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

This week's update

Pop is out of the hospital and into sub-acute rehabilitation! This is great news because it feels like he's been in the hospital forever! At CareOne, he'll have more of a push towards rehabilitation than at the hospital. It's also a sign that he is stabilized enough to start rehab.

I'll keep you posted.

Love,
Jason

Tonight's update

Hi Everyone,

Hilary, Ben and I visited Pop at Overlook today, but Hilary and Ben didn't go into the room because we couldn't rule out that Pop didn't still have pneumonia and we didn't want either Ben or Pop exchanging hospital / day care germs.

Pop's eyes were closed for most of our visit, but he knew we were there because he would squeeze my hand when we would talk to him and he would still nod slightly in response to yes or no questions. He was more tired than I saw him last, but when we said we were going to go, he waved good-bye to me.

Other than that, nothing has changed, so we'll keep you posted with any major developments.

Love,
Jason

Today's update

Hi Everyone,

I went to visit Pop with Aunt Debbie today and he had the nasal feeding tube to help give him nutrients. He has a touch of pneumonia, so he is on antibiotics and the congestion in his lungs is going down.

He was much more awake today than the last time. He tried to talk, he was coughing (a good thing to help his reflexes to prevent future bouts of pneumonia). He also expressed his dislike of Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate. As me and Aunt Debbie brought her name up, he waved his hand from side to side to indicate "nooooo."

I'll keep you posted!
Jason

Tonight's update

Hi Everyone,

Pop did much better tonight. In fact, it was the best I've seen him in a while. He was using his right arm to wave off the nurse who was helping to suction and swap his mouth.

He had a little oxygen over his mouth and nose to help with his oxygen levels, and his sugar was a little high at 245, but they are tweaking his insulin and IV sugar intakes to make sure that his levels will remain stable. His chest x-ray came back with a little something in his lungs, so they took a preventative measure and put Pop on IV antibiotics to prevent bacterial pneumonia.

He was able to look at Aunt Debbie and myself and nod yes to questions. We were playing a little bit of trivia to see what Pop could figure out, but there was no way of us know if he was cheating, since he would only nod "yes" if he said that he had the correct answer. :)

When we left, he motioned to give Aunt Debbie a kiss and he audibly said "I love you" to me.

Love,
Jason

Today's update

Hi Everyone,

Besides Mom's run-in with the floor-supervisor from hell who cut visiting hours short, Pop had a good day today.

Mom said that even last night he was responding to Aunt Debbie and Megan more than he was with them in the afternoon. He was raising his arm when asked to take his blood pressure, and shook his head "no" when the nurse tried to swab out his mouth. When the nurse explained what she was doing, he nodded "yes".

When Mom was in there, they were rubbing his feet and hands and he was responding similarly to a few days ago, so there's some positive improvement there. With any luck, he'll continue to improve as time goes on.

Love,
Jason

Yesterday's update

Mom called and said that Daniel and Megan got to see Pop yesterday. Megan even swabbed out his mouth. Mom sounded like Pop is not really responding as much as the day before; no longer nodding for "yes or no" questions, etc ... so in the next few days, the doctor is going to discuss long-term care options. Kessler isn't really right for him if he's not interacting, and the hospital really can't do anything else but "wait and see."

The good news is that his vitals are perfect, which indicates that most of his involuntary functions of his brain are working great.

Some days are better than others, and it's important not to give up hope.

Love,
Jason

*Picture is from Pop's 89th birthday party September 2007

Daily update

Hi Everyone,

We spoke to a very nice doctor who sat down with us to explain the current situation. Here's the summary that he gave us:

1) He had a Hemmoragic stroke (a bleed) which is where blood leaks into the brain. He cannot be on any blood thinners like Cumadin (aka Warfarin) while this bleed exists.
2) Because he has an irregular heart beat, when they took him off the blood thinners, he developed a clot which lodged in his brain. This is called an Ischemic stroke.

The stroke evolves from day to day, so it is impossible to say how much of Pop is affected until months from now.

He also noticed that Pop was not on a statin, which was odd considering his heart condition coupled with his diabetes. He will put Pop on one after he is able to swallow again.

Right now, he's not able to coordinate his muscles to swallow.

When I saw him today, we took Ben in to visit and he seemed to respond the most to him being there. He made audible grunts, which was more than he was doing last night, but his eyes were closed. He understood what we were saying and was able to nod his head "yes" and even shrug to respond to our "yes or no" questions. The muscles in his mouth are not coordinated very well.

Like I said, the doctor was saying that the good news is that he could recover a great deal over the course of 3 months. The bad news is that he's going to have good days and bad days and some of those bad days can scare the family into fearing the worst. It's important to never give up hope and like we keep saying, to live one day at a time.

As always, I'll keep you posted with any updates.

Jason

Another update

I didn't like how Pop was not responding, so I asked the nurse to take a look at him. He wasn't able to vocalize anything and was not able (or at least willing) to move his head from side to side. This prompted the nurse to get a resident to look at Pop to determine his vitals. They were all good (normal blood pressure and 94% oxygen). They decided to play it safe and order another cat scan just to see if there was anything going on.

We got the results and everything appeared to be the same, so it could be the large amount of exercise he got in the morning with the therapists. This second stroke has been much more difficult for him to recover from.

The family is going to meet up with Pop in the morning to visit him and hopefully, he's doing better.

I'll keep you posted.

Love,
Jason

Today's update

Pop is definitely more tired than ever, and he is now having trouble eating and sleeping. The rehabilitation specialists at the hospital keep at it, though, and give him "swallow" tests to see what he can eat and drink and they try to get him out of bed regularly to ensure he gets some rehab in.

Right now, I'm actually at the hospital and Pop is very tired, so I'm letting him sleep until his dinner arrives.

I asked about his therapy today and he had both speech and physical therapy this morning. He also had another swallow test and they stated that he should still drink the thickened liquids.

I asked if he could drink his Shaklee protein shake, but the doctor did not write down that it was okay for him to drink it, so they are going to follow-up with her in the morning. Kim, the nurse and coordinator on the floor was in today and she was very nice and seemed very organized.

She mentioned that his 2 physical therapists stated that he was very fatigued and needed constant encouragement to try to stand. He couldn't support his own weight.

I'll keep you updated.

Jason