Details for funeral arrangements

Many of you were asking for details regarding the funeral arrangements for Pop-pop. Details will be in the Star Ledger (Thur & Fri), but here is what we know so far ...

Friday (2/29) - Viewing:

• First viewing time: 2 - 4pm
  
• Second viewing time: 7 - 9pm
  
• Location:
  

Madison Memorial Home
159 Main St, Madison

• for directions call: 908-852-2433

Saturday (3/1) - Funeral Service:

• Time: 8:45am
  
• Location: St. Rafael's Church, Mt. Pleasant Ave (Rt 10) in Livingston. Burial following the mass at Stanhope Cemetary.

Raymond F. Little 1918 - 2008

Pop-pop passed away this evening (2/25/2008) at 7:30 PM. He was surrounded by his family in his final moments, and he knew that we were there. It was both sad and beautiful at the same time. Hilary described it best when I called her to tell her the sad news. I'll paraphrase below:

He lived a healthy life for 89 years. He had his wits about him for his entire life. He raised a wonderful family, lived to see his first great-grandchild, and at the end, he got a chance to be surrounded by his loving family as he said good-bye. What more could you hope for at the end of your life?

I'll be scanning in some pictures of some of the highlights of Pop's life, and will post them to you either here or on VictorFamily.net.

To all those who have expressed concern for Pop, we thank you. It is wonderful to know just how much Pop was loved by all who were lucky enough to know him.

Love,
Jason

Pop is in Hospice Care

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been posting to this blog very often, mostly because all the news that I have been accumulating and seeing first-hand has been bad. And if you don't have anything positive to say, then ...

But I thought it was important to let everyone reading this know what's been going on the last week.

Pop's health has been declining. He is unable to keep his lungs clear on his own and keeps aspirating on his feeding tube, even though they had the PEG put in a while back. This has been causing him a lot of pain, so rather than go through another operation to put another tube into his small intestine, causing more pain and with very little hope of success, his doctors and the family agreed that it was time to put Pop into hospice care.

He could pass on any day now, and the family is together with him at St. Claire's in Dover, NJ. I know that there are many people reading this who may feel that they wished they could have found this information out another way, but so many people know and love Pop, and it was the only way I could think of to make sure everyone knew.

I've added a "Call me" button to the top-right portion of this blog. If you like, you can leave a voice-mail message to the blog to offer words of encouragement.

Thanks again to everyone who has offered words of encouragement and asked how he is doing throughout this ordeal. I know it may seem silly to be so surprised that an 89 year old man is in failing health, but he is my Pop-pop and I will always love him.

Love,
Jason

This week's updates - still at St. B's

Hi Everyone,

We had a big group visit Pop yesterday: Daniel, Mom, Dick, Nan, Hilary and Ben! They didn't allow Ben in the room (too many germs to exchange between the two), but we got a good visit in. He likes when you talk to him and Dick was reading a very exciting account of the first explorer's accounts of the Grand Canyon.

He opened his eyes more than last week, which was nice. He's also still got a firm grip. He likes when you hold his hands and if you let go, he shakes them and makes noise, gesturing for you to hold them. :) He was also trying to say something, but I couldn't make it out.

Medically, he still has congestion in his chest. I didn't speak to the respiratory therapist (See earlier picture of "Moe"), but it seemed to me like there was less gurgling going on. I don't know what that means, but we'll have to wait and see. Mom also makes sure that when she goes to visit that he gets suctioned both at the beginning and at the end of the visit; this helps rid him of the extra phlegm. (I hope you aren't reading this while you are eating).



We had a good visit with the family, as well, and we all went out to The Olive Garden and then back to Nan's house to watch Ben play with his toy truck. We think he said "I did it!" when he walked across the floor behind his toy truck. I have the video, but need to review the tape to see if that's really what he said.

I'll keep you all posted!

