1,700.00
Raised: $1,870.00

Help Us Reach Our Goal!

Welcome to our Team Page! We are walking in this year's TeamWalk for CancerCare and need your support. As walkers we are helping to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families in the Greater Lowell area. We want to raise the most money as a team and help Lowell General Hospital reach its goal. Please help us! You can sponsor us as a team or as individual members. You can even join our team and help raise money and awareness, too!


THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SUPPORT "TOUS TEAM" and the efforts of LGH in providing passionate care to our friend, Dave Tousignant, and to all who are facing the challenge of this frightening disease. A SPECIAL THANKS to Dave's friends that live far away but hold him close in their heart: Heather and Jack Pyle of Las Vegas, who stay in touch with Dave and his Mom, donated $100 to our team. Lynne Dwight Gow, for many years living in Chicago, wants Dave to know "the Chicago crowd has him in our thoughts and prayers" ($100), and Mike McMahon ($100), long gone from New England, but remembers Dave " as a great guy".



2007 TeamWalk Members
Name Raised
Jane Comeau $1,000.00
Patricia McCafferty $320.00
Patti Britton $125.00
Janet Mitchell $0.00
Marcie Kinney $100.00
Shelagh McNulty $325.00

2007 TeamWalk has 6 Individuals

Surgery Notes

Well, surgery went well. Dave stayed overnight in the hospital because surgery was scheduled rather late in the day yesterday. And, as we have proven in the past, we got what we asked for. Dr. Lapp was able to 'see' the vertebrae that has been the nasty little culprit. The cause of most of Dave's pain and the one that helps hold up his head. So, it has been repaired. Woo-Hoo!! Pat yourself on the back if you were one of those praying for good vision for the Doc. What I understand is that he was able to repair about three this time. There is still more to do, but the follow-up visit in 2 weeks, with the Doc, will be the determining factor.
Kathy picked Dave up this morning and she said that he was feeling very upbeat with hardly any pain. So he's on one of the good 'carnival rides' as of this posting-lets hope it lasts a long time.
Don't forget to go to the Lowell General website and sign up to be a walker on the 'Tous Team' or sponsor a walker if you can't make it. The website is listed in the message about the walk from Jane Comeau.
Keep those happy thoughts.
Marilyn

As Promised-More Info on the LGH Walk

We are now registered as a team, in love and support of our buddy Dave, for the May 20 Lowell General TeamWalk for CancerCare. Please go to www.lowellgeneral.org and click on the "Walk", then scroll to "Sponsor a Walker or Team". We are "Tous Team" and you need to use the quotations. Registration is $10 and you can sign up for either the 3 mile or 6 mile walk. As mentioned previously, send this along to as many people in your address book as possible. Bring your family, friends, co-workers ... we can make this a tremendous event. If you cannot walk, you may want to sponsor one of the team members.
Thanks everyone ... maybe a few of you could jump on this bandwagon with me and we'll figure out our team tshirt. Let's get those walking papers going!
All best,
Jane
jemcomeau@comcast.net

It's a Go!!

Dr. Lapp and Dr. Anamur had a little pow-wow yesterday and they both feel that more kyphoplasty is the answer to Dave's vertebrae issues. So they have scheduled him for surgery on Monday, to shore up 2 of them and then 3 weeks later go in and finish up the rest. Dr. Lapp says that he can only repair what he can see, so let's hope for clear vision that day for the Doc. He seems very optimistic that he can help Dave.
Deciding to have a stem cell transplant is a weighty problem for anyone, in Dave's case, with all of the bone damage, it makes the decision a lot more difficult. Let's hope this back surgery works and gives Dave the peace of mind that he needs to make other decisions about his health.
Thanks everyone, this is proof that your thoughts and prayers are working once again,
Keep it going,
Marilyn

Happy Thoughts Footnote: Dave drove the car the other day!! Woo-Hoo!!!

Dave's Cloud Has Sprung a Leak...

...in the form of a back specialist, Dr. Lapp who says that he can fix up Dave's vertebrae in two operations. He gave Dave and Kathy the ray of sunshine that they needed to hear right about now. This is very good news for Dave. His concerns, up to this point, have been about his back and whether or not the bone damage can be repaired enough to continue to fight the Myeloma. This is the first time that he has felt that there is some hope of bone repair. So, it looks like a go, just when it will happen hasn't been determined, but I will let you know the minute I do.
Think good, happy, healthy thoughts for this boy,
He needs you,
Marilyn

