The Love...

We were so lucky to know him...
To love him was an honor..
Seeing his smile was inspiring..
May you rest in peace my love, you will forever be missed.
Thank you for everything. You touched many lives.

The University Daily Kansan
Lawrence Journal-World
Morning Sun
The Kansas City Star
The Ottawa Herald

There will also be obituaries in additional papers that should run this weekend, but are not online yet. They are The Daily Union and the Columbia Daily Tribune.

Take care everyone.

-Abby

The Plans

The funeral will be at Warren-McElwain funeral home. The viewing will be from 6 to 8 pm this Sunday and and the funeral will be at 1:30pm Monday. Thanks for all that followed.... I will hopefully put a link to his obituary when it runs.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.

This was the poem Jeff wanted everyone to know. He was gold and couldn't stay... I miss you Jeff, but I am so happy for your peace!!

-Abby

So Sad

Jeff passed away this evening. I will meet with the funeral home tomorrow and will post as arrangements are made.

-Abby

More changes

We met with Dr. Tim Monday night. Jeff is not taking in nearly enough calories at home to even maintain his weight. Jeff decided Tuesday morning that he was okay with being admitted into the hospital again for IV nutrients. Jeff wants to go to Stormont-Vail in Topeka this time. Dr. Tim has to find a hospitalist to take Jeff's case on for admissions. If he has trouble finding a hospitalist Jeff wants to find some way to get into the hospital for nutrition.
Jeff's physical being has declined somewhat. He is coherent in the fact that he will look at you when you are talking and respond on occasion, but he is sleeping most of the time. He looks extremely thin. We put some oxygen on him last for a little while.
Some things will be different in the hospital this time in hopes that his pain will not be as bad as last time. A catheter will be put in from the start and he will be mostly sedated during his stay. We are expecting to be in the hospital for about a month.
The end goal of getting Jeff's nutrition better is to get him in a place where he can have surgery (if a surgeon will do it), participate in the trial at home or both. If we go into the hospital and Jeff's pain becomes out of control like last time and there is no relief then we might come home early.
I think that is all for now. Everyone take care and keep all the positive thought coming.

-Abby

Met with Dietitian

Friday morning we met with a dietitian. We are trying to introduce some solid food back into Jeff's diet, but he is sleeping an awful lot, which is making it a challenge. Sometimes his taste or appetite has shifted in the amount of time it took to prepare something. We should be meeting with Dr. Tim later on this week. He got the okay and regiment information from Dr. Stephen Cantrell in Tennessee. This is a trial regiment that is seeing some results in tumor shrinkage and along with that is subsiding some of the negative effects from cancer. It is a regiment that Jeff can receive at home and does not require him to travel at this pint for any observation. Dr. Tim will go over all the information with us and see if Jeff wants or is able to do it.
Jeff is still extremely weak and while he has put a few solids on his tummy and has held them down it is not much. He is awake for maybe 5-6 hours out of the day. I still worry about him and we are not out of the woods and have a long way to go. That is the update for now.
Take care! I hope all is well with everyone!

-Abby