A celebration of Bob's life!

You are invited to a celebration of Bob's life. However we may forget to call or email someone, so all of the information is below. You are all important to us in a hundred different ways but each of you loves him as much as we do so please, join us.

Martha, Rusty, Toy, Jen (John, Mira, Bill and Holly, too)

Bob's Funeral and Committal Service will be held:
Saturday, November 22, 2008
11:00 AM
Saint Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church
27655 Jefferson Avenue
Temecula, CA 92590
(951) 676-0515
www.stthomastemecula.org/directions.htm

Following the funeral we will gather at our home:
45962 Corte Carmello
Temecula, CA 92592
(951) 302-9652
(following are directions from the church to our home)
www.mapquest.com/mq/5-GKmR9ZW6qBu37cPRSVyO

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Bob's memory to:

Saint Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church
PO Box 331
Temecula, CA 92593
www.stthomastemecula.org

Temecula Valley Master Chorale
PO Box 892638
Temecula, CA 92589-2638
www.temeculavalleymasterchorale.org

PANCAN.org

Update...

Bob's life with Christ began this morning just before 1am.

We decided last evening to remove all of the life support equipment after his doctors reported that there was nothing more they could do. He slipped peacefully away a few hours later without waking.

We are planning his funeral for Saturday, November 22nd. We will post the details here when our plans are finalized.

Thank you to everyone who called and visited these past few days. And a huge, loving thank you to Father Robert who was with us throughout this difficult journey.

Martha (Rusty, Toy & Jen)

Sunday night update...

Bob's condition has not changed much. The source of the infection is still a mystery. This afternoon they stopped sedating Bob for a short time so we had a chance to communicate with him. His responses were limited to some eyelid fluttering and deep breaths (he can override the ventilator) but he knew us and he was able to hear a couple of friends & relatives on a cell phone.

We are extremely grateful to those who stopped by for a visit (the ICU staff is being very flexible with their visitation rules for us), for those who left food for us at the house, and "Auntie" June who spent some time exercising Letty this afternoon.

Martha (Rusty, Toy & Jen)

News from Bob's family...

Bob was admitted to the ER at Rancho Springs Med Ctr (Murrieta, CA) on Thursday afternoon with shortness of breath caused by an infection. By that evening he was admitted to ICU. Yesterday (Friday) morning he was put on life support. At this time, Saturday evening, he is still in ICU (Room #1) on life support. He has a severe infection (MRSA) which they believe is located somewhere in his abdomen but so far they have not been able to identify the cause. He is being treated with multiple antibiotics by an infectious disease specialist, a pulmonary specialist is over-seeing his ventilator, he has a renal specialist on board (his kidneys are not functioning), a GI team (who has worked with Bob on ERCP's) is involved and his personal doctor is coordinating the whole process.
Fr Robert, our priest and dear friend, has been here almost continuously; several of our good friends from the Master Chorale have visited & brought food; Jen, Rusty, & Toy are all staying at the house and we are at the hospital as much as we can be.

Please keep Bob and all of us in your prayers, Martha

Trigeminal Neuralgia better today.

With a combination of some drugs and acupuncture, my TN is better today than it has been. I hope to see daily improvement in that area. Martha returns this Tuesday night. She has surely been missed. And Roger has been a Godsend.

The return of my Trigeminal Neuralgia

When I around 40 I started having trouble with Trigeminal Neuralgia. This condition creates intense facial pain on one side or the other and is triggered by eating, talking or touching the side of the face. It does come and go, sometimes months pass before it starts up again. There is some medication that is helpful but it makes me disoriented physically and mentally (just what I need).

I had a Gamma Knife procedure about 10 years ago which seemed to keep the TN at bay with a few short exceptions.

It has now returned and has affected my ability to eat or talk pain free. I reluctantly started back on the medications that seemed to help last time. I am also taking acupuncture which seemed to help somewhat years ago.

At least I am not on chemo for the next two weeks. My brother-in-law Roger arrives from Florida this afternoon for a two week stay. Hopefully we will be able to get out and do some things.

Update and Quotes

Had chemo on Tuesday and only side-effect was a slight fever on Tuesday afternoon. Today I drove round-trip to Mission Viejo (somewhat over 100 miles). I know have a two week break from chemo. Who knows, with this increased energy I might even dust-off my bike.

Martha leaves Saturday for Boston to help out with the new grandson, Taz.

Many Christians celebrated the life of St. Teresa of Avila. this week. I recently read some of her quotes. A few are below.

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.
Pain is never permanent.
To have courage for whatever comes in life-everything lies in that.

One more quote.
Most of you have noticed quotes that are sometimes placed below signatures in emails. The funniest one I have seen was received this week:

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep.
Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.