Scott's Wedding

Scott and Amanda got married on Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding at St. Lukes Lutheran Church. I will try to post a pic.

Hi All -- here is a picture of the Silver Globe we got as a memoriam for Tom. It actually is silver -- tried to take pics on a cold, rainy day inside -- didn't work out too well. Marcia found a really great base for the globe. Carvings of gardening tools, flowers, etc. Sits on my kitchen counter.

Max and I are doing pretty well, considering all that has happened this year. Don't know what I would do without him. He is a presence in the house and he makes me laugh -- when I'm not threatening to make dog stew out of him for something he did.

Spent two weeks in Seattle with May. It was really had to leave that place. May is so much fun and Seattle is so great. But it is quite a culture shock for someone living in BFE (Marietta). Spent most of my time going to yard sales, of which there are hundreds of them in that city. Have decided to live in Seattle during the spring and summer and then come home and eBay all the stuff I buy all winter. Sounds like a plan to me.

Hope everyone is doing okay. Let's have some posts on this blog, so I can see you folks and know what is happening.

Love to all,

Arlene

What a great visit we all had in Ohio. Stressful, exhausting, but nontheless wonderful. The whole hospice thing is the way to go; I loved being able to spend dad's last weeks with him and share the time w/ the whole family, knowing dad was right there with us.

Grace and I had a good trip back. We found the most awesome zoo in the middle of nowhere in Kansas and that was probably the highlight of the trip; she had never been to a zoo before.

We got home last Sunday and I have spent the entire week in a lazy funk, unable to do anything but lay on the bed/couch/floor and veg. I managed to spend some time w/ all my babies, but I didn't even have enough energy to do that for long. Temps of 111 every day don't help much either. BTW, I did break up w/ Dan the day I got back. We are going to try to maintain a relationship and I really hope we can. He is so very sweet, just not the love of my life anymore.

I have 2 more weeks before I go back to work and am looking forward to the challenge of my new position as the counselor at 2 alternative ed sites instead of just one.

Mom, hang in there. I'm glad Colton was able to help a little longer. He is a good boy.

Love, Marcia

It was so good to have all the brothers and sisters here to support Tom. Especially glad that you all had a chance to say goodbye and still attend the funeral. I was worried about where his grave would be, since you have to take the next one available and can't pick out the place. Couldn't have been better -- right by Uncle Wilbur's and next to Cousin Mae's garden!! He would have loved that.

Marcia and Grace went on home in the motor home and left Colton with me. It has been a blessing to have him here. And they are having a ball taking their time going home. I am in a stage of complete denial about everything. I guess my mind couldn't cope with Tom and Eric both, so it just shut down. Probably when Colton leaves all hell will break loose.

Love to you all.

Tom is home now -- he is very glad to be out of the hospital -- and I am sure all the nurses are too. His middle name should be "impatient". They are sending out a home nurse to make sure I am feeding him correctly through the G-tube. He was able to drink half of his Insure last night, but took him so long, I had to give him his next feeding through the tube. He is pretty weak. Needs to get his strength back. So all is well on the home front!!

Things went really well today -- much better than expected. Tom came through his surgery in excellent condition. He can even swallow a little water, which he hasn't been able to do. And he can talk better than he has in weeks. He looks really good and is in a good frame of mind. He has not been able to take his thyroid medicine for two weeks, and the doctor thought that might be what is causing his weakness. I don't know about his pain level, since I am not adminstering the meds right now. They kept him in the hospital tonight to see how he tolerates the G-tube feeding. So far it is doing really good.

To our Morgie Pie -- thank you for the offer, honey. We love you. I know you would do just as good a job as Eric would have. If I get to the point where I really need someone, I will surely let you know. So far, things are doable and I am hanging in there.

Will keep everyone posted on here.

More news -- and not too good. Tom's throat was closed up, but not from swelling. His prosthesis was all right, and did not need changing. Had it changed anyway and there was no improvement in his swallowing and not much improvement in his speech. So we assume that the tumor is growing and closing his throat.

Dr. Krause, the ENT, wanted to do another esophagus stretching -- although none of us think it will do any good. He is scheduled for that Monday, the 1st. At the same time, another surgeon will be putting in a G-tube (stomach feeding tube). I called Dr. Cawley and told her he was too weak to stand any kind of a procedure. He can barely get out of his chair to go to the bathroom. She insisted he needed it done, especially the G-tube. So she is admitting him tonight (Sunday, the 30th) in order to build him up a little before the surgery.

I have him on a four-times-a-day feeding schedule with the Ensure. Each feeding, he also gets the Vicodin. The last feeding is at 7:00 p.m. He also gets more Vicodin at 11:00 p.m. and the alarm is set so I can give him more pain medicine at 3:00 a.m. Then he eats and has his meds again at 7:00 a.m.

I told Dr. Cawley that his pain seems to be getting worse exponentially. She said that is what happens. And then she starts talking about Hospice Care. Oh, shit, I surely wasn't thinking about that yet. It was only a few weeks ago that we got such a good report, and that the cancer had slowed down by half. I guess we had all gotten complacent and really forgotten that this was going to happen -- at least had buried it in the far reaches of our mind.

Someone in California will need to help me get this to all the sisters and brother. I am in no shape to call every one of them. Sorry to have to do it this way. Anyone feel free to call me whenever. My cell number is 740-236-3121. I will be at the hospital all day tomorrow, but it should be a same-day release thing unless he is in worse shape than even I know. Will need to get him down to Camden-Clark, where the surgery is, by 7:00 p.m. this evening.

I know I don't need to ask -- but all please pray for him.