It's a Tough Battle

I had the opportunity to visit with Dave yesterday (I brought him the messages from the Guestbook and pasted them into the book that we had at the Fundraiser that not many of you got to sign). Which brought him great joy, so if you haven't posted your message for Dave in the Guestbook, get crackin'. He needs those 'Happy Thoughts' if we expect him to fight this unpredictable disease.
The news on Tuesday from the Doc was not the best. Dave's vertebrae continue to deteriorate. Which causes him alot of pain. And the Myeloma numbers are not dropping as quickly as the Doc's had hoped. He is in very good spirits, though and he looks great, even with the weight loss. His focus right now is research. He is looking for some answers about the stem cell transplant choice, the bone damage, and overall what to expect from all of this. If any of you have access to information concerning his particular situation; I.E. chat rooms, websites, personal experience with Myeloma in a younger person with bone damage, PLEASE email ME so that I can get it to him. I don't want to overwhelm him with info, so I would prefer it if I could do the preliminary 'weeding'. (Thanks!) Which means that you can send ME anything that you think might help him with his research.
Your support of this Blog speaks milestones about the love and friendship that you have for Dave and Kathy. I want to thank you all again for checking in with us, daily. It means alot to them.
It's time to write down your 'Happy Thoughts'!
Marilyn

Dana Farber Visit

It sounds like it was a long day. It took them nearly 2 hours to get back home due to weather and traffic. Happily, Linn and Greg were with them. I will do my best to give you the info that I got from Kathy.
The doctor there gave Dave a number of options. First, he can continue Chemo until the Myeloma becomes resistant to it and no longer works. Next, he can have a single or double stem cell transplant (his own stem cells). This would give him a chance to knock the cancer back to an earlier stage. The recuperation period from this is very intense and takes anywhere from 6 months to a year. Lastly, he can have an outside stem cell transplant (someone else's).
So, he has some very difficult decisions to make. No matter what he decides to do, it is going to be a 'day-to-day' scenario. That's what Multiple Myeloma is, a 'day-to-day' disease.
He needs us more than ever, now. Please sign the guestbook on this blog, so that I can make him a book to look at when he needs some strength to get through this. His friends and family are his best emotional medicine. And I believe that there is healing in numbers.
Keep a healthy and happy thought,
Marilyn

Please Sign the Guestbook

Okay, I found a guestbook for you all to sign in lieu of not getting to sign the book on Saturday night. So, if you would like to leave a message for Dave to have, click on the icon under the Guestbook. When you get to that site, click on the Post box at the top of the page. Type in your name, your e-mail address (in case we get Dave to use the computer), where you are from and then scroll down to the message area to leave your message. My intent is two-fold. One, to have a 'Happy Thoughts' book for Dave to read on his 'down' days, and two, so that he knows who was at the party and who couldn't make it. This is very, very important. He misses his social interactions with people and these messages will be vital to his emotional health. Please don't let a little thing like the computer frighten you into not posting a message for him. If you hit any barriers trying to leave a message -call me @ 978-433-9262 or e-mail me @ manystrz@yahoo.com and I will talk you through it.
We are a group of people who answer a call for help with the kind of strength and fortitude that you just don't see any where else. I have come to realize that if Dave is going to heal, it is going to be with our help. We've got one of his troubles taken care of for a little while (great job, by the way, pat on the back for everyone!!!). Let's focus on his emotional health for a while and get this book going.
You guys ROCK!!!
Time to write down those Happy Thoughts,
Marilyn

Well, It Was Quite a Night!!

If you were there, than you know for yourself what a phenomenal turnout we had. There was hardly any elbow room. We estimated the crowd to number over 550 at one time. Friends drove down from Vermont and flew in from Florida and Texas. It was pretty impressive to see a community that has gone off in so many directions, come together for one purpose. The electricians, the plumbers, the builders, the masons, the painters, the wrestlers, the doctors, the lawyers, the Indian Chiefs, the butchers, the bakers and the candlestick makers? came together to give back to Dave all the love and friendship that he has given.
It was 'incredulous'. (There's Dave's word again!) The entertainment was fantastic. The band, the pianist, the singers. There were raffle tickets flying all over, and a live auction. Very cool!! The highlight of the evening, of course, was a pre-recorded message from Kathy and Dave. It was probably the only time that you could hear a pin drop in a room full of people. Kathy did most of the talking, (and she was great!). Dave, being his shy self, said a little thank you at the end. But it was nice for everyone to see him. There was a live feed from the party to his house so that he and Kathy could watch it all take place on TV. Hopefully he got to see some of it. He tires easily and is ususally off to bed early. But it was also recorded so that he can see it later and there were plenty of cameras around. The only thing that got overlooked, unfortunately, was the book for everyone to sign. We did get some people to write messages to Dave who were still there when we realized that it had gotten shuffled to place where no one would find it! So I am going to try to 'up' my computer skills and figure out a way to get a 'Happy Thoughts' book linked to this blog. That way if you didn't get a chance to give him a personal message, you can, and I will see that it gets into his book. I am also going to try to scan in the beautiful program that was made for him, for those of you who couldn't make it. (Which, by the way, we missed you).
The whole night was a major success, in many more ways than we could have imagined. The coming together of a community of people who live in different cubby holes in this world-well to quote another generation- it was mind blowing!
I will be posting more details of the night as the weeks go by. And also updating you all on Dave's visit to Dana Farber this week.
I have to say that in my 53 years of life, I don't recall ever getting a chance to meet so many nice people in so short a period of time. David is truly a blessed man.
Thank you for all of your kindness, generosity, and love. He really does appreciate it.
Keep a happy thought!
Marilyn

