PICTURE INDEX
Click Here to view pictures from June 3rd 2001 up to September 26th 2001
Here is the latest photo update, please note that half of them are actually listed upside down in date order, BUT the newest ones are now added to the top of the list.......not the norm for the other picture pages.
July 12th 2002 - Me, Amy and Tom enjoying our stroll on the beach at St. Pete.
July 2002 - Tom enjoying the sunset at St Pete Beach.
July 12th 2002 - Jack messing with the car...
July 12th 2002 - Jack and Tom showing off the completed car shell.
July 12th 2002 - Jack and Tom laughing at my attempt to make a victoria sandwhich cake. Oh well it tasted good!
July 12th 2002 - Tom showering off after his exercising swimming in the pool.
July 12th 2002 - Jack (Tom's cousin) bombing in the pool..note Tom watching from the spa.
July 12th 2002 - Tom and Jack with the painted car.
July 12th 2002 - Mark, Tom and Jack masked up, in the middle of spraying the car.
July 12th 2002 - Mark, Tom and Jack masked up spraying the car.
July 12th 2002 - Tom and his cousin Jack (visiting from the UK) starting spraying the infamous car.
July 10th 2002 - Tom with his cousins Jack and Dave.
July 2002 - Tom with his cuz's Jack and Dave....messing with the electric ball. Oh yeah and Mark lurking in the background.
July 10th 2002 - Tom enjoying opening his presents.
July 10th 2002 - Tom enjoying spending the time with his friends.
July 10th 2002 - Tom enjoying opening up his birthday presents.
July 10th 2002 - Tom opening up some of his birthday presents from his friends in the party room after the movie.
July 10th 2002 - Tom's delicious frozen yogurt birthday cake.
10th July 2002 - Tom with his friends in the birthday room after the movie.
10th July 2002 - Tom and his friends waiting for the movie to start. This was how he celebrated his 12th Birthday.
July 10th 2002 - Tom with his friends settling into our own private theater at Muvico. Special thanks to Muvico.
July 10th 2002 - Tom with 'Monkeh'
July 10th 2002 - Tom soooooooo happy that he got his 'monkeh' friend.
July 10th 2002 - Tom just woke up for his birthday presents.
July 10th 2002 - Tom with his birthday presents
July 8th 2002 - Tom wanted to take a photo of all his jigsaws he put together and also the lego train set that Herb and family kindly bought him when they arrived in Durham.
July 8th 2002 - Me, Amy and Tom in the pool.
July 2002 - Tom enjoying playing basket ball.
July 2002 - Tom shooting some hoops.
July 2002 - Amy, Tom and Me playing some Basket Ball (after dark of course).
June 2002 - Now I know this looks like Tom is being good and cleaning up after himself, but actually he was making sure there were no remains of dough for Amy to sneak as he couldn't have any (because it contains raw egg), so he didn't think she should have any either....LOL!
June 2002 - Amy and Tom baking some chocolate chip muffins.
June 2002 - Tom concentrating on his baking.
June 2002 - Tom, Mark and Brandon enjoying the pool.
June 2002 - Tom testing the waters...on our return home from Duke, the pool hadn't been filled for long so it was a bit chilly and Tom was reluctant to go in.
June 2002 - This is our townhouse that we spent 6 months living in while we were in Durham. It's 2 story on the front and 3 story on the back.
June 2002 - Tom and Dr Kurtzberg during his 6 month studdies.
June 2002 - Tom with another fave Nurse Practioner Sue on our return to Duke for his 6 month studies.
June 2002 - Tom back at Duke for his 6 month studies..here having the Pulminary Function Test.
June 2002 - Tom back at Duke for his 6 month studies..anohter part of the Pulminary Function Test.
June 2002 - Tom with his go-kart, he had just driven it and was pushing it back in the garage.
May 2002 - Tom and Brandon having fun with the Nerf guns.
May 2002 - Tom and his bud Brandon with the Nerf guns.....lots of fun!
May 2002 - This is one of my favorites...Tom with his new hat that The Kittlesons sent, just love it!
May 2002 - Tom enjoying life at home...relaxing in his first bath without restriction of the central line, he was able to lay all the way under the water.
May 2002 - YEAH! Finally made it home, this is Tom and Wesley eating Tom's long awaited favorite food from the Chinese Veggie restaurant.
May 2002 - Childrens Health Center at Duke where we spent A LOT of time.
May 2002 - Tom with his faithful dog Luke and his new Gorilla that he got as a gift for having his port in.
May 2002 - Tom and Me on Mothers Day!
May 2002 - Tom showing his new port accessed...note all the new slits and cuts to get his old one out and the port in.
