Giving Thanks

Good morning all!

Happy Thanksgiving - we're getting together today to have a traditional family dinner, spend time and of course root for the Pats. Life is unpredictable, and this year's events have sharpened our awareness for just how blessed we are. We are thankful for the time that we have been given, for each other, for being together today and for all of our family, friends and everyone who has been along for this ride with us.

So - really quick recap on the past few weeks - I 'll type up more and add pictures sometime soon I promise. When you last heard from us we were getting ready to head to the Celtics game, as guests of Danny Ainge and the Celtics. Andy had the chemo that Thursday and by Friday it was starting to take effect in him. He rallied and we were able to make it to the game. We spent the pregame with Danny in the bowels of the Garden (it'll always be the 'Gahden' no matter how many sponsors rename it) talking about basketball and the team. We then watched the game from the front row under the basket - amazing seats and a really fun time.

That round of chemo really took it to Andy, he had a tough time with it, and never really recovered. Typically its bad for 7-10 days, and then he starts feeling better, and then another round is on us. This one was bad for most of it.

Halloween was a hoot. Ann, Maggie and I went trick-or-treating with Andy, Nicholas and Jen. Nicholas went as Buzz Lightyear, Andy was Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas, Jen was Jesse from Toy Story, Ann went as a nun witch combination, Maggie was a 70s go-go girl, and I was lucky enough to get the Isaac (from the Love Boat) costume. We just wandered around the neighborhood and enjoyed the kids' excitement.

At the start of November Andy had his 35th birthday. This disease is aggressive, vicious, and nothing is taken for granted any more - so having a birthday with family was awesome. We had a very laid back dinner, with Nicholas and Maggie entertaining us and the waiters, at Olive Garden - it sounds silly but it was the best birthday. Jen and Mom hosted an open house the following week in Framingham and lots of old friends from growing up came by. They did a great job, and it was fun seeing everyone, meant a lot to have folks come out for Andy.

We had another scan about a week ago, and were caught off guard. We had hoped that adding another chemo agent 6 weeks ago would start to shrink the tumors. What we learned is that the chemo has stopped being effective against the cancer, and there's increased activity in some of the bone metastases and in the liver. We are switching to another chemo agent, Irinotecan, and continuing on the Tarceva. Andy goes for infusions two weeks in a row, then gets a week off. We'll do this through December and have another scan at the end of the month.

So - not what we wanted to hear of course. We remain hopeful, and pray that this will work on the cancer in the liver. Andy's not sitting back and waiting for it to work, not giving up - he's fighting on, taking more time to go for walks and exercising, spending time with Jen and Nicholas, family and friends. We don't know, no one really knows, what time they have, and one of the silver linings in all of this is that I am reminded about what is truly important, time with family, enjoying each other and having fun. It's not like we forgot but life get's busy, crazy and we, like everyone else, get caught up in the silly things that in the end don't really matter. This sharpens all of your senses in some way, and makes that family time with Andy the most precious gift that we have, and makes us all thankful for the time we do have.

Alright, have to go - Turkey with the family and then we're going to try to head to Ann's sister's place for desert, if Andy is up for it. Another round tomorrow, and then next week Andy, Jen and Nicholas head to LA for a week to visit friends and family, meet new babies and enjoy the warm weather.

Happy Thanksgiving - and thank you for being here for us all throughout this past year.

Tim