It’s always something… This time, Cancer!

[sanangelo]

I hope everything turns out good for you Tom.  Prayers sent.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Prayers to you for strength and healing Tom!

 

[lawhoo]

Tom,

Thanks for letting us know what's going on.  You've been a great part of the FOG, and I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.  I wish I could help with ToolHome, but there has to be a solution to help you keep it going while you devote yourself to getting the treatment you need.  I'll add my prayers to the many others for you on both fronts.

David

 

[whitesys]

Hi Tom,

I am saddened by your news.
I pray and hope that you will have a good recovery - it is amazing the treatments the doctors have available these days.

Keep us up to date with your progress.

Dave W

 

[Tinker]

Tom, I am truly sorry to know of your problem.  I have several friends and relatives who have had cancer and have beaten it to the point of remission for several years.  There are new developments in treatment showing up every year. 

I have never had any dealings with you, nor direct communications, but i have always been very impressed with you helpfulness and sensitivity to your replies to fellow FOG'gers.  Good luck to you and you are in my prayers.
Tinker

 

[Bob Marino]

  Tom,

Prayers and thoughts with you as you go through this ordeal. For a little background,even though Tom and I are competitors, we are friendly competitors and though have never met in person, throughout oh so many years,we have spoken many times - sometimes for hours on end about Festool, tools, customer service and a smattering of other issues, including this one. Tom is a damn good dealer and more importantly a damn nice guy.
Carry on Tom.

Bob

 

[sancho57]

Tom ,

As you know you are in my daily prayers.

I wish I could help you.

Being over here makes it very hard.

You'll pull through this my friend.

You have a lot of people in your corner pulling for you.

 

[ThomasC]

Tom,

My prayers are with you. Hang tough.

TC

 

[nclemmons]

Thoughts and prayers for you, Tom -

neil

 

[Aldo]

Tom,

Everybody at In Touch Tools wishes you the best. You're in our thoughts.

Aldo

 

[tbellemare]

I want to apologize for the tardiness of the following replies. It seems to me that I should concentrate on keeping customers productive first so keeping up with this has slipped a bit. The outpouring of support and well-wishes is somewhat overwhelming. Add that to a severely diminished energy level and it has swamped me...

Sorry to hear what you are going through. I had reoccurring colon rectal problems that took over 2 years to resolve, but it did not turn into cancer.  Still I can not comprehend  what you and your family are going through. Our prayers are with you guys.

Thanks, Greg! Nobody should have to endure any of these wonder-diseases. Though the cocktail of solutions appears to be much better than it was 30 years ago and "miracles" are happening, it's quite surprising to me that we haven't made it farther down the road to real cures.

Tom

Tom,

Only because we talked previously I suspect that things have not improved since we talked.  My friend, I do not have magical words to utter or a magic potion to give.  If I did you would romping around at all of your favorite eating establishments.

All I can offer are my thought, prayers, and encouragement.  What I went thru is nothing is comparison to you.  Miracles do happen and if you believe that the bad days will be a little better.

Peter

As usual, Peter, you are quite an inspriation... When I'm feeling beat up, I think about the chats we've had and it makes me feel better.

Tom

Oh Tom, my favorite Festool dealer!  That is some bummer news, man. 
Sounds like you have a good group of people around you.  I truly hope you pull through and beat this thing.
The very best wishes for a recovery!

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of people around me - personally, professionally, clinically, etc.

Who knew?

Tom

Tom,
My friend, you and your family are in our prayers for a speedy recovery.
Steve

Thanks, Steve!

"Speedy" would be wonderful...

Tom

Tom,

Damm I sorry to learn about the cancer.  I'll be pulling for you buddy.

Jack

Thanks, Jack!

One of the more utilitarian aspects of Forums like this is information. One set of info' that gets freely shared is personnel protection and in particular here, respiratory and hearing.

I can now tell you for certain that you don't want hearing loss...

Due to a bone metastasis (I have radical bone metastases) I had sudden, total, and seemingly permanent loss of hearing on my left side. Apparently, the bone met' killed the nerve by squeezing it out of a small opening they wanted to simultaneously occupy.

The good news is that my hearing protection can easily be half price now. The bad news is, I don't mind paying more.
The good news is that I can ignore any statement/question. The bad news is that it leaves me out of the conversation...
I can go on and on with that one but I think I'll stop there - for now...

I'm kind of sleepy and hungry now so I will pick this up later. I want to properly respond to everyones' well-wishes.

Tom

 

[Bob Marino]

Thanks for the updates Tom but stay strong.