May 2002 - Poor Tom, he had to have his new port accessed within a copuple of days as his Magnesium was low and had to have an infusion. Not a happy chappy, it hurt as he was still sore and the EMLA didn't have much time to work to numb it.
May 2002 - Tom in recovery, right after surger. Note the big lump on the left side of his chest, which is where the port is.
April 24th 2002 - Sorry Mark, had to put this one in! Mark getting suited up so he could take Tom right into the operating room,
April 24th 2002 - Nic, Mark Amy & Tom....no turning back now, bye bye central line!
April 24th 2002 - Tom getting ready for surgery to finally say goodbye to that central line.
April 24th 2002 - Tom just before going to surgery to have his central line taken out and his port put in......note we wrote on him "please keep my line" so they wouldn't throw it away and would let us keep it!
April 24th 2002 - Tom all sterile and masked up ready to do the LAST dressing change on his central line!
April 24th 2002 - Tom all masked up ready to do the LAST dressing change!
April 24th 2002 - Tom and one of his fave nurses Shannon
April 24th 2002 - Tom taking off his tape for the 'LAST EVER' dressing change!!! YIPEE!
April 23rd 2002 - Tom and Dr Driscoll, from the BMT unit.
April 23rd 2002 - Tom and Andre...a super cool nurse from the BMT unit.
April 23rd 2002 - Tom and a couple of nurses from the BMT unit.
April 23rd 2002 - Tom and one of his fave Nurse Practioners Stacy
April 23rd 2002 - Tom and Dr Kurtzberg just as we were discharged to come home to Orlando.
April 23rd 2002 - Tom and one of his fave nurses Shannon
April 19th 2002 - Tom and Amy playing with his nerf ball gun.
April 19th 2002 - Tom, Mark and Amy
April 18th 2002 - Tom actually managed to blow them all out!
April 18th 2002 - WOW look at those candles.....call the firebrigade!
April 18th 2002 - Tom with his cake.
April 18th 2002 - The infamous '100 DAY' cake which did actually have 100 candles.
April 18th 2002 - Amy and Tom
April 18th 2002 - Amy, Tom, Oliver and Eva at Tom's '100 DAY' celebration.
April 18th 2002 - Tom with his fantasic self-made '100 DAY' cake.
April 12th 2002 - Amy and Grandma Jean masked up while Tom had his caps changed.
April 12th 2002 - Tom opening the cool model car that the Jeff Gordon team sent to him.
April 6th 2002 - Amy, Me and Oliver wearing Tom's hat which the Kittlesons kindly sent to him.
April 6th 2002 - Tom undergoing his 'once a month' inhaling of a drug to stop him getting pneumonia
April 6th 2002 - Tom enjoying his cotton candy maker
April 6th 2002 - Mark, Amy, Tom, Grandma Jean and Grandma Dot on their recent visit.
April 6th 2002 - Tom opening some of his Easter gifts
April 6th 2002 - Amy and Tom dying their eggs for Easter
April 6th 2002 - Little late....Amy and Tara Lapinski after the ice show.
April 6th 2002 - One of the rooms in the clinic where we have spene so many hours whilst Tom had his infusions.
April 6th 2002 - Veggie Breakfast...when Tom was on HIGH steroids.
April 6th 2002 - Tom and Oliver
April 6th 2002 - Tom and the "50 DAY" cake
April 6th 2002 - A little late... "Half Way 50 DAY" cake
April 6th 2002 - Tom and Oliver
April 6th 2002 - Me and sweet little Eva (Oliver's sister)
August 2001 - Sorry it's late, but this is a photo of Tom, Nic and Little Stephanie (a friend Tom met while in RMCH).
August 2001 - Another late one....Tom, Amy and Beth in the gym at the RMCH.
November 2001 - Grandma Jean and Tom making Tom's favorite "Sunday Dinner".
November 2001 - Grandma Jean, Tom and Amy thoroughly enjoying dinner!
November 2001 - Tom at the start of the venture to build his Roller Coaster.
November 2001 - His new venture almost complete.
November 2001 - Mark and Tom just testing it out!
November 2001 - Tom very pleased with the testing, almost complete!
November 2001 - Tom and his litle cousin George with the fully operational coaster.
November 2001 - Tom trying out his dancing skills on the super cool dance mats! Lots of fun!
November 2001 - He's a natural!
November 2001 - Tom and "Dangerous Dave" competing for the dance championship!
October 2001 - Mark and Tom..... Thumbs up ready to start the fireworks.
October 2001 - Is it really safe for Tom to light that firework with such a low platelet count?????
November 2001 - Tom and some of our UK friends ready to start the firewoks for Bonfire Night!
