Monday, August 2, 2010

POGO TO START GOLFING AGAIN

On Sunday, August 1st just after 6pm Pogo passed away peacefully in his room at St. Luke's Hospital. He never made it to Zilber Family Hospice.

When Pogo's wife Sue and daughter Lisa arrived to visit him on Sunday, he was no longer able to speak and his eyes would not focus on their faces. It was then that they knew he was starting his journey away from the body that had become a prison for him over the past year. He was being attended to by a wonderful nurse named Nicole who very honestly and gently confirmed to us that his time was coming to an end.

Pogo's hospital room was a fairly large size as far as hospital rooms go, but it got very cramped very fast as family poured in to support him in his final moments. Wife Sue, daughters Jessie & Lisa and their husbands Cory & Jack, son Brad, mom Betty, brother Dave, brother and sister-in-law Scott & Lynn, sister-in-law Sharon, and brother-in-law Steve were all in and out of the room all afternoon and into early evening. His sister Linda got to speak to him on the phone as did sister Carol who also flew in to be with him and the family (she unfortunately arrived in the room about 10 min after he had passed). The day was spent alternately crying and laughing as everyone shared stories about Pogo and the fun memories he had given them. Even though Pogo could not join in, we know he could hear us and feel the love in the room because a tear would appear in his eye every now and then.

Pogo had expressed to his wife a day or so earlier that he was ready to die. He was never scared to die, but was sad to cause pain to his family who miss him dearly already. He was and will be an inspiration for his bravery and positive attitude.

Pogo's funeral will be held on Saturday August 7th.
Visitation 3pm-6:45pm with a celebration of his life at 7pm.
Church and Chapel
15250 W. National Ave.
New Berlin, WI

Pogo's family would like to thank his doctors and nurses at St. Lukes and Hope4Cancer. They all did such a wonderful job helping Pogo fight over the last year and a half.
They would also like to thank all of the family and friends who have supported him with their help, their visits, their meals and baked goods, and prayers.
Thanks as well to those of you who have happened across this blog accidentally and followed Pogo's story with us too.

Best wishes,
Sue, Jessie, Lisa, Brad, Jack & Cory

Friday, July 30, 2010

Pogo Update

Here is an update on what has been going on with Pogo since his last blog, reported by his daughters Jessie & Lisa:

On July 7th Pogo was admitted to St. Lukes Hospital and has been there on the 12th floor of the Patient Tower ever since. In his last blog he spoke about how he was becoming weaker. His doctor thought it would be a good idea to keep him in the hospital and try to build back up his strength and tend to the many wounds he had been accumulating with his falls.

We were hoping to be able to do cyber or gamma knife surgery to attack his quickly growing cancer, but unfortunately it was deemed too risky. The surgeon believed that because there is more than one tumor and they are spread throughout the brain, the amount of radiation that they would use would more than likely cause radiation poisoning and would do him more harm than good. Therefore the only treatment option left for Pogo was chemotherapy.
Being the fighter that he is, he did accept two treatments of chemo. Unfortunately though his body continues to weaken and he has now lost all appetite and is completely bedridden. He has decided that he will stop the chemotherapy and no one can blame him. Once that decision was made, the next step was to select a hospice.

Admittedly hospice was almost a swear word to us when it was first mentioned, but we did not really understand much about what a hospice is other than a place where people die. We are very fortunate to have a beautiful hospice nearby (Aurora Zilber Family Hospice in Wauwatosa). A nurse from their facility was nice enough to come meet with Pogo and family at St. Lukes. Zilber is an 18 bed facility located on the Honey Creek Parkway. It is in a residential setting and each room is large and has a patio that the patient can be rolled onto without even getting out of bed. There are beautiful sunrooms, a playroom for Pogo's grandson to hang out in, a kitchen for families to cook together, a meditation room, and beautiful grounds to go for walks. Pogo and his family are very much looking forward to getting there. He is on the waiting list but it shouldn't be too long.