DAVE'S FUND RAISER EVENT

It's hard to believe that it is upon us. I have heard many folks saying that this party is going to be the biggest Chelmsford High School Class Reunion ever!-spanning the years of 1965-1975 and then some. 'Incredulous' as Dave would say. Bring your dancing shoes, your appetite and a card for Dave or a message/photo (of yourself or something that you and Dave share)/poem, etc. to put into his 'Happy Thoughts' book, for those days when he needs a 'Happy Thought'.
Raffle tickets are 10 for $20.00 or 50 for $50.00-tons of very cool stuff. And you'll need a competitive edge to bid on the Auction items. Very, very cool stuff!!
There will be disposable cameras around, don't be shy about taking pictures for Dave. He is going to want to see how wonderful you all are.
See you all Saturday night!!
Bring those happy thoughts,
Marilyn

A Nice Visit

I had a very nice visit with Dave yesterday. He was in good spirits, despite his pain. The Chemo treatments are not making him sick or lose his hair and it seems to be knocking the Myeloma numbers down a bit. Hopefully, when the Docs get his cancer to a point, they will be able to address his bone fractures and pain a little more. It is amazing what he has been through in 2 short months.
Your prayers, happy thoughts, and support have helped him with his fight more than you know. He was afraid that he would not be able to properly thank everyone for all the comfort that he has gotten from friends and family. So, we decided that he should have some special cards that he could use.
Dave and Moe did the finish work for a very nice family, Mark & Marcia Thomas and their very talented daughter, Jenn. She has a unique artistic talent that we were sure would be the perfect solution to Dave and Kathy's dilemma. Thank you Mark, Marcia and Jenn for creating these special cards for Dave and Kathy. They are fantastic.
See you all soon,
Keep those happy thoughts,
Marilyn

We Have Our Easels, Just Need Flowers

Thanks everyone, we got the two easels we were looking for. Everything seems to be falling into place. We are still looking for Florists who would like to donate one, two, or three table decorations. We thought that it might be a great opportunity to advertise their artistic ability and supply us with some very different, very lovely table decos. Not to mention the fact that it is a healthy competition for local florists. Tax-deductible, because it is marketing/advertising. Let me know if you know anyone willing to donate.
Thanks again for all of your participation. It's going to be a great night.
Keep a happy thought!
Marilyn

One Day At A Time

I just received the medical updates that we have all been waiting for. Dave and Kathy had an appointment with Dr. Anamur today and he said that Dave's numbers, (in relation to the Multiple Myeloma), look better than they did, but they also discussed the facts. The facts are that Multiple Myeloma is a cancer that is unpredictable. He will have good days and he will have bad days, and the quality of his life, day to day, is what is important. He is doing well with the Chemo treatments and Dr. Anamur explained that Chemo could be one of his options for quite a while. They also discussed a bone marrow transplant (or Stem Cell Transplant.) They have an appointment with a doctor at Dana Farber upcoming in a few weeks to discuss this option. The procedure, as described to Dave and Kathy, has left them with some concerns. He is still in pain from the bone damage as a result of the Myeloma. It's optimistic to hope for total bone repair, although it is possible to have some strengthening in certain areas. Time and medicine will be the predictor of that. Doctors orders are no strenuous physical activity. Short walks is about all.
Dave has come to realize that this journey he is on will be the ultimate test of his endurance. At the same time, it will be a journey of change, hope, faith and human connection. His focus in life has to be a little different now.
Part of his 'good health' right now is the fact that we have all been so good about not exposing him to germs. (Pat on the back for us.) And if he is going to have to continue Chemo, that won't be changing for a while.
Keep your happy, healthy thought,
You are all a special part of his connection,
Marilyn

Another Fund Raiser Update!!

We want to take this time to thank everyone for their generous support with the many monetary and gift donations that we have received to date. These items donated by dozens of generous businesses and individuals will be used for an auction and raffles the night of the event. Here are some of the wonderful gifts that have been donated:

• Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins Tickets
• Weekend getaway at Camden Yards in Baltimore
• A 7 day vacation on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts
• A 7 day vacation in Ocean City, Maryland
• Top of the line golf equipment along with t time at several outstanding golf courses
• Numerous gift certificates for local restaurants, hair salons and spas
• Theatre tickets

We are continuing to accept as many gifts as we can to use in our raffles and auction.