November 2001 - Come on Mark.......start the fireworks. You can just make out Great Grandma Nellie sat inside the conservatory. Probably the safest place considering Marks conversion from 25 metres to 25 pin steps (the distance to stand away from the firework display).
December 2001 - Tom and "Dangerous Dave" trying out the shooting game.
December 2001 - Tom and Jodie looking cool!
December 2001 - Tom playing pool with his Great Granddad.
December 2001 - Tom just chilling with his Great Grandma Alice.
December 2001 - Tom and his cousin Jack building the Battlebots that Tom got for his birthday.
December 2001 - Tom and Jack trying their skills at the shooting game.
December 2001 - Tom just about to have the CAT scan to make sure all was OK before going to transplant.
December 2001 - The day after he had his new central line fitted. OUCH!!!! Poor Tom.
December 2001 - Two days after his new line....Poor Tom, note all the dressing covering his Old Line Site under his arm. I will NEVER forget how much pain he went through when they took the padding out the day after surgery.
December 2001 - Sheila one of the cool nurses that we have here doing a dressing change a couple of days after his line was put in. Not quite as painful anymore.
December 2001 - Tom with all hew new and old wounds....slits everywhere!!! Also attached to the 'halter meter' (not quite sure of spelling) to try and trace his heart blips over a 24hr period. How did he sleep or walk with all that stuff attached?
December 2001 - Mark and Tom, enjoying Christmas Day before being admitted a few days after.
December 2001 - Tom wearing his new DUKE hat that Auntie Nads and Cliff bought him. Now we have the right colors! Didn't go down too well when he wore the rivals North Carolina hat! Whoops!
December 2001 - Just a tiny part of DUKE....the glass building is the Childrens Day hospital where we now spend lots and lots of hours in clinic.
December 30th 2001 - Today was the start of our adventure....Tom just after being admitted to the transplant unit enjoying a ride on his favorite go-kart before being attached "permanently" to his enormous drip stand.
January 2002 - Mark and Tom enjoying the freedom that the snow gave us as we had to walk to the Radiation unit as the train wasn't working.
January 2002 - Nic & Tom enjoying the walk in the snow.
January 8th 2002 - Mark and a very nervous Amy as she prepares to go to the OR for the bone marrow harvest.
January 8th 2002 - 'Purple armed' Amy and Nic as the nurse tries to find a vein to put the line into. Poor Amy, it's a wonder her arm didn't drop off.
January 8th 2002 - Finally!!!!....she struck oil and found a BIG vein Shame Mark didn't get the shot of all the blood that poured out when she hit it.
January 8th 2002 - Here it is....the magic bag! All 960mls of Amy's wonderful cells. No wonder she was so pale for weeks afterward.
January 8th 2002 - Tom, Katie and the magic bag.....Let the transplant begin!
January 8th 2002 - The long awaited transplant begins......For once this was a painless experience for Tom.
January 8th 2002 - Poor Poor Tom !!!!! This was him right after he had the MASSIVE reaction to the transplant. He was really really ill that day.
January 10th 2002 - Amy and Tom both looking good a few days after transplant.
January 2002 - Amy shaving off Tom's hair. He decided to shave it before it all fell out.
January 2002 - Tom decided to have a go at the shaving himself.
January 2002 - Tom with his MASSIVE drip stand he was attached to 24hrs a day and had to push everywhere with him.
January 2002 - Thanks to Dipping Dots for sending us the big box that we were able to share with everyone on the unit. Greatly appreciated.
January 2002 - Mark and Tom having a balloon fight with the balloons that Dipping Dots also sent to us.......blowing them up was great for Tom's lungs too!
January 2002 - Amy and Tom digging into the delivious Dipping Dots
January 2002 - Mark, Tom and 'Cool' Emily the Child Life Specialist (playleader) delivering the Dipping Dots to the other patients on the unit. They went down really well.
February 2002 - Emily, Mark and Tom starting the game that she made for Tom to encourage him to leave his room and walk the hallways. It worked, thanks Emily!!!
February 2002 - Tom and Emily playing the 'Hit the things you hate' game.
February 2002 - Amy, Emily and Tom having fun with the game.
February 2002 - Cliff and Tom enjoying a game of GT3 on their visit to see Tom.
February 2002 - Tom and Grandma Dot on a recent visit to see Tom.
February 2002 - Auntie Nadia, Cliff and Tom enjoying the GT3. Note Nadia is sat on the super comfortable bed that Mark and I took turns to sleep on.
February 6th 2002 - Tom and one of his fave nurses Shannon, at the start of the water fight. Note Shannon had the advantage as she covered Tom in the cleansing foam.
February 6th 2002 - Ha ha ha....everyone got Mark.