All that being said, we would like to encourage any friends or family out there who wish to see Pogo to come soon. We cannot say exactly how long he has left because of the unpredictable nature of his cancer. We do know that he is declining steadily and it is not clear how long he will still be able to talk or to know that people are visiting.

We will try to update with information on his hospice room once he gets there, but for now he is still at St. Lukes in Milwaukee, room S12134 of the Patient Tower.

Friday, July 2, 2010

the ship is sinking fast

And unfortunately they keep throwing me lead life preservers. This had to be the worst week 0f my life since I got all those open sores on my left leg plus I got a sore on my ass the size of Texas from one of the many falls and consider how much I use my ass it is a real pain in the butt. It is a real adventure in pain if they are touched or just laying in bed, which makes bedtime a real sore subject. We took care of the other problem by placing a catheter which takes care of the having to pee every five minutes. However, it is awkward with carrying that bag along. We had a family meeting to determine what our options are. Point of note, don't let this happen to you on a holiday weekend because nobody is around and we left a bunch of messages with doctors and other people to give us options on what we can do,and of course no one got back to us. We know it's too dangerous for Sue and I to be left alone here. Anytime we go anywhere we have to call out for reinforcements otherwise I can't get in and out of the house. Fortunately for me I have a lot of friends who are willing to help out because they literally have to lift me and the wheelchair in and out of the house.


Since it's taken me three weeks to type the first paragraph, I've had to hire a ghost writer, who for the time being we will call "Jack".
I can no longer do back office stuff, so I hired a friend of mine, who's a CPA we will call him "Scott" to take care of reports, accounts payable and payroll. Someone will hold power of attorney for all office decicions. will be handled by an attorney we will call "Sandy".

I can no longer E-mail or answer the phone and will only take phone calls from friends and family and medical professionals . NO BUSINESS.

My last MRI was pretty much what i had anticipated, with the tumor growing and a lot of swelling. Recommended treatment was to increase steroids, IV therapy with Manitol, Cyber/Gamma Knife treatment, and this week I have the appointment set up in which there may be addition treatment options.
I've been going downhill fast but i still manage to keep my sense of humor. I've made a list of what I CAN do to give you an idea of how exciting my life has become.
-I CAN be in pain.
-I CAN pee in a bag.
-I CAN eat and drink.
and if you give me six hours I CAN take a shit.
Which i guess proves the theory that I'm full of shit, it's like trying to push a bowling ball through a keyhole. I can occasionally sleep, I can play games but not at the level i was at before and I can watch things from a distance.

Frank and I used to solve world problems sitting around the camp fire. And I may be joining him to take it to the next level as we sit around the bright lights of heaven, to solve heavenly problems.

That's a pretty good ending.

'till next time.
POGO

Saturday, June 26, 2010

LAST BLOG OR NOT

My overall health, from a physical standpoint has been getting noticeably worse. My legs are noticeably weaker, and things I was doing last week seem almost impossible to do now. I am falling down just about every day and I think that ground is getting harder all the time. just getting into the house through the garage in which I have done hundreds of times, which have handrails. It felt like my left leg hit a spinning wheel. Thank goodness my right arm is very strong, so I was able to hang on but because of the way I twisted my right forearm was pressed against the corner of a 4x4, and pretty much shredded my forearm. So I was hanging there for about five minutes whijle Sue was running around the neighborhood at 10 PM trying to find a neighbor that would help. When they finally got me up, I tried to manage the stairs again, but it felt like both my legs where paralyzed, and needed help getting into the house. Just walking around in the house is challenging, because both of my legs are wobbling. so I will be spending more time in the house in the wheelchair. My vision has been getting worse which makes it tough for entering data into the computer which I'm still doing at the office. Speaking of the office,it is still not sold.which has been a lot of stress and could be one of possible causes of my sudden turnaround in my physical health. I always said, that that office would kill me someday, because of all the time and effort I'm putting into it instead of resting and trying to get healthy .My voice is getting weaker so dictation is taking a lot longer because the computer can barely pickup my voice. A lot of this could possibly be caused by the tumor growing, but won't know anything until after the next MRI on July 8. I am not overly optimistic about the results of my next MRI, so I'm trying reverse psychology.

