Tommy Graves

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After a friend's suggestion, we decided to start this journal to keep our family and friends informed and updated on the events happening in our lives.
On February 28th, we left Leonardtown, Maryland with 3 dogs in the back of our car and headed to Arizona.  We arrived on March 3, happy to be with our kids and grandkids.  On March 23rd, Tommy came in from walking the dog and he was extremely short of breath.  We took a trip to the Emergency Room and he was admitted with patchy pneumonia in both lungs.  One week later, he was still not clearing as he should have been so the Pulmonologist performed a bronchoscopy.  He found a mass in the right lung.   The initial plan was to remove the lower lobe of the right lung.  On the day he was scheduled to see the thoracic surgeon, we noticed swelling of his right leg.  Another trip to the hospital revealed a blood clot in the right calf.   April 12th a PET scan revealed that 3 lymph nodes appeared to be involved as well as a suspicion of the adrenal glands being involved.  On May 4th, he underwent a surgical procedure to biopsy the lymph nodes.  All three tested positive for cancer.  With other areas being involved, surgery was out of the picture and chemo and radiation are now the plan.  We go today to do the preparation for the radiation hopefully being able to start next week.  We will see the oncologist on Friday to see when we start the chemotherapy.  We appreciate all the prayers and positive vibes.  Thanks so much.