[David Cutler]

Prayers from Pennsylvania, USA to you and Tammy @Doug McLean 🙏

[Doug McLean]

Thanks.

The worst part has been just getting everything going. The Christmas season didn’t help because people were off for 4 days after Christmas.

[Vince]

Hi Doug,
So sorry to hear your news – thoughts and best wishes are coming from over here in the UK!

[Chad Czerwinski]

As important as our work is, and the reason that it has brought this “community” together, it is definitely not the most important thing. I appreciate you sharing. I am sorry to hear about the cancer, I wouldn’t dare to say I understand what you or Tammy are going through. I can only seek to empathize with your struggle as related to suffering and grieve and pray for healing with and for you guys. Shari and I will be praying for you both in the coming months, may Christ be glorified even in the midst of suffering and pain, and that God might draw you closer to Himself.

[Troy DeGroot]

@Doug McLean First things first, Tammy is most definitely an extension of the community here. Whether she followed you in or came out of curiosity like everyone else, there are no techinicalities on how she became part of it. The laughter and stories shared with Tammy at XCON are some of my favorite of all the years I’ve gone, and I look forward to many more opportunities in the future. You are a cornerstone in this community and I know you if you pour half the effort into your family that you do in the Bluebeam community as a whole, you will be everything everyone needs. My heart hurts for the news, but I know that God is a good dad and will take care of His children. I pray for complete healing, on earth as it is in heaven.

I also want to thank you for posting this here in the Brainery. This is a conversation place for Bluebeam issues, wins, learning and sharing, but what is community without support and friendships that go beyond a stupid computer program. We love you Doug, please know we are all holding you up in tough times and cheering you on!

[Doug McLean]

Thanks again everyone.

As I said before, the worst part has been just getting started. Even though it’s only been 3 weeks, it feels longer (the week between Christmas and New Year’s sure didn’t help)

For her the worst has been this thing called ascieties, which is a fluid build up in her abdomen. Having this drained every few days is very taxing. When they do this, they take anywhere from 4-6 liters of fluid from her. If there’s a good thing with Chemo, is that it will clear this up fairly quickly. Trust me when I say that this part is no fun.

The next 9 weeks will be part one on this journey. 3 rounds of Chemo to (hopefully) shrink the tumors prior to surgery. Then of course, a fairly extensive abdominal surgery.

Right now, that’s our goal. Get through the Chemo and get to the surgery.

BC has some of the very best Cancer treatment centers anywhere, so our hope is good. I promise to keep everyone posted.

[Rick Grover]

Prayers delivered from the U.S.A. for you and Tammy. RG

[Nic Bitting]

Will be thinking of you both Doug and Tammy and lifting you up over the coming weeks.

[Roye Arie]

Hey Doug, sorry to hear the news, but hoping for a successful treatment and better news in the future.

I’m glad to hear that things are going to be ok for you guys.

I know we haven’t met in person (maybe Bluebeam will revive XCON and I’ll be able to attend and we’ll finally meat), but we communicated a lot, sharing ideas and thoughts.

Wishing Tammy and swift recovery and in the meantime, if you need to chat/vent hit me up.

[Isaac Harned]

Thoughts and prayers man, that’s a rough one.

[Michael]

This will be a trying time for all, sending thoughts and prayers to you. On a side note, you may want to test for BRCA1 or 2 just to find out. Speaking from experience.

[Doug McLean]

Oh they’ve already put her through all the tests.
Plus she is going for genetic testing as well

[Michael]

BRCA1 & BRCA2 are genetic mutation tests. I hope everything works out well! Best wishes!

[Doug McLean]

Update**

Well the first round of Chemo didn’t go so well. She had an allergic reaction to the solvent that the Chemo drug is is. Had to have an epi and an ED visit.
They changed up her drug a week later and that went ok, with no adverse reaction.

