Posts
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Another Exciting Day at The Sallee House
We had kinda a bad day today. Gary was in excruciating pain and we had to basically knock him out. I woke him up this evening and he was awake from about 7:30 until 10:30 PM. He loves to socialize and we had a houseful of fun friends tonight! Gloria and Ren brought dinner over and everyone enjoyed it!
I had a long day today. Hospice came over today and we just love them. Then the boys came home and homework was in full swing. I went off to my staff meeting. Home from the meeting. 10 minutes later................... screaming and crying. I listen and it is coming from outside - on the trampoline that Gary never wanted for this very reason.
Jax, Jake and Zach were jumping on the trampoline and Zach accidently jumped on Jax's arm. SNAP! SCREAM! Walk-In ER here we come. Michele drove and sure enough Jax's Olna and Radius are both broken about 2 inches from his wrist. We have a temp cast on it and will go and get it casted tomorrow if the swelling is down.
Jax was in pain tonight and I gave him some codeine and now he is sound asleep in our room. 2 outta 3 nice and drugged up for pain! Zach and Jax have both had emergent situations while Gary has been sick. 3 trips to the ER. Nate has so far escaped injury and I hope it stays that way!
I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.
I hope you have a great Thursday morning.
Love,
L
I had a long day today. Hospice came over today and we just love them. Then the boys came home and homework was in full swing. I went off to my staff meeting. Home from the meeting. 10 minutes later................... screaming and crying. I listen and it is coming from outside - on the trampoline that Gary never wanted for this very reason.
Jax, Jake and Zach were jumping on the trampoline and Zach accidently jumped on Jax's arm. SNAP! SCREAM! Walk-In ER here we come. Michele drove and sure enough Jax's Olna and Radius are both broken about 2 inches from his wrist. We have a temp cast on it and will go and get it casted tomorrow if the swelling is down.
Jax was in pain tonight and I gave him some codeine and now he is sound asleep in our room. 2 outta 3 nice and drugged up for pain! Zach and Jax have both had emergent situations while Gary has been sick. 3 trips to the ER. Nate has so far escaped injury and I hope it stays that way!
I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.
I hope you have a great Thursday morning.
Love,
L
Update Wednesday AM
Good Morning.
Prayer Requests for friends:
Carolyn's Nana is at Saddleback Hospital. She is in her 90's. She has suspected pneumonia and fluid around her lungs. Please pray for her and her family needs prayer. Give them peace and calm. Nana is very special to them.
Jake Fuster is 14 and he lives in Las Flores. I was on the Viejo Little League Board with his father Dave last year. Jake has been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia (see below) and is currently at CHOC. He is waiting to find a bone marrow donor and the hope is that his brother is a match. I am sure this is such a scary time for this family with this new diagnosis. Please pray for their family as they prepare to bring Jake home and get treatment underway. Pray for the same thing for them - peace and calm.
DEFINITION OF APLASTIC ANEMIA
A variety of blood cells course through your bloodstream — red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Red blood cells carry oxygen, white blood cells fight infection, and platelets help the blood to clot. In aplastic anemia, your body stops producing enough new blood cells. This means you're fatigued and at higher risk of infections and uncontrolled bleeding. A rare and serious condition, aplastic anemia can develop at any age. Treatment for aplastic anemia may include medications, blood transfusions or a bone marrow transplant. Once considered nearly always fatal, aplastic anemia has a much better prognosis today, thanks to advances in treatment.
Gary Update
I would have to say that Gary had a relatively good day. He was pretty drugged up for the majority of the day so we got to poke fun at him during his many hallucinations! Zach laughs as Gary appears to be driving a car. He shreds paper. He talks a lot! Gary tells us (with the help of lots of morphine) that he wants his body buried under the apple tree in the backyard so that he can fertilize the soil. Can you imagine? Such stories! At least the kids get a little chuckle out of it. It sounds morbid but like I said before we have to keep some comic relief going amidst the grim reality of what we face. Always a party - just sometimes Gary is the entertainment!
Saddleback Hospice was wonderful! They are coming back out this morning at 9 AM to get a plan in place and meds on board and so on. Meg was the admitting nurse and she was so great. Maryann will be Gary's new nurse and Candy will be our social worker. We should be in that appointment for about 3 hours or so. It takes time to get these things discussed and a plan in place.
