On August 13th, Tom was taken to the doctor with what we thought was a kidney stone. While both kidneys did show signs of damage, it was assumed that the kidney functions would begin to respond to treatment. After a weekend of monitoring, the kidneys were not responding as expected and a litany of tests were ordered. On August 18, we found out the cause of the kidney damage was a result of Multiple Myeloma which is a cancer in the plasma cells of the blood. Tom is currently at Mayo in Rochester *unfortunately with heavy visitor restrictions* while they perform daily plasmapheresis, immunotherapies, chemo, and a whole bunch of other things we cannot even recall! At this time we are very hopeful we can get the kidneys working and transition him to an outpatient program. In the meantime, we encourage you to leave positive notes of support (up on the Well Wshes tab above!) and maybe share a story or two to keep this old Marine laughing. We all got his 6' as he likes to say and will keep you posted with any updates as have them.
“Love by the moon, live by the sun” Doria, Kristen, Steph, and Barb
CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.