All of the evening’s entertainment will be live, headlined by one of New England’s top entertaining groups, Jack Knox and the Continentals.

Please invite your friends and family to come and enjoy a very special night.

Sincerely,
The Fund Raising Committee

Just a Quickie

Well I spoke with David this morning and he was feeling really great. It's nice when his pain is tolerable. And today was one of those days. Hallelujah!! Tomorrow, he and Kathy meet with Dr. Anamur, so we should have some news tomorrow night. Stay tuned.
A little something else that came to mind today, if you were kind enough to donate to the account over these past few weeks, you might want to check with your employer. Some companies have 'Gift Matching Programs'. I will give you whatever you need in the way of proof of your donation. Just let me know. That would be terrific.
Stay warm, (yeah!-not so hard to do today)
Keep a healthy thought,
Marilyn

A Tidbit of News

Gee, I do believe that this is the longest amount of time that I have not communicated any news about our friend. And it's mainly because there isn't too much to tell. Tuesday he went to the Cancer Center and had his catheter taken out and a Chemo port put in. Which does mean that Chemo isn't over yet. He also had some x-rays and some blood tests done. I have been waiting on the results of some of those tests to update you on his progress and as of today, he hasn't heard too much. His Mom took him in to have a Procrit injection today, and one of the nurses told them that 'his numbers' look pretty good. So, there must be some results to share that he will get from Dr. Anamur next Tuesday when he and Kathy go in. He is still in some pain and is starting to ask more questions regarding that. Hopefully, the Docs can come up with some answers. If you know Dave, you know that he doesn't want to take the 'pain meds'. But when he does, he is 'wicked' funny all drugged up. What a hoot!!
He is, for the most part, trying to stay positive. Some days are harder than others. I believe that he is still exercising a little bit though. I know that he misses his social interactions with everyone, but it is hard to know if it's okay to call. He does take 'naps'. Moe called him the other day to chat about work and he really did enjoy it.
I hope we can all get together on March 31st and create the 'human connection' that has helped him through this healing process and that he misses so much. Bobbie and friends are getting a 'live video feed' together so that Dave can join us via technology. It's destined to be a great night.
Keep a happy thought,
Marilyn

Fund Raiser Update!!

Hi everyone. Bobby and committee has asked me to let you all know that we are still in need of some raffle items. Preferably gift certificates to restaurants, salons, specialty shops, etc. If you or anyone you know, can help us out with these types of items for the event, we would be very grateful. You can contact Bobbie Kinney at 978.251.7804 and let him know what you have. We are, also, looking for Corporate Sponsors for the event. If this is a way that you would like to help out, please contact me at 978.433.9262 or Bobbie. Thanks again for all of your support for Dave and his family. It's overwhelming what nice friends and family Dave has had 'the pleasure to have known' (It's in a Beatles song, I think). (Penny Lane??)

I have not much to update on his medical status at the moment. Moe went over there today, and he said that Dave was having a 'not so good' day. He was not feeling well, which is to be expected with the Chemo. He will have a week or so to recup before they go at it again. Let's hope that he can build himself up a little. I will hopefully be able to fill you in a bit more next week after he has his tests and x-rays. I'm still rooting for our team!!

One other little tidbit of interest, I found out today that if you are looking at the blog, you will see 2 ads on the left hand side, clicking on them does generate some money for our cause. So if there is anything of interest to you, click away. But what I learned just today is that if you click on a particular 'blog post', you will get a whole new set of ads. Didn't know this until I had to edit a post. So, there are other interesting ads hidden in each post. Happy hunting, and clicking! (I was a little surprised at how much they do pay.) And again, please let me know if you see anything objectionable, I will take care of that right away.

Let's keep a healthy thought along with our happy one, shall we.
Gracias
Marilyn

We Have Weight Gain

Dave just seems to be speeding through this recovery process. He has already gained 3 pounds. That is fantastic since he is still doing the Chemo. Which today was the last for a week or so. Next week they will be removing the catheter and inserting a Chemo port, which indicates that the Chemo isn't done yet. They will be in the hospital for the entire day on Tuesday, between the surgery for the port, blood tests and x-rays. Lets all 'huddle' for good results there. Dave is fighting so hard to get better, I hope that he gets some good news medically. Kathy said that his appetite has improved alot and he is really getting around well. So far, it's all good!!!
Thanks to all of you who have supported our efforts with the Fund Raiser, so far. Things are looking good there as well. If someone doesn't get in touch with you, and you would like to buy tickets, contact one of us on the letter in this blog. (Scroll down).
Can't wait to see you all.
Keep a happy thought!
Marilyn