I have a boat load of errands to run and I had to put them off yesterday so we will see if I can get them done today. We will have friends for dinner and I have a staff meeting at 4 PM. My Dad made it home safe and sound and now my Mom is pretty sick so she is kinda out of comission.
I am going to try and go back to sleep. Gary had a very messy problem hence the sadness that I am awake right now. There is absolutely nothing on tv right now. It is hard to get back to sleep once you have been up for an hour. I will try. I guess I will have to kick Hobie out of my way. That dog does not move. He just loves laying RIGHT ON YOU! I had to pick him up again and take him off of Gary's bed. Lazy dog!
Have a great morning.
With love and praise,
L
Prayer Requests for friends:
Carolyn's Nana is at Saddleback Hospital. She is in her 90's. She has suspected pneumonia and fluid around her lungs. Please pray for her and her family needs prayer. Give them peace and calm. Nana is very special to them.
Jake Fuster is 14 and he lives in Las Flores. I was on the Viejo Little League Board with his father Dave last year. Jake has been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia (see below) and is currently at CHOC. He is waiting to find a bone marrow donor and the hope is that his brother is a match. I am sure this is such a scary time for this family with this new diagnosis. Please pray for their family as they prepare to bring Jake home and get treatment underway. Pray for the same thing for them - peace and calm.
DEFINITION OF APLASTIC ANEMIA
A variety of blood cells course through your bloodstream — red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Red blood cells carry oxygen, white blood cells fight infection, and platelets help the blood to clot. In aplastic anemia, your body stops producing enough new blood cells. This means you're fatigued and at higher risk of infections and uncontrolled bleeding. A rare and serious condition, aplastic anemia can develop at any age. Treatment for aplastic anemia may include medications, blood transfusions or a bone marrow transplant. Once considered nearly always fatal, aplastic anemia has a much better prognosis today, thanks to advances in treatment.
Gary Update
I would have to say that Gary had a relatively good day. He was pretty drugged up for the majority of the day so we got to poke fun at him during his many hallucinations! Zach laughs as Gary appears to be driving a car. He shreds paper. He talks a lot! Gary tells us (with the help of lots of morphine) that he wants his body buried under the apple tree in the backyard so that he can fertilize the soil. Can you imagine? Such stories! At least the kids get a little chuckle out of it. It sounds morbid but like I said before we have to keep some comic relief going amidst the grim reality of what we face. Always a party - just sometimes Gary is the entertainment!
Saddleback Hospice was wonderful! They are coming back out this morning at 9 AM to get a plan in place and meds on board and so on. Meg was the admitting nurse and she was so great. Maryann will be Gary's new nurse and Candy will be our social worker. We should be in that appointment for about 3 hours or so. It takes time to get these things discussed and a plan in place.
I have a boat load of errands to run and I had to put them off yesterday so we will see if I can get them done today. We will have friends for dinner and I have a staff meeting at 4 PM. My Dad made it home safe and sound and now my Mom is pretty sick so she is kinda out of comission.
I am going to try and go back to sleep. Gary had a very messy problem hence the sadness that I am awake right now. There is absolutely nothing on tv right now. It is hard to get back to sleep once you have been up for an hour. I will try. I guess I will have to kick Hobie out of my way. That dog does not move. He just loves laying RIGHT ON YOU! I had to pick him up again and take him off of Gary's bed. Lazy dog!
Have a great morning.
With love and praise,
L
Monday, January 5, 2009
HOSPICE PROBLEM SOLVED
God is sooooooooooo good. He has placed people in our life and on this path specifically to help us get through this trying time. What we are going through is devastating but I promise you that God always takes the bad and He shows the goodness through it. I wish sometimes He would allow the bad to just go away but only He knows what the plan is and who am I to argue with Him?!
Our Hospice coverage through Aetna is only $5,000.00. Our calendar year just started over with the insurance and we now have to pay an automatic $1,000.00 deductible to Hospice and then 20% of the contracted $5,000.00. So, in essence we would have to pay out of pocket from the start around $2,000.00.
So, stress sets in as $$ is always an issue. Just in the nick of time Matt calls. He is at Saddleback Hospice as he works closely with them in his business. Evidently, Saddleback Hospice wants to come in and offer full coverage hospice at no charge for Gary. NO CHARGE. NO MONEY. NO COST. FREE. Can you believe that?