Jason

Pop is now in a room

Hi Everyone,

I got to St. Barnabas today a little before 6:00 and Pop was still in the Emergency room. They had him in a hospital bed, hooked up to everything he needed: food, antibiotics, oxygen, etc. The nurse there, Heidi was VERY helpful and explained everything that he had hooked up and why.

He has these motorized leggings on that keep the circulation going on his legs to prevent clots form forming there. She noticed a bed sore on his back and noted that they were keeping an eye on it.

Pop was alert when I was there, but didn't have his eyes as open as the last time I saw him. Plus, he must be exhausted with all the hustle and bustle of the ER there. I told him that Ben took 5 steps at day care to get a donut that was on the table and he laughed, and then coughed (which is a good thing).

He has a lot of fluid in his lungs right now; they managed to get quite a bit up, but he needs to continue to cough to get the rest up and out of there. They suction him out every now and again, but they can't do that too often because 1) it's painful for Pop and 2) it could cause throat irritation and bleeding. They want to prevent that, if necessary.

I met Tom, the respiratory therapist and I swear to God he had a hair style like Moe Howard from the 3 stooges. Tom had a three point plan for busting up the fluid in Pop's lungs and getting it out of there.

1) He put him on a nebulizer with some medicine that could help loosen up and break up the fluid there.

2) He had me hold Pop's hand while he pounded on Pop's chest like a baboon and shook him. Pop's eyes shot open for THAT one. :) He was probably wondering why one of the three stooges were shaking him.
This was done to break loose the fluid from the sides of his lungs

3) He used what's called a "coughilator." Think of it as a giant vacuum. They put a mask over Pop's mouth, and pushed air down his lungs to fill them with air, then he reversed the suction, pulling moisture up and out of his lungs.

Pop responded well to this and was coughing much more after the treatment, which is good. He's even swallowing a bit, which is also good, but his stomach probably can't handle all the fluid that is in his lungs currently, so they will continue to have to help him out by suctioning it off.

I know it's a little gross, but if nothing else, when a love one is sick, you can't only think of one day at once.

When I got back from dinner they were moving him up to his new room (4107). He has a very nice female room-mate (good thing Nan doesn't have the internet!) ;)

I'll keep you guys posted!

Love,
Jason

Pop's back in hospital

Hi Everyone,

Pop was doing well at Overlook, (Yesterday, Pop was smiling and blowing kisses to Nan) but he hit a small snag. He had a high white blood cell count and a fever, which indicates an infection, so in order to treat it, he went back to the hospital. Luckily, he's going to one closer to home in Livingston / Orange area (St. Barnabus). Mom took him over there tonight, and left around 10:00 PM. He didn't have a room yet, but he was snoring, so he seemed comfortable.

They are probably going to monitor him, make sure he gets antibiotics to treat the infection, and then once stable, send him back to Overlook or some other sub-acute rehab center.

I'm going to visit him tomorrow after work, so I'll have more updates then.

I'll keep you posted!

Jason

Visited Pop at CareOne

Hi All,

I went up to visit Pop at CareOne today and met up with Nan and Dick. Unfortunately, I got out of the house a little late, so my visit conflicted a bit with the rehabilitation sessions he's now getting (2 hours per day now!)

His eyes were focusing MUCH better today and they were mostly open when I was visiting him. They put him in a wheelchair during the day and the extra elevation is helping! He was coughing / gurgling less, and he was more alert than in the past. He's no longer on a nasal feeding tube like his was in Overlook. Since he had the PEG put in, he looks MUCH more comfortable.

He was moving his mouth and making grunting noises. When I brought up him bringing all the beach umbrellas in Wildwood, he grunted with what looked like a wry smile. :) I held his hands and he was squeezing back with both; his right was a lot stronger than this left today. When it was time for him to go back to rehab, he continued to clutch my hand and look at me. It was very sweet. Either that, or he didn't want to go back to rehab. :)

I'll keep you posted!

Love,
Jason