February 6th 2002 - Defenseless Emily was even attacked on her way through.
February 6th 2002 - Tom and Shannon with some of the players form the Super Cool DUKE basketball team who came to visit the unit.
February 8th 2002 - OUR RELEASE DAY!!!! Tom and Emily as we begin the great escape. Thanks to Emily for the cans of silly string.....very effective.
February 8th 2002 - The 'Goodbye Team'...thanks to everyone who came to wish us well on our escape. Sorry if you got Silly String in your face, Tom got a little wild with it.
February 8th 2002 - This is one of my favorite photos. Tom and Emily making their escape to freedom through the door.
February 8th 2002 - Tom draining the can of silly string on Shannon.
February 8th 2002 - Dr Martin and Joanne didn't espape the silly string either.
February 8th 2002 - Mark and Tom enjoying the Aquarium just before the Transplant Unit.
February 8th 2002 - Amy and Tom on the little train that you can take from the main hospital to the parking lot.
February 8th 2002 - YIKES!!! What do we do with all this stuff??? This was our first delivery for our homecare.
February 9th 2002 - OK, Don't worry this looks worse than it actually is. This was the result of the tiny blood spot that Tom picked before he went to bed at night. It bled slowly for 3 days until they sealed it with Silver Nitrate.
February 9th 2002 - Tom with Amy enjoying his first meal at home.
February 9th 2002 - This is all the stuff that we had to give to Tom twice a day when he was first discharged. No wonder we had NO spare time.
February 2002 - This is the last night that Tom was attached to his heparin drip 24/7. He was very pleased not to have to carry that around with him all the time.
February 2002 - We did anything to encourage him to eat and get him off that TPN.
February 2002 - The GvH that is still bothering Tom and we hope to get rid of soon.
February 2002 - Another view of the GvH.
February 2002 - Not sure if this is clear enough. It's a photo of Tom's head as it was peeling. It did this for a couple of days and revealed beautiful new skin when it came off.
February 2002 - Mark and Tom enjoying some time at home now the clinic visits are down to 3 days a week.
February 2002 - Tom injecting his own line with one of his evening meds.
February 2002 - These are the three pumps that Tom is currently on in the evenings.
February 2002 - Amy and sweet little Oliver Jordan a friend we have met here. She helps his Mom and Dad look after him and his little baby sister Eva.
February 2002 - Tom with the card that the Ambroses had signed by Tom's friends and sent to him.... Thanks girls.
February 2002 - Mark and Tom as they start to make the 'Making Platelet Cake"
February 2002 - Mark and Tom enjoying making the cake together.
February 2002 - Tom starting to frost the cake.
February 2002 - Tom licking the frosting off the plate.
February 2002 - The Platelet Cake is completed, this is to celebrate Tom making his own platelets for the first time in 9 months.
February 2002 - Tom enjoying lighting the candles on his cake.
February 2002 - The completed cake!!!!
February 2002 - Tom Blowing out the candles on his cake.
February 2002 - Yum, Yum....The cake was delicious!
March 2002 - Amy with Oliver and Eva......The Jordan's that we have made friends with.
March 2002 - Amy, Oliver and Tom.
2002 - Amy, Tom, Eva and Oliver.
December 17th 2001 - Tom and Ex UK Nurse Danine (Somebody please tell me how to spell it correctly!)
December 16th 2001 - Tom and Amy say goodbye to Aunty Mary, she IS that small!
December 8th 2001 - Tom, Amy and Beth at the hospital. Tom with the Duke University hat and shirt
December 10th 2001 - Tom, Brandon and Andy Playing N64. On our little Orlando stop over before driving to North Carolina.
December 8th 2001 - Check out where Tom started his treatment, his first bed
December 8th 2001 - Shot of the Bochardt ward, who says you need filtered air to treat kids with Leukemia? Ummm.
December 8th 2001 - Tom with nurses Joe and Michelle - Sorry Joe, looks like I blinded you with the flash? =;-)
December 6th 2001 - 'The Kassars' with Joe and Michelle, favorite nurses (Unfortunately Ruthie never made it)
December 6th 2001 - Tom actually ate most of this HUGE ice cream!
December 6th 2001 - Thanks to Hard Rock Cafe Manchester for throwing a few goodies in with our meal :)
December 6th 2001 - Tom with our favorite nurses in the UK, Michelle and Joe. Our farewell at Hard Rock
December 3rd 2001 - Tom opens up a Xmas present early..tutt.tutt.. A tradition.. According to Tom...umm
December 1st 2001 - Tom taking a ride on Marks back.
December 1st 2001 - Beth and Kevin hangin' out at our house
November 26th 2001 - Tom gets his first 'real' haircut since chemo