Update on Troy and Pam

The Background: Pam has “stage 3” Hodgkin’s lymphoma…primary tumor is in the left upper torso area but she also has a smaller amount in the lower right area, thus the “stage 3” gradation since the disease has spread across the midline of the body…because of that stage, it is expected that she will need 6-8 “cycles” of chemotherapy…She had her 1st chemo treatment on Aug 18 and will have her 2nd one today, that is considered “one cycle.” The chemo will most likely last until around February and then once the white blood cell count rebounds enough, she’ll immediately start with about 4 weeks of radiation…that’s a 15 minute per day treatment, every day…this type of cancer is very treatable and hopefully by March she’ll be completely cured!

The Support Groups: There are essentially 3 groups of people that are involved in the “support family;” Pam and Troy’s family and neighbors, the teachers and staff at the school where Pam works and the boys go, and CVU. Obviously there are some people that belong to multiple groups, but for ease of organizing we’ve split the work into those three groups. Each group has “jobs” that are being coordinated by a team of about 8 of us that met the other night with Troy to determine their needs. If you’re reading this here, we’re putting you in the “CVU” group and if you’d like to help, here’s what you can do.

The Plan: We’re taking on the “house cleaning” part of the support. As you can imagine with 3 boys under the age of 8, a dog, and Troy…things will get messy…while Troy and the boys probably wouldn’t care, Pam would and we need to help reduce her stress level. Since it might be awkward for Pam to have a “friend” cleaning her house, the team decided to hire a “professional” cleaner to come in once a week, or more if needed, to clean the house…all the stuff none of us like to do, the tubs, the toilets…can you say “aim boys”…so we are accepting cash donations to pay for that house cleaning. We do not yet have exact fees, but we’re anticipating approximately $50 per week for the next 7-8 months.

Food: Many of you have already contributed money that went into an account at Cubbers, a restaurant in Bristol. Those contributions totaled over $700.00 (a HUGE thank you) and allows Troy and Pam to go get pizzas, burgers, etc at a moment’s notice. Here’s “Part 2” of the food plan…Cubbers is delivering food every Wednesday and so the team has decided to provide a “ready to eat meal” every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. CVU has the month of “October” as our month (Robinson Elementary, where Pam works, has Sept and the 3rd group has November) as well as “January” and possibly “April”, but we hope by that time it won’t be needed. If you are interested in either 1) making a meal or 2) delivering a meal, please contact Pam Driscoll in Snelling.