Here’s the thing with Chemo, it basically destroys your immune system. Just prior to the second try at round 1, Tammy had a mild cold… well that turned out to be Covid. Plus she got Norwalk virus on top of that and it damn near did her in. She eventually checked herself into the hospital because of it. She really was in pretty bad shape. We almost lost her to be honest, with the flu and an extremely compromised immune system.

A week and a bit later, pumped full of all kinds of drugs, IV’s, and some amazing care by the Nursing staff at CGH, she’s finally home and doing much better.

Round two of Chemo goes next week, with a lesser dosage. Apparently, they start you off with the biggest dose you can handle, then dial it back if you have any kind of a reaction. Hopefully this goes better this time around. I really don’t need her in the hospital for another week.

Thanks for listening everyone.

[David Cutler]

Glad to hear that Tammy has made it over those initial hurdles @Doug McLean

Absolutely no fun for anyone involved. Continued prayers from south of the border. If you ever need someone to talk with please reach out. 🙂

[Doug McLean]

thanks

[Liz Larsen]

All of that sounds extremely stressful. But I’m glad to hear she’s doing better. I hope things go more smoothly as they dial in her medications. You both are in my thoughts.

[Doug McLean]

Oh it was.

Moving over that time sure didn’t help either. I only JUST got my Hydro account dealt with…lol

[Troy DeGroot]

You and Tammy are always in my prayers @Doug McLean I hope the stress of moving is behind you all so you can focus on fighting, strengthening, and healing. You have a large community of people (you have never met in person😜) pulling for you guys. We all care about you just the same. Keep strong and reach out if you need anything.

[Doug McLean]

the moving stress is over.
Now its unpacking, placing furniture, figuring out what new stuff we need to make this place work, finding all those small items you threw in a bag…. 🤣🤣

[Vince]

When we last moved it was only supposed to be temporarily so we decided that we wouldn’t unbox everything. Nearly 14 years on, we are now unboxing everything and finding things we had totally forgotten that we had – things which we have replaced and now have two of!

[Doug McLean]

that was us at our last place. It was temporary, but we were there almost 5 years.
It never felt like it was anything more than temporary so we never set it up.

This place though, it feels more like home. Its a place I want to stay for a while. I’m already into the IKEA planning tools. Might even do a little Revu layout to see if we can figure out the furniture placement 🤔😂🤓

[Vince]

Already started that here along with a few possible new layout overlays.

[Doug McLean]

We got some good news a couple days ago.

After another CT Scan it appears that things are shrinking. 🙌🙏

Chemo keeps wiping out her immune system though, which is SO MUCH FUN during cold and flu season…lol.

[David Cutler]

Glad to hear some good news @Doug McLean !

Continued prayers for a successful battle. 🙏

[Vince]

That’s great news Doug!

[Doug McLean]

So its been a while since I gave an update…

My wife is doing ok, things are still progressing. As of this posting her ‘debulking’ surgery is scheduled for Friday May 10th (right, heck of a way to celebrate Mother’s Day).

Don’t you love the term? Debulking. Makes it sound like weight loss surgery or something.
Basically, they go in and take out all the visible cancer, anything they can see with a naked eye. They’re also doing a full hysterectomy to (hopefully) get everything that could be in there too.
Needless to say, we’re both a little anxious and just waiting for Friday to be over.

We hope they get it all and only leave the microscopic stuff that the last couple rounds of Chemo will take care of. Then she can start to get back to being herself.

Again, thanks for all the support.

[Liz Larsen]

Thanks for the update. I’ll be thinking about you guys tomorrow. Sending positive vibes into the universe for you.

[Doug McLean]

She made it through the surgery and everything went as well as we could have hoped for.

We knew that there would be some disease left because they can’t get the microscopic stuff. This is why she still has a couple of rounds of chemo to go.

Now onto the last stages of recovery.

[Troy DeGroot]

Been praying since we spoke last week. Glad it went well and she is past that part. So glad you posted for the community to stand beside you and Tammy.