So, the only thing that was left to do was to contact Dr. Barth to see if he will still be our doctor. Remember that Dr. Barth ONLY works with Silverado Hospice. We have been waiting to get a phone call back from Piay (the one and only) to see if Dr. Barth will work with Saddleback.
We just got the call. Dr. Barth loves our family and he will do anything for Gary and of course he will work with Saddleback to help us with the cost! I don't think you could understand how HUGE that is for our family. He has always taken care of Gary and he will continue to do so.
How are we so lucky? God is blessing us through even the most awful time.
I just wanted you all to know this amazing news. Now we have one less huge thing to stress about!
GOD IS GOOD! So is Matt and Dr. Barth and Piay and all of you!! YEAH!!!!!
BTW - a HUGE thank you to our Little League Board for their kindness and support!!!
Love to you all,
L
Our Hospice coverage through Aetna is only $5,000.00. Our calendar year just started over with the insurance and we now have to pay an automatic $1,000.00 deductible to Hospice and then 20% of the contracted $5,000.00. So, in essence we would have to pay out of pocket from the start around $2,000.00.
So, stress sets in as $$ is always an issue. Just in the nick of time Matt calls. He is at Saddleback Hospice as he works closely with them in his business. Evidently, Saddleback Hospice wants to come in and offer full coverage hospice at no charge for Gary. NO CHARGE. NO MONEY. NO COST. FREE. Can you believe that?
So, the only thing that was left to do was to contact Dr. Barth to see if he will still be our doctor. Remember that Dr. Barth ONLY works with Silverado Hospice. We have been waiting to get a phone call back from Piay (the one and only) to see if Dr. Barth will work with Saddleback.
We just got the call. Dr. Barth loves our family and he will do anything for Gary and of course he will work with Saddleback to help us with the cost! I don't think you could understand how HUGE that is for our family. He has always taken care of Gary and he will continue to do so.
How are we so lucky? God is blessing us through even the most awful time.
I just wanted you all to know this amazing news. Now we have one less huge thing to stress about!
GOD IS GOOD! So is Matt and Dr. Barth and Piay and all of you!! YEAH!!!!!
BTW - a HUGE thank you to our Little League Board for their kindness and support!!!
Love to you all,
L
Update
Well, Gary did a great job talking in church yesterday. He faced a full house and many of our friends and family were there. It was emotional for all of us and Zach really has had a rough go of it. All to be expected. We are so amazingly grateful for all of you! What would we do without you?
Every night we have had a full house of people. Dinner, drinks, friends, great conversation, bad jokes, laughter, football and so much more! We both just love it!!! My Dad left today and I am sure he was very sad to go. He will come back for the Memorial Service.
We are having problems with our insurance - surprise surprise! They do not want to cover Hospice for Gary given his age. He is too young to receive full benefits. They have given us a $5,000.00 cap which will only take us about 10 days. We are going to need to re-evaluate to see what course we need to take. We might have to go off of Hospice and have Dr. Barth prescribe the drugs needed to get Gary completely out of pain and comfortable. I am a little scared to do this by myself but we do have many RN friends who I am sure could help me. I will keep you posted.
The boys are back to school and I think we are going to take them out tomorrow to have a quiet family day. We will rent some movies and just hang out together. Gary does not have much more time (unless he totally shocks us and I will not put that past him)!
Hobie is still in bed as is Gary. I guess I will get myself dressed and ready for the day!
Love and Hugs,
Lisa
Every night we have had a full house of people. Dinner, drinks, friends, great conversation, bad jokes, laughter, football and so much more! We both just love it!!! My Dad left today and I am sure he was very sad to go. He will come back for the Memorial Service.
We are having problems with our insurance - surprise surprise! They do not want to cover Hospice for Gary given his age. He is too young to receive full benefits. They have given us a $5,000.00 cap which will only take us about 10 days. We are going to need to re-evaluate to see what course we need to take. We might have to go off of Hospice and have Dr. Barth prescribe the drugs needed to get Gary completely out of pain and comfortable. I am a little scared to do this by myself but we do have many RN friends who I am sure could help me. I will keep you posted.
The boys are back to school and I think we are going to take them out tomorrow to have a quiet family day. We will rent some movies and just hang out together. Gary does not have much more time (unless he totally shocks us and I will not put that past him)!
Hobie is still in bed as is Gary. I guess I will get myself dressed and ready for the day!
