These are e-mails from Mary (kygal) to me and also the one I sent to her. I know how very hard Mary was trying to raise funds for her husband. Mary - Our thoughts and prayers go out to you. You were such a wonderful caregiver to Doug. I hope you will continue to visit our forum just to say hi. You are one special, special lady. Barbara
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary
To: Barb - Pioneers
Sent: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 5:27 am
Subject: My hubby
Hi Barb,
Long time no talk to?..I?ve not forgotten all of you but things have been a little wild around my house for the last couple of months. Doug was seeming to get worse and worse and we couldn?t really pinpoint it and the last several weeks he got to where he could hardly get around at all. I?m not sure if he was giving up or what but it really disturbed me. About 3 weeks ago, I found him collapsed in his walker, in our kitchen, and had to call 911. We thought he was in respiratory distress (which he was) and they had to intubate him as well as perform CPR but they did get him to the hospital alive. After being on the respirator for almost a week, they reduced the sedatives (they had him on the sedatives to allow the pneumonia and infection to heal) and then we discovered he?d had a stroke. At least he rallied enough for us to talk to him but I never got any more response from him than being able to shake his head or blink his eyes. It was a hard, hard 2 weeks and I lost him 2 weeks ago today, buried him a week ago today. I?m grieving so badly, you know how desperately I wanted to be able to provide the possibility of stem cell therapy for him, plus he was the love of my life and my best friend. I?m not sure how long it will be before I get back to many, or any forums. But, I just wanted to let you know that we didn?t fall off the face of the earth.
Thank you for all your concern, caring and help you provided. I will never forget all of you and what you are doing for the face of new medicine. Stay in touch if you can, I miss all of you.
Hugs,
Mary
From: Barb
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:26 AM
To: Mary
Subject: Re: My hubby
Mary - I had been thinking of you all this week and I am so sorry about Doug. I truly am. I know how much you wanted to try for him to have therapy. This makes me want to continue on and believe me some days I feel like it is all too much for me. I still want a foundation that can help with people like you and Doug, not just the monetary end of it, but also the logistics of getting someone who is quite ill to the place they need to be for therapy. You are a wonderful person Mary, your heart is always in the right place. Can I let others know on the forum or even post what you wrote in the caregiver's section? I know many will be very saddened by this. Please do keep in touch with us. Again, I am so, so sorry. Barbara
I received this today -
Thanks for the thoughts and caring. I don?t mind a bit if you post any of my email to the group. I just don?t seem to have the energy for that these days. It?s a real struggle to even write people and I seem to find more patience for it early in the morning while I?m drinking my coffee. I?m not sleeping real well at night and am up and down a lot?..but I guess that?s to be expected.
I commend you for continuing on and your dreams for others. That?s what I find so special about you. I have valued some of our emails of the past, your caring when you sent me your book (which I?ve shared with others) and the other things you do. Once I can get past some of this grief, I want to continue to share with others not only about COPD and finding help for others but also about the stem cell therapy. But, I hope that will come in due time.
I?ll stay in touch and try to get by the forum every so often.
Hugs,
Mary
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary
To: Barb - Pioneers
Sent: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 5:27 am
Subject: My hubby
Hi Barb,
Long time no talk to?..I?ve not forgotten all of you but things have been a little wild around my house for the last couple of months. Doug was seeming to get worse and worse and we couldn?t really pinpoint it and the last several weeks he got to where he could hardly get around at all. I?m not sure if he was giving up or what but it really disturbed me. About 3 weeks ago, I found him collapsed in his walker, in our kitchen, and had to call 911. We thought he was in respiratory distress (which he was) and they had to intubate him as well as perform CPR but they did get him to the hospital alive. After being on the respirator for almost a week, they reduced the sedatives (they had him on the sedatives to allow the pneumonia and infection to heal) and then we discovered he?d had a stroke. At least he rallied enough for us to talk to him but I never got any more response from him than being able to shake his head or blink his eyes. It was a hard, hard 2 weeks and I lost him 2 weeks ago today, buried him a week ago today. I?m grieving so badly, you know how desperately I wanted to be able to provide the possibility of stem cell therapy for him, plus he was the love of my life and my best friend. I?m not sure how long it will be before I get back to many, or any forums. But, I just wanted to let you know that we didn?t fall off the face of the earth.
Thank you for all your concern, caring and help you provided. I will never forget all of you and what you are doing for the face of new medicine. Stay in touch if you can, I miss all of you.
Hugs,
Mary
From: Barb
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:26 AM
To: Mary
Subject: Re: My hubby
Mary - I had been thinking of you all this week and I am so sorry about Doug. I truly am. I know how much you wanted to try for him to have therapy. This makes me want to continue on and believe me some days I feel like it is all too much for me. I still want a foundation that can help with people like you and Doug, not just the monetary end of it, but also the logistics of getting someone who is quite ill to the place they need to be for therapy. You are a wonderful person Mary, your heart is always in the right place. Can I let others know on the forum or even post what you wrote in the caregiver's section? I know many will be very saddened by this. Please do keep in touch with us. Again, I am so, so sorry. Barbara
I received this today -
Thanks for the thoughts and caring. I don?t mind a bit if you post any of my email to the group. I just don?t seem to have the energy for that these days. It?s a real struggle to even write people and I seem to find more patience for it early in the morning while I?m drinking my coffee. I?m not sleeping real well at night and am up and down a lot?..but I guess that?s to be expected.
I commend you for continuing on and your dreams for others. That?s what I find so special about you. I have valued some of our emails of the past, your caring when you sent me your book (which I?ve shared with others) and the other things you do. Once I can get past some of this grief, I want to continue to share with others not only about COPD and finding help for others but also about the stem cell therapy. But, I hope that will come in due time.
I?ll stay in touch and try to get by the forum every so often.
Hugs,
Mary