(From Tom's wife):

Hi, this is Michelle. Tom and I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for contributing to the Indiegogo Fundraiser and also to all the people who privately sent us checks. I quit my job the day Tom was diagnosed to care for him so this money is more than just paying the bills. It means I can be there for him. Anyone who knows me knows that Tom is my prince and the love of my life and I wouldn't be anywhere else but right next to him. A very special thanks to Tom's niece, Shannon Piccirilli Wells for starting the fundraiser. We found out today that he will not be in the research program. He would have had to start right before his surgery to be accepted but there's always other programs starting. Next week Tom begins six straight weeks of chemo and radiation at the same time. The doctor had great things to say about the reaction her patients have had to this pretty new drug. We were at the hospital all day meeting with people including someone who got us on a program that will pay for those $14000 chemo pills. We also met with a nurse who walked into the room and said, "I hear we're working with a celebrity!" She'd heard Tom was a writer so she googled him and was really excited to discover all the books he's written and the awards he's won. Better yet, she's a reader who is going to order his books. Everyone who works at Medical Center of the Rockies are just wonderful, positive people who have given us a lot of hope for the future.

(From Tom's wife 11/1/12)

Hi, this is Michelle again. People are posting and sending emails asking where they can donate to help Tom now that the Indiegogo fundraiser is over. Here is another spot. At the top of the blog is a box that says The Tom Piccirilli Benefit. It works with Paypal and one of the people involved in that site is my sister. Thank you, everyone.
http://thousandlivesbookblog.blogspot.com/?spref=fb
A Thousand Lives...
thousandlivesbookblog.blogspot.com
A book blog by 2 chicks who like to read

Hi this is Michelle. In spite of all the devastation on Long Island to their family, friends and neighbors homes and lives, three of Tom's oldest and best friends dropped everything to fly out here to Colorado to visit him. Jim D'Angelo, Jim Sprague and Andy Macejko, you guys are great. Thanks for coming out and bringing so much laughter and happiness with you. We'll see you in NY in the spring when Tom is feeling better. Tom and I talk a lot about returning to the Montauk Lighthouse where we got married as soon as he is in remission. And with all the amazing positive energy everyone brings to our home, that won't be long. After four days of chemo and radiation Tom is still doing good with no side effects. Week two of the second stage in healing Tom starts tomorrow.

Words from Tom himself on Keene's Blog:

http://www.briankeene.com/?p=12849

http://www.briankeene.com/?p=12849

Words from Tom describing his ordeal.

From Michelle:

Hi, this is Michelle. Tom and I would like to wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. Unlike our usual three-ring circus holidays overflowing with guests, this year was just the immediate family and dogs (that means six people & four hungry dogs). I was most thankful to see Tom at the table eating and laughing.We have a very goofy family ( I love you guys so much)...only in our home could projectile vomiting and the removal of a large testicle be the topic of conversation while eating turkey. Tom is now 1/3 of the way through chemo and radiation and all is going well. He is fatigued but with all the symptoms possible, that's nothing. We'd like to thank you for being so kind and thoughtful to Tom and helping him fight every day. Thank you to Dr. Petit and his great staff and Dr. Stroh and her wonderful staff who work so hard for us and always have a smile on their faces. Thank you John Platt for a really sweet note that brought tears to my eyes and to the artist, Dominic Qhintana, only a transplanted New Yorker would know how much it would mean to send Tom real NY bagels. And one more mention about David Wilson and everyone at Crossroad Press. Instead of donating the profits from Tom's ebooks back to him for the rest of the year, they have decided to continue the donating indefinitely. You guys are the best. And thank you to Chris at Dark Regions and everyone who has already purchased Tom's new book. Thank you all and thank you, Melissa for the wonderful dinner. Happy Thanksgiving.

From Michelle:

Hello, this is Michelle with an update. Tom has two weeks and two days left of treatment. Then he will get a break for one month while the swelling in his brain goes down. Afterwards he will have another MRI (sometime in January) to see if all the doctor's, nurse's and tech's hard work has paid off. Once the swelling goes away we are hoping Tom will be able to see again well enough to type.
This weekend some of Tom's family flew out to visit and Saturday night we all sat around the dinning room table drinking wine and laughing more than we've laughed since October 1st. It was a great time. Thanks for all the joy you brought with you Bill, Ginny, Jan, Rob, Shannon Piccirilli Wells, Carrol and Aunt Connie. We'll see you all again in the spring when we come out to visit.
I'd like to send out some special thanks to Gerard Houarner, Ed Gorman, John Schoenfelder, Anna Weitzell, Tom Weithoff, Martel Sardina and David Hale Smith (Tom's wonderful agent). The list of people who have done so much to help us grows everyday and we are truly touched.
Thanks to Dead End Follies for selecting EVERY SHALLOW CUT as one of this years best novellas and Litreactor for choosing it as the January Book Club selection. http://litreactor.com/discuss/january-1 ... piccirilli