Love and Hugs,
Lisa
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Clearing Up Confusion
Okay. I guess if we have been confused then I expect you are as well.
I will try to explain everything very clearly to you so that hopefully you can be at peace with all that we are going through.
Plain and Simple - Gary is in the process of dying and he is reaching the end of his life as we know it.
Gary has pain from the cancer that he is no longer able to live with.
Gary has multiple infections in his body that we are no longer treating with antibiotics because we have been unable to control his pain.
Gary has in essence reached his breaking point.
Gary has lived with unimaginable pain for almost 2 years now. Granted he has had some "breaks" briefly with pain control but they have been few and far between.
The cancer in his bone in that left leg is getting worse by the day. On the dreaded pain scale Gary averages about a 7-8 every single day unless he is sleeping and that is unacceptable.
We are now on Hospice. This means we are no longer treating his disease and our goal is to make him comfortable.
To make Gary comfortable we are unfortunately unable to keep him awake and coherent. We will have to give him heavy doses of pain medication to get him out of pain. We are going to start this process on Monday.
We have gradually turned up his pain pump over the past 2 days and we have added liquid morphine for the break through pain. All of the other meds are still on board as well. He is more sleepy than usual but is still eating like a horse!
We are not sure as to how long Gary will live from this moment on. We will take each day as it comes.
I thank you for your patience and hope I have explained things so that you understand.
I just thank God for all that we have and the time we have had together!
All my love,
L
I will try to explain everything very clearly to you so that hopefully you can be at peace with all that we are going through.
Plain and Simple - Gary is in the process of dying and he is reaching the end of his life as we know it.
Gary has pain from the cancer that he is no longer able to live with.
Gary has multiple infections in his body that we are no longer treating with antibiotics because we have been unable to control his pain.
Gary has in essence reached his breaking point.
Gary has lived with unimaginable pain for almost 2 years now. Granted he has had some "breaks" briefly with pain control but they have been few and far between.
The cancer in his bone in that left leg is getting worse by the day. On the dreaded pain scale Gary averages about a 7-8 every single day unless he is sleeping and that is unacceptable.
We are now on Hospice. This means we are no longer treating his disease and our goal is to make him comfortable.
To make Gary comfortable we are unfortunately unable to keep him awake and coherent. We will have to give him heavy doses of pain medication to get him out of pain. We are going to start this process on Monday.
We have gradually turned up his pain pump over the past 2 days and we have added liquid morphine for the break through pain. All of the other meds are still on board as well. He is more sleepy than usual but is still eating like a horse!
We are not sure as to how long Gary will live from this moment on. We will take each day as it comes.
I thank you for your patience and hope I have explained things so that you understand.
I just thank God for all that we have and the time we have had together!
All my love,
L
Misguided friends and plastic flowers
IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH: I DID NOT MAKE MS a martini last night! He told his lovely pregnant wife that I forced his hand in drinking yet another martini and that is simply NOT TRUE!!!!! He drank his martini all by himself.
One of my friends who will remain "anon" just to protect her dignity has a Mother who has done something very strange. She stole the plastic flowers off of several graves at the cemetary and took them home. She PLANTED the stinkin flowers in her white rock garden - each individual stem. I think she evens waters them! I am more than serious and that in itself is scary. For that very reason Gary will not be buried. He will be cremated so there will be no plastic flower stealing from his gracesite from any of you!
Back to business - One of Zach's wishes before Gary passes away was that he watched him surf. SM and MS took Gary to the beach today and parked Gary on the SC Pier so that he could watch! Gary had a good time and they even had fish and chips and fried clams together! It was somewhat of a good morning.
I am so sorry. It has been too long since I have blogged. To be completely honest with you I have not known what to say. Things have been sketchy and we have been wavering with decisions. I did not want to blog information and it change the next day and so on.
I know many of you have been patiently waiting for any kind of update and I wish I had blogged sooner. Even today things have changed - information and decisions - so many things to think about every moment of every day.
I just want you to know that Gary is speaking in church tomorrow if anyone would like to come. Church starts at 9:30 AM at Tesoro High School off Oso Parkway by the Toll Road.
Well, we had our appointment with Dr. Barth. Monday was the day that we really started making hard decisions. Monday was the turning point. Gary has made the decision to go on Hospice.
