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Tom’s Story

Site created on July 22, 2019

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place.

Tom/Dad was not feeling well and unable to join us on our family trip to Antigua on June 25th. He insisted we all go even though we were very reluctant to go without him. While we were away he had more testing done and with each test, the results necessitated another test until we had the final diagnosis of stage four urothelial cancer on July 11th.

After some quick scheduling we were able to meet with two oncologists and come up with a course of treatment. He had a chemo port surgically inserted on July 17th and began his first chemo treatment on July 18th.

On July 20th he woke up uncomfortable with a cough and chest congestion. Pat/Mom brought him to the ER and after some tests and observation he was transferred by ambulance to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. There they discovered that the chemo port had been placed incorrectly and needed to be removed. Tricky surgery since it looked like the port had penetrated the vein. A team of doctors conferred on the best approach and he went into surgery early Sunday morning with a team of 20 either working on him or on standby in case they had to change their approach. Thankfully the work of an excellent vascular surgeon, Allan Conway, prevented more complicated surgery which would have required opening his chest to remove the port.

He is recovering from surgery and had drains placed to remove some fluid in his lungs and abdomen. He was moved from the ICU to the regular surgical floor on July 22nd. A new chemo port will be surgically implanted by Dr. Conway on Wed July 24. He should be released from the hospital on Friday. With luck chemo treatments will resume the following week.

We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Pat Ferguson — Jun 21, 2020

We had a beautiful service for Tom today. Our children and grandchildren did readings and we played some special music. Our son-in-law, Rich, spoke and our minister, Patrick, was wonderful. Patrick and Tom shared a special friendship and I had given Patrick a special Christmas tie and a pair of colorful socks that had belonged to Tom - he wore them to the service! It was a very intimate gathering that was filled with love. We put him to rest in his columbarium home in the church he loved so much. Rest In Peace, my love.

Read More of the journal titled "June 21, 2020"

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