Hello, this is Michelle. For the last few days Tom's eyes have been so swollen he looks as if he's been in a bad fight. His radiation doctor didn't know what is was and neither did his chemo doctor. So they sent us to the hospital today for a day of all kinds of tests including an MRI with his neurosurgeon (That is 'Lars' to those of you who read MEETING THE BLACK). We were both very nervous. Lars is a great doctor but he doesn't pull his punches. He said there was a chance of infection which would involve another surgery or even meningitis. After hours, he returned to Tom's room to tell us that there was no bacteria in his blood, no infection and in news so good it made me cry, Lars said the MRI showed NO more cancer. I shook his hand and thanked him for finally giving us good news. He believes it's just a small reaction to the radiation. Tom still has nine more radiation treatments. We both realize that the fight goes on but Tom's brain kicks ass!
4

No more cancer? That is incredible news. Sorry to hear the treatments are such a grueling thing, but if it's working, then I can only wish Tom the best and hope for a speedy recovery.

_________________
- A Den for Dark Fiction

I choked up when I read that part.

(From Tom and Michelle)

Hello, this is Michelle. Tomorrow is Tom's last day of radiation. At the end of January he will have another MRI and we hope to receive the same wonderful news as last time. We want to wish a very happy holiday to everyone who has posted here, kept Tom in their hearts with positive thoughts and prayers, sent emails, cards and letters, donated to help with the medical bills, came out to Colorado to visit, called to check up on us and cheer us up and Dr. Lars Widdell, Dr Petit, Dr Stroh and their amazing staff, the PEN foundation, the Authors Guild and the Haven foundation. Thank you for believing. Love, Michelle and Tom (the richest man in town).

I just wanted to tell Tom that I'm so sorry, for the last couple of months I've been so caught up in my own bullshit, that I didn't even know this was going on.

I idolize The Pic Man, and his ability to create some of the best fiction I've ever read. He's one of those guy's I think a lot of other writers are jealous of, because he's so damn good.

All my best wishes and prayers to Tom and his family.

_________________
"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

From Tom himself:

http://www.thebigclickmag.com/the-ghost-room/

From Michelle:

Hello, this is Michelle. You have all beat me to the punch with the good news. Tom is nominated for the Edgar for his short story in Ellery Queen, THE VOID IT OFTEN BRINGS WITH IT. He's thrilled and thanks you all for the kind words. In health news, we won't know anything until 1/21 when Tom has his next MRI. After that, if all goes well he will be on chemo for five days out of every month, have blood tests monthly and MRIs every other month. He's up and walking a bit with his cane and I returned the rental wheelchair yesterday. We're still waiting for his full eyesight to return. Thank you everyone.

From Michelle:

Hello, this is Michelle. Tom had an MRI yesterday, one month after his radiation ended. In his doctor's words today the results are 'wonderful'! No sign of cancer. from now on he will take chemo just five days out of the month, blood tests every month and MRI's every two months. And his eyesight is getting better! It's all hopeful and good. Thank you so much everyone.

From Michelle:

Hello, this is Michelle. When I last posted, Tom's Oncology doctor, Dr. Stroh, gave us the good news about the MRI. Today we had an appointment with the neurosurgeon, Lars Widdell. If you read Tom's essay MEETING THE BLACK you know that Lars doesn't sugar-coat anything. In spite of what we'd been told about the MRI, we knew if there were ANY doubts, he'd be the one to tell us. He showed us an MRI right before the surgery on October 1st with the large tumor right next to the new MRI without the cancer. He said it looked good. He said it could come back, in which case there'd be a few different ways we could go, then he pointed at Tom's cancer-free MRI and said, "Or it could stay this way FOREVER." I almost fell off my chair. Hearing HIM say that meant everything! This is the same doctor who told us the day after the surgery that Tom only had a 2 to 3% chance and it was terminal. Today he gave us the possibility of forever. He can't have that word back! He said 'forever' and I'm keeping it. It belongs to Tom now. We celebrated by going on our first date since Tom got sick. We went to the theater to see Rifftrax doing PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Thank you again for all your amazing help.

