Elliot James Talley

Elliot arrived at approximately 3:35 yesterday afternoon. Our flight was delayed by a faulty a/c unit on the plane, and we got the news while sitting on the tarmac in Cincinnati as they tried to fix it. We finally arrived in Wilmington and after an hour wait for our luggage, we arrived at the hospital at 7pm.

We fell in love at first sight. Elliot is such a cute, peaceful baby. 8 pounds, 11 ounces, 21 inches long, with strawberry blond hair. Andrea was tired but resting comfortably after achieving her goal of a completely natural childbirth. Robert and Ann Talley were leaving just as we arrived, with big smiles on their faces. Chris was the doting new father, tending to Andrea's and Elliot's every need. Less than five minutes after we arrived, Linda was holding her new grandson. Unfortunately, Elliot slept the whole 90 minutes we were there, and we left around 8:30pm to let Andrea get some well deserved rest.

We'll have pictures later today, but if you can't wait, click on the link to Andrea and Chris' Baby blog on the right. Also, uncle Tony arrives this afternoon. We'll write more later, but we have to leave for the hospital now.

Luv ya, Linda and Jim

It's time!

Hi everyone, Jim here. I'm sitting in the doctor's office this morning as Linda is getting her Torisel treatment. We got a call from Andrea this morning around 5am, and she's gone into labor. We always figured this is the one day we would have trouble with, since Linda couldn't afford to miss a treatment. Any other day and we could charter a plane and get there in a few hours. Our commercial flight out is at 3pm this afternoon (we plan to leave for the airport right after the treatment), and assuming Comair is on time, we'll get there around 5pm. I doubt (and hope) that Andrea isn't in labor all that time, so we'll probably miss the arrival by a few hours. Linda's is a little disappointed by all this, but I'm sure that will change once we get there.

In the meantime, Linda has been having a rough week. Last week's blood test showed low hemoglobin again, so she ended up getting another blood transfusion this Wednesday. That and trouble sleeping has kept her tired all the time. Not that any of this would matter, because nothing will keep her off that plane this afternoon.

Hopefully, we will be able to update the blog again tonight. See you then!

It's all good!!!

Hi, all!
Well, we got the written report from the scans last week and I couldn't believe the news. The bone scan showed "no evidence of metastatis to the skeleton". WOW! Then the Cat scan results were even better. Most of the masses in the lungs and the renal cavity have SHRUNK since my last scan in May. And the Torisel that I'm on is not supposed to shrink tumors, just keep them at bay. So, needless to say, Jim and I are quite happy and looking forward to a lot more time together and with our new grandchild--when he comes.
I can't thank you all enough for all your prayers and support. I just know that that is what is getting me through all of this. I am so blessed!
Love you all!
Linda

no news yet!

Happy July 4th weekend!
We thought we would have some news for you on Thursday or Friday about the tests I had done on Wednesday. It was an all-day outing at Christ Hospital for a bone scan and a CAT scan of my abdomen. We were hoping to get some results from my oncologist on Thursday afternoon, but, unfortunately, his son dislocated his collar bone playing tennis and had to be taken to the emergecy room. Now we're hoping to hear something on Monday. We'll let you know ASAP.

All is well with Andrea and baby. We're going down to Wilmington on the 18th for "baby watch" and staying until the 30th. Hope this little guy cooperates with those dates! ONLY 2 MORE WEEKS!!!

Hope you're all having a great weekend.
Love ya!
Linda

Just Checking In

Hi Everybody,

Jim this time. Linda's condition is so stable that it's hard to provide any kind of update other than "Things are the same." Linda's getting around so well that she's started driving around a little bit by herself, and consequently I ended up going to work every day last week. So yes, things are going well for now and Linda is taking advantage of the new medication every chance she gets.

I thought I would take the opportunity to post some of the pictures from the birthday party:

Sorry about the formatting, believe me, it's harder than you think. Thanks to Bob and Heather for all the great pictures.

So the next big event will be a CT and bone Scan, on or about July 1st. We'll see what that brings.

One last thing---Today Linda and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. If for no other reason, Linda deserves canonization for putting up with me for all these years.

Later,

Jim

won't be long!

Hi!
I know it's been a while since I wrote to everyone, but there really isn't any new news on the medical front. My doctor continues to be pretty amazed that I'm doing so well, so we're continuing with the Torisel as long as we can. On the weekends I get to take a little more of the steroid medication and that helps my energy level a lot.
Of course our attention right now is focused on Andrea and the new baby. She is due on July 20th, so we're trying to figure out when we should go down there, how long to stay, etc. If she goes early, I'm not sure what the plan will be! Another consideration is that we have to arrange for me to get my chemotherapy treatment while I'm down there. Unfortunately, I can't miss even one week's treatment.
So the summer is going very well for me. I feel very fortunate to be feeling so well at this most exciting time in our lives. All of those prayers must really be doing the trick! Thank you all.

Love ya! Linda

more good news

I guess it has been a while since I've written to all of you....but I do have an excuse! We went on Tuesday to have my follow-up brain MRI done and we were lucky enough to hear the preliminary report from the doctor right away. It was all good news. The original tumor has been shrunk to the size of a pin head (follow the arrow on the picture) and, just as important, there are no new sights or tumors. We were afraid to pass on this news to everyone right away because we wanted to wait for the final report from the radiologist, which we finally got yesterday. So the radiation seems to have worked and the brain tumor is no longer a worry--at least for now.

I just have to go back every 3 months for more scans. Needless to say, we were quite relieved.

I continue to do quite well on Torisel. I still get low-grade fevers about 3 or 4 times a week, but usually a few Tylenol will do the trick. My energy level is so much higher than when I was on Sutent and I've been doing some "normal" things once again. Jim even went to work two days in a row while Andrea has been here this weekend. Let's hope this all continues for a long time... at least until the end of July when the baby comes!

Thanks for your continued support and prayers.

Love ya!

Linda