April 25th

Greg had a blast on the camp out, but boy has he been tired! This week has been hard on him. I'm not sure why, but thye told us that weeks 3-6 of radiation were the hardest and he is having a hard time. his weight started dropping again, and he has thrown up several times today. I think he may be somewhat disheartened also. We went to speech therapy yesterday, and had a really good therapist who spent a lot of time on him. She noticed right off that there was too much nasality to his voice and asked if he had a cold or anything. As the conversation went on, it came out that it was caused by the lack of a uvula (the hangy down thing @ the back of your throat). In September when Dr. Cotney removed his tonsils he also decided to "reshape" Gregs soft palate to help with his "snoring problem." The problem was that Greg didn't snore! Ever since then Greg has had trouble swallowing and now we find out that that uvula helps send foods the correct direction. Greg is very upset.

April 21

Yes, he convinced me to take him to the Scout campout! He was so cute - like a little boy. I suggested that since we got held up @ Radiation, and would be getting to the event LATE, I would sleep in the Expedition. My word! You'd have thought I suggested running naked through camp! He informed me that I couldn't because I wasn't Order of the Arrow! It wasn't allowed! He was so excited we we got there that he started getting out of the truck before it even stopped! I'm so glad my brother-in-law convinced me how important this trip was for Greg! I'm in a hotel nearby and will pick him up tomorrow @ 10 AM.

April 18th

Continued from the 16th! It turns out that they had someone in the area so it was convenient for TXU to shut off the power! TXU that’s right TXU turned off the power 3 days early because someone was already in the neighborhood and so it was convenient for them!!! What audacity! Fortunately. Jennifer and Kay are such angels that they also have fantastic friends that we have come to love and adore. Debbie Maurelli's parents were out of town for the weekend and she called them and they welcomed Kay, Greg, and I into their home for the weekend, without even knowing Greg & I! After much ranting about a cancer patient they did manage to get the power on by Saturday morn, so we got to move back!

On Saturday, April 14th, Greg got a wonderful surprise. Randy and Janna Best, along with their three kids (Lacey, Kayla [& her friend Jessica], & Manton) arrived for a surprise visit. I couldn’t believe I actually kept my mouth shut! Greg was blown away! Greg was so invigorated that he even went to the movies with Manton & Randy. They saw Pathfinder & Greg even stayed awake through most of it! Sunday he was till pretty alert considering all the activity the past 3 days had. Monday & Tuesday it seemed to catch up with him. He was exhausted. Today, even though he had chemo he had a lot more energy and better spirits. He only had to have 2 chemo treatments, so now he is done! His hair started falling out Monday. He is NOT happy about that.

He is now trying to convince me to drive him to an Order of the Arrow Boy Scout campout this weekend! We'll see!

April16, 2007

What a week! Ever since they put Greg on the feeding tube we've been telling nurses and the nutritionist that we needed to see an internal med doc for diabetes control. I had been letting Greg keep up with his blood sugars. Bad idea. He had not told me the actual #'s, just that it was high. After the doc's got the report of greg's blood tests for the week that had included glucose levels this time, I got an afternoon call to head to the hosp. because Greg's Sugar count was 499 and his Potassium was 6.1 - both BAD. Well, by 11PM we finally got the blood sugar down to 250 and the potassium under control, so they sent us home. Of course, Friday was an early morning for us. On Friday he has 2 radiation treatments, and this Friday, we also had a ER followup with internal medicine. When we got home @ 3:30, there was no electricity. The electric bill wasn't due until Monday, but the company had taken it upon themselves to turn it off 3 days early! I give up! I'm posting this and adding more about our exciting weekend tomorrow!

April 9, 2007

Greg stayed awake sooo much today! In fact, he just came and asked me what it would take to convince me to take him to IHOP for a sundae! I think the change in meds and increase in nurishment finally caught up. I think I napped more than he did!
Kim asked about my name. I'm not sure if this is what your asking, but I am named after my mother Bobbie Dean, also called Bobbie D. Dad came up with the spelling. I made Greg ( who we all know can't spell his way out of a wet, torn paper sack) learn to spell it before I would agree to marry him. He learned it amazingly quick, and fortunately hasn't forgotten! HA!

April 8, 2007

Greg had a good weekend. Yesterday, he felt well enough for me to leave him for a couple of hours and go shopping. We started joking that he'd getting a t-shirt that said, " My wife had six weeks of wild shopping in Houston, and all I got was six weeks of radiation!" Man, one afternoon of shopping, and men blow it all out of proportion! Today, we went to Jennifer Waldo's parents' for lunch and spent the afternoon. He father was a scoutmaster and so Greg had a good visit. The increase of "food" has made a big difference, but Greg still sleeps more than he is awake. Thank you so much to those of you who send cards and such. Greg really enjoys them and so do I. I've always told him he was well loved, but he thought people just tolerated him. Thank you so much for proving me right!

April 6, 2007

Things started looking up today for Greg. He has wanted to do nothing but sleep all week, and even got to the point that he has me push him everywhere in a wheelchair. Dr. Chroknowski, the radiologist, told us that to a certain extent we shouldn't be too surprised because Greg is be so aggressively treated but that we should talk with our Nutritionist. The Nutritionist told us that he wasn't getting enough "food," so today we doubled his intake. It made a difference!

I know many of you have this address already, but if you don't, here is the address where we are staying:
Greg & Bobbidee Thompson.......................................OR you can email us @
c/o Jennifer Waldo...................................................... bob05985@aol.com
2307 Del Norte
Houston, Texas 77018-1018

April 4

Yesterday was a not so good day for Greg. He tossed his cookies for the first time. I really think it was because he tried to take in too much nourishment. They had gotten on him about losing weight (he's down to 227, & I gained every pound he's lost!), and not drinking enough. So, instead of 1 can of lunch & 1 can of water in his stomach tube, he insisted on adding another can of food.I warned him that his stomach had shrunk, but... So now he's weak again, but we'll get him back!

April 2, 2007

Well, Bobbidee finally figured out how to work this thing thanks to our wonderful friend Jennifer (the one who is letting us stay with her). Greg is doing really well. We are starting the 2nd week of radiation treatment. He had one chemo treatment last week and won't have another until the 18th. He was soooo lucky. Thanks to the anti-nausea drugs (all 4 of them!) he did not even get sick!! He is very tired all the time. A week and a 1/2 ago Greg had a stomach tube put in because he was not able to take in any food or liquid without pain. They told everyone in his radiation group that they'd have to do it sooner or later, and since Greg had already lost 30 pounds, we opted to go head immediately. So when he needs to be fed, we just plug the bag into his stint, and he's good to go. One funny story about that: when they delivered the liquid "food," I noticed that it was vanilla. As most of you know, Greg PREFERS chocolate. I was all concerned, until it finally registered in my mind that he wouldn't be tasting it. About an hour later, Greg Noticed the food box and said, "Vanilla! I don't like vanilla, couldn't we get chocolate?" I just looked at him and raised one eyebrow, then he realized the same thing I did. "What do I care? It's not like I'll be tasting it!"