B

 

[TomGadwa1]

Tom the reason for the underwhelming progress in this field is that healthy people are not profitable to the medical industry. Big Pharma, hospitals, specialists, hospices and on and on. All these folks would be out of a job if we were a healthy country. So we need to continue our poor eating habits, breathing unhealthy air, exposing ourselves to man made hazards and of course driving on our dangerous streets. This will provide secure careers for many individuals.

 

[Sparktrician]

Due to a bone metastasis (I have radical bone metastases) I had sudden, total, and seemingly permanent loss of hearing on my left side. Apparently, the bone met' killed the nerve by squeezing it out of a small opening they wanted to simultaneously occupy.

The good news is that my hearing protection can easily be half price now. The bad news is, I don't mind paying more.
The good news is that I can ignore any statement/question. The bad news is that it leaves me out of the conversation...

Tom, when you get through the "fun" of PC, you might want to look into getting a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid).  I use one as a result of having had an acoustic neuroma surgically removed several years ago.  It's not a perfect resolution, but it does allow for some input from the deaf side.  The bad news is that all input is now monaural, and normal directional hearing is gone.    That also makes it very difficult to pull out intelligence in a noisy location, like a restaurant.  I have a BAHA4 which is far less sensitive to wind noise than its predecessor, the Intenso, but it's not perfect.  Feel free to call me if you want more input on this.  You have my number. 

Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery, Tom. 

 

[jimbo51]

No TomGad, the reason for lack of progress is that cancer is an incredibly complicated disease. You make some reasonable points later in your post, but the whole cancer conspiracy theory is nonsense.

 

[tbellemare]

I'm going to try again to catch up with this thread...

Incidentally, I enjoy a good conspiracy as much as most and I am generally quite cynical - darned Scientific Method. I think that there is a rational, repeatable explanation for everything observable if one bothers to dig deep enough to find the real answer.

It seems to me that anything can be explained with enough effort applied to discover the real the truth. That should mean that with enough effort properly applied, any problem can be solved and "miracles" can happen. I am largley optimistic as a result. I'm not pollyannaish but am fairly certain that there are unforeseen good things awaiting those who try hard enough to find them.

In keeping with the Forum Guidelines and my general desire to find the "silver lining", I would very much like for postings in this thread to be strictly positive and helpful. Yes, I have also noticed that FOG discussions have all too often taken a turn "South" lately and would be very happy if we could avoid that for, at least, this Thread.

Thanks!

Tom

 

[peter halle]

Tom,  thank you for that post, I meant to say something earlier. 

Peter

 

[kent B]

Tom ,

I have talked to you on the phone , when I was contemplating buying some Festool tools.

But a cancer diagnosis , threw a wrench to my plans.  I am cured now , but woodworking days are over.

The main thing is to keep a fighting , positive attitude . I also had great support wife of 52 years , and 3 great children and lots of real friends.
 
One thing that I thought really helped ,when  I was very sick . My wife used to lie by me in bed and hold me , people may not believe it , but I could feel the strength from my wife.

If you ever need to talk to somebody that has  been there , don't hesitate to let me know. send a pm to me on FOG and I will call you.

 

[tbellemare]

Tom, God Bless you and your family and know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. Be strong my friend!

Thanks, Chris! Your familiy is depending on you. Mine is helping me acquire Depends...

Tom

Tom,

As you already know, hoping the best for you.

Being selfish----you have to beat this, I don't have time to break in another dealer (don't think any would put up with me).

Take care my friend.

Tom

If your selfishness is to my benefit, I'm all for it, Tom!

OK, OK, even if it's only apparently beneficial to one of us, I suspect that upon deeper evaluation, universal benefit would become more obvious...

Tom

Tom, this is horrible news to read, I really hope you can come out on the other side healthy and happy. Keep fighting.

Thanks, Bryan!

I've often been accused of being too competetive. I've always thought that I just enjoy competing much more than losing. I'm not too concerned about my "fighting spirit"...

Tom

Tom, all the very best hopes for a good outcome!

Regards, Dick

We shall see, Dick... I've been doing what the Pro's ask of me and the results they state they are trying to acheive seem to be falling into place.

Tom

Tom, I'm sorry to hear about your r bad news. Keep your chin up attitude is everything when in a fight. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.  Get well soon!!

Thanks, Don!

I try to think of myself as more of a "facilitator" than a "fighter" but I don't give up easily when faced with a challenge.

Tom

 

[deepcreek]

Tom,

Stay positive and don't stop fighting.

When the going gets tough, remember all the folks who are with you in spirit.

Miracles happen.

God bless you!

Joe