One more for old times sake

I've been trying to get this video up for the past two weeks...finally success.

Cheers,

Eddie

The last post

Well this will be the last time we post anything up here. Thanks to everybody that has come out in support of our family over the past few days, months and years. Dad touched the lives of many people and many of you came out over the past few days to remember him and help us.

When dad asked me to start this blog for him it was under the pretense that it would be uplifting and informative, he didn't want it to turn into a living memorial or become some sort of countdown. There were days when good news flowed forth and days when we suppressed the bad news. Some days we expressed hope when dad made little steps towards getting better and some days we reached out for prayer and support when his treatment took a step back. Many people have said they were happy to have this site as a way to check on dad.

Since the night dad passed away we have been in awe of the ways people have paid respects to dad and helped our family deal with his loss. Pastor Mike at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Orion, IL did wonders preparing a wonderful service as well as counseling us during the process. The congregation of the church did many wonderful things for us in order to hold dad's visitation and funeral service at the place he worshipped for many years. The friends and family members that traveled long distances to be with us. The friends and family that brought over food and hugs to the house. Sandy and her staff at Esterdaul Mortuary are top notch people that helped us plan and prepare a truly honorable way of sending dad off. The Coast Guard Auxiliary Honor Guard stood by dad for the duration of the visitation, changing stations every 15 minutes with a salute each time. Saturday at the church the Orion American Legion Honor Guard passed by dad's casket one by one, each member saluting as the paused by dad's side culminating with Tracy Hepner walking up and placing her hand over her heart. The Military honors that dad had given so many times in the past were in honor of him - the 21 gun salute, the playing of taps and the folding of the flag are things that will bring even more tears to my face in the future than they did before.

Dad was a great man, he will be missed but he will live on in the hearts and minds of many people.

Eddie

Schedule of things

Here is the schedule for the next two days:

Visitation for dad will be from 4pm-8pm Friday July 10th at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Orion, IL (1001 9th St., Orion, IL 61273).

The funeral will be at 10am on Saturday July 11th again at St. Paul in Orion.

Memorials may be made to the church or to the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 93 located at Sunset Marina in Rock Island, IL (phone #309-738-8546).

Dad's coming home

Dad passed away a couple of hours ago. For all of you that have followed over the past couple of months, we thank you. For those of you that have sent cards of support and said prayers of hope, we thank you. I'll put a final posting up here in the next few days as we make his final arrangements.

Eddie

Not too much to say today

From talking to mom today there really isn't much of an update regarding dad. He did start moving around a lot more over the weekend which in turn earned him a set of arm restraints so he doesn't try and pull the intubation out of his throat. One of our goals here sometime soon is to make a decision on the respirator. There are two ways we can go with his breathing; dad can have an endotracheal tube inserted via a surgical procedure which can aid with his respiratory rehabilitation or they can try to take the intubation out and see how he does. For the latter option it could be more traumatic for him if they have to reinsert the tube if he has problems. The former has it's drawbacks since it's a surgical procedure. Basically the doctors want to see dad more aware and awake before they make a decision. He has been showing signs of improving but we don't know if he's up to the task yet.

Tomorrow mom and I are heading out to meet with the palliative care staff to discuss comfort options for dad as he continues to battle the fungal infection, the neuropathy that has resulted and overall rehabilitation of his body. Palliative care is a course of symptom or pain management that is used for long term care of those with a serious illness. In dad's case it may be used in tandem with the treatment that has been underway for his fungal infection. As of today dad has been non-ambulatory since the start of June, was on sedation for about 5 days and has been extremely weak since entering the ICU three weeks ago. Hence the need to possibly start the palliative care. I never heard of that word until last Friday and I've already used it a couple times today in this entry.

Until later this week, keep thinking happy thoughts.

Eddie

Changes

First I need to update everybody and let you know that dad is becoming more aware and is able to respond to people with blinks, head nods and squeezes of the hand. He is still in the ICU and still on the respirator but appears to slowly be coming out of the fog he's been in for the past two weeks.

This morning we discussed a change of plans with dad's physicians. The fungal infection that has taken hold of dad is the primary issue. This type of infection takes a long time to treat - weeks or maybe even months. The infection is causing dad to experience some neurological issues like loss of motor skills and extreme weakness in what the doctors call a form of neuropathy. It could take months of rehabilitation for dad to resume normal activities as a result of the toll the infection has taken on his body. Because of this dad will not be able to resume treatment for his lymphoma until his body is strong enough to take further chemotherapy. Our focus for the next few days is to see how dad improves and if he can get off the respirator. Sometime in the future we'll be making some decisions on how to continue his treatment in order for him to be as comfortable as possible.

For now, keep thinking happy thoughts.

Eddie