Tom Wash

Tom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2017.  Tom had been experiencing some symptoms over several weeks in August, but they didn’t seem to be related.  He had some indigestion which was originally diagnosed as an ulcer.  After 3 weeks of diet changes and meds, the symptoms didn’t seem to fade.  Tom was also experiencing pain in both calves (thought it was some form of plantar fasciitis or some other orthopedic type issue) and shortness of breath.  Tom made several trips to his primary care doctor and Urgent Care, but the health care professionals didn’t connect the dots.  During one of these trips, Tom was told that he had fluid on his lungs and was sent home with antibiotics.  Finally, in early September, Tom felt faint and was taken to UNMH emergency and admitted to the hospital for a couple of days.  UNMH conducted extensive testing and ultimately concluded with the cancer diagnosis.  The calf pain turned out to be blood clots which were a byproduct of the cancer and that had also traveled to his lungs.  Tom is taking a daily blood thinner to dissolve the clots.  Since his hospital stay, Tom has had a port surgically installed in his chest and he will undergo six rounds of chemotherapy over the next twelve weeks as his initial treatment (two rounds have been completed to date).  One round of treatment involves over six hours of infusion at UNM Cancer Center followed by chemo infused continuously for 48 hours at home.  Tom welcomes your well wishes and thoughts on this site.  Prayers for healing and strength are also welcome.