Hospice, for those of you who are not familiar, is a company that provides care to people with terminal illnesses who are dying. Hospice comes in usually at the end of someones life to help keep them comfortable and to aid and assist the family with anything needed.
Tuesday we went to USC and then on Wednesday we went over to Bette's house (our neighbor with lung cancer) to say goodbye to her as she was in a medical coma. We were sitting by her bedside and we were talking to her and I looked over at Gary and asked him if this is what he was ready for. At that very moment Gary told me that he was ready to be out of pain and peaceful. What a reality check for both of us.
We have spent days crying and talking to friends and family and in essence Gary has been saying goodbye to so many people. Tomorrow at church he wants to talk to everyone in one venue and this is one of the last hings he wants to do before we really medicate him and get him completely comfortable.
We are making arrangements for the Memorial Service and for the reception to follow. We have written letters and his obituary and we are getting everything lined up.
Please know that you are all so important to us. I am really sorry I have not written sooner. Gary's pain is out of control. There is nothing any doctor can do for him. His cancer on the left side is progressing and he has been struggling with fevers and infections and of course the pain in his left leg. Unless God gives us a miracle Gary will not be long for this world.
We are in awe of all of you. You have rallied around us for such a long time and we have been so blessed! Don't leave us now! Don;t even think about going anywhere! We will hunt you down!!!
I hope everyone gets a chance to see Gary speak at church. I hope he has something really good to say!
I will give you all the gory details of what we have been going through on Monday. Hold on until then and just pray for us.
Loads of Love,
L
One of my friends who will remain "anon" just to protect her dignity has a Mother who has done something very strange. She stole the plastic flowers off of several graves at the cemetary and took them home. She PLANTED the stinkin flowers in her white rock garden - each individual stem. I think she evens waters them! I am more than serious and that in itself is scary. For that very reason Gary will not be buried. He will be cremated so there will be no plastic flower stealing from his gracesite from any of you!
Back to business - One of Zach's wishes before Gary passes away was that he watched him surf. SM and MS took Gary to the beach today and parked Gary on the SC Pier so that he could watch! Gary had a good time and they even had fish and chips and fried clams together! It was somewhat of a good morning.
I am so sorry. It has been too long since I have blogged. To be completely honest with you I have not known what to say. Things have been sketchy and we have been wavering with decisions. I did not want to blog information and it change the next day and so on.
I know many of you have been patiently waiting for any kind of update and I wish I had blogged sooner. Even today things have changed - information and decisions - so many things to think about every moment of every day.
I just want you to know that Gary is speaking in church tomorrow if anyone would like to come. Church starts at 9:30 AM at Tesoro High School off Oso Parkway by the Toll Road.
Well, we had our appointment with Dr. Barth. Monday was the day that we really started making hard decisions. Monday was the turning point. Gary has made the decision to go on Hospice.
Hospice, for those of you who are not familiar, is a company that provides care to people with terminal illnesses who are dying. Hospice comes in usually at the end of someones life to help keep them comfortable and to aid and assist the family with anything needed.
Tuesday we went to USC and then on Wednesday we went over to Bette's house (our neighbor with lung cancer) to say goodbye to her as she was in a medical coma. We were sitting by her bedside and we were talking to her and I looked over at Gary and asked him if this is what he was ready for. At that very moment Gary told me that he was ready to be out of pain and peaceful. What a reality check for both of us.
We have spent days crying and talking to friends and family and in essence Gary has been saying goodbye to so many people. Tomorrow at church he wants to talk to everyone in one venue and this is one of the last hings he wants to do before we really medicate him and get him completely comfortable.
We are making arrangements for the Memorial Service and for the reception to follow. We have written letters and his obituary and we are getting everything lined up.
Please know that you are all so important to us. I am really sorry I have not written sooner. Gary's pain is out of control. There is nothing any doctor can do for him. His cancer on the left side is progressing and he has been struggling with fevers and infections and of course the pain in his left leg. Unless God gives us a miracle Gary will not be long for this world.
We are in awe of all of you. You have rallied around us for such a long time and we have been so blessed! Don't leave us now! Don;t even think about going anywhere! We will hunt you down!!!
I hope everyone gets a chance to see Gary speak at church. I hope he has something really good to say!
I will give you all the gory details of what we have been going through on Monday. Hold on until then and just pray for us.
Loads of Love,
L
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