From Michelle:

Hi, this is Michelle. Everything is going very well. Tom is starting oncology rehab on the 19th to help build up his energy. I think with a little work he won't need the cane to walk anymore. He finishes his third round of chemo tomorrow. Only side effect is that he's tired. We were able to go out two weeks ago and see Silver Lining Playbook (great movie). Last week we had a big snowstorm and the following morning Tom's friend at the Loveland post office came over and shoveled our driveway (Thanks Marty!). Seriously, where ever Tom goes he makes friends. At the end of this month he is going to get his next MRI. None of the awful symptoms from his tumor have returned, his Dr feels good enough to start him in rehab so we expect a clean MRI...still, it's always scary (for me at least, Tom is a rock). One bad note, Tom has been denied Medicaid again! We have people working for us in the financial dept. of Dr Stroh's office but so far the government keeps telling us it will be a two year wait. The idiots are not arguing Tom's medical condition, they've seen all his records. There is really no excuse why he can't be put on SSI which is a program that would get him on Medicaid now. But we are still fighting. I have had to start paying all his medical bills because people were sending us nasty notes saying they would have to involve collection agencies. There are some great things about this country, this though is something our government should be ashamed of. We'd like to send out special thanks to Linda D Addison. Gerard Houarner, Noel Hynd and everyone at the Haven Foundation. On the writing front, if you are waiting for signed copies of some of Tom's books that are due out, your wait should be over soon. Tom was finally able to sign all the signature sheets for his next collection, Bad Dog, from Cemetery Dance and Walls of the Castle. I've had people ask me here and in emails about updates on my writing. I was finally able to update my website (www.MichelleScalise.com) with all the info on current magazines and anthologies I'm in. It doesn't look like Tom will be up to going to New York for the Edgar awards in May but we are hoping to be there around June 12th for our anniversary so we can sit out at our lighthouse, watch the ocean and visit with all our friends and family. Thank you everyone for all your good wishes.

From Michelle: With Added Janet Holden Bonus Mention! She is the best!

Today was Tom's first physical therapy session at the hospital. It is one on one and his therapist is great. Tom had him laughing the whole hour. First we had to fill out a bunch of paperwork with questions about his strength, health and fatigue levels. So many of the questions seemed like the same thing just worded differently that I started laughing, then Tom turned to the physical therapist and said, "Isn't this how they judge if your a psychotic? By asking you the same question over and over again?" Luckily Tom is working with someone with a good sense of humor because we were a couple of smart asses. He did such a good job working out. It is the longest amount of time I've seen him walking since he got sick. He'll be going twice a week for three months. I honestly think that he'll be walking without his cane in time for us to visit NY. Next week is another MRI. Everything so far is going very well. Tom and I want to send a very special thanks to Janet J Holden at Horror World. She made Tom a BEAUTIFUL quilt that is truly a work of art. She used colors that she felt expressed Tom's writing style and subjects. It is just so amazing! Another big, big thank you to David Wilson at Crossroads Press. As you probably know by now all profits from Tom's books purchased at Crossroads Press website go directly to Tom. I just wanted everyone who has purchased books through Crossroads Press to know that David sends lifesaving checks to us every month. So please, check out Crossroads Press! They're the best (and as a writer they're also great to work with!)

From Michelle:

Hello. This is Michelle but not to worry, Tom has just asked me to continue to give his health updates. He will be in charge of all his other Facebook messages. Monday Tom had his two month MRI and this morning we had appointments with both his neurosurgeon and his oncologist. His MRI is still clean with no signs of cancer and his doctor's are very happy with his continued progress. We go for walks along the lake every other day. Yesterday he mowed the lawn. He is currently working on his first piece of fiction since 09/12 and even if I knew, I wouldn't give away any details but I do have one clue that I'm sure he won't mind me sharing. After Dr. Widdel gave us the good news today, Tom asked what the 'plates' in his head look like. These are what replaced the piece or pieces of his skull after surgery. Dr. Widdel brought showed us a head-shaped model with plates of slightly different colors and sizes. It wasn't what we had expected at all. They look like snow flakes, the kind you make when you're a child out of paper but much smaller. Tom told me later that he wanted to know what they looked like because he's writing about a character who has them. So there is our only clue. I'd like to thank some people for their special kindness since I last posted: Shawn, Raul and all the Perez family (owners of Sweet Basilico in Estes Park). It was the first time we've gone out to dinner with friends since Tom got sick. Thank you so much, guys! We had the best time. Thanks also to Apex (and Mr/Ms Anonymous), David Wilson from Crossroads Press and the Raymond Wentz Foundation and everyone who is continuing to help us fight for Medicaid. And very special friends Ed Lee, Gerard Houarner, Linda D Addison, Dawn Rogers McFadden and her daughter Sam for walking in a cancer walk for Tom! And every one of you who continue to keep Tom in your thoughts and prayers. They really do work and Tom is getting better every day. When we were out to dinner on Monday and Raul Perez asked Tom how he was doing, Tom said, "I'm still here." To which Raul responded, "You better stay here!" He will, I'm not giving him a choice The next MRI is in a couple months, after which we hope to see a bunch of you in NY. Peace and quiet of Montauk, here we come! Now I'll turn this Facebook page back over to superman, better known to others as Tom Piccirilli.