Remember that miracle pill, that I talked about in the last blog, it turned out to be a one-day miracle. Since that day it's been back to normal, so I tripled the dosage after consulting with the doctor and was told that it is a cumulative effect, so hopefully we'll see some results in the near future. When the urge hits and with my weakened legs it is a real adventure trying to get to the bathroom on time. Plus with all those IV liquids, and has really got the old kidneys working overtime.

Call this a premonition, I spent a lot of time thinking while sitting in my wheelchair near the bathroom door in the foyer, staring out the front door. A tree in our front yard, by the shape of the branches which formed almost a perfect picture frame and with the way the sunight was hitting the leaves,it looked like my dads face, who died about 10 years ago from cancer. I think he was looking for a golf buddy and above the picture of my dads face was a profile of my grndsons face. It was like my dad was ready to greet me into heaven but my grandson wants grandpa to stay. I am rooting for my grandson.

The difference existing and living is very bjg unfortunately for me I have been existing. Which means my life is based off of my bladder, which dictates where and when I can do things If I can getI my bladder under control and the sores on my left leg which been around forever and get my legs stronger, I may be able to get back to living.

So if the MRI has a good report then ignore every thing above and may have been to to being tired and stressed. in that case OR NOT.

POGO

Sunday, June 20, 2010

OLD LADY POGO

This morning, I had fallen and couldn't get up and of course Brad had one of his all nighters, so Sue and I were the only one home, so we had to call 911. On the bright side, they did not charge us and in the past I would've ripped off couple layers of skin, which didn't happen this time, so I know my skin is getting tougher.

My old computer crashed and burned so I had to get a new computer which has been a real pain.

I've been having a lot of problems as far as getting the data in their and getting to find things on the new computer so as usual, the world of technology is not very nice to me. If it weren't for the computer and the office, life would be good. Surprisingly, with the above two thorns in my side, health wiseI feel pretty good.

We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday by having the family come over for a cookout. We got organic sweetcorn which was delicious, plus I had 2 veggie burgers which tastes very similar to a hamburger, we also had organic fruit, organic sliced potatoes with zucchini. For the entertainment, I got into my motorized wheelchair and watched my grandson chase bubbles and then to the driveway where he was pushing his cars on the driveway and then chasing after them.

I went to their urologist to see what we could do above my usual problem of frequency, everything was normal, I just happen to have an excited bladder, so I was given a magic pill which seemed to help right away. You don't know how good it feels as to make it past the 10 minute mark.

I'm going to stop right here because I'm still having problems with the computer,it has taken over three hours just to get this far.

pogo

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

BUENOS DIAZ AMIGOS,PART 2

The Mexican trip started on Monday morning May 17, with a four hour flight to San Diego and I am sure glad that it was not a four hour and one minute trip, because I stretched my bladder to the limit, And with all the turbulence, there was no way to make it to the bathroom without taking a header( note the double meaning)when I called to make the reservations, I asked if there were any wider seats and needed to be close to the bathroom. I was told that all the seats were the same and the bathrooms are at the back of the plane. When I got there, they said he should have requested to sit up front with the seats were wider and closer to the bathroom, obviously not everyone who works for the airlines know their planes but it still worked out okay.

My daughter Lisa was my companion on the trip, who was willing to sacrifice two weeks away from her son and husband to help me out. I could not have asked for a better person to come with me. She took great care of me and thanks to her organization skills and few years of high school Spanish, she was invaluable. Even though most of the people spoke English, she was helping the staff and the other patients learning each other's language. Her organizational skills came in handy for transition to our home care program, to make sure that we followed all the rules and have everything we need when we got back. There is not enough ways to thank her for all that she did for me.

Our driver whose name was Jesus, took us from the airport to the clinic in Tijuana, and was a great guy and a great tour guide. When we first pulled up in front of the clinic, our first reaction was what did we do. The building was nice, but the neighborhood looked a little questionable. All the buildings were right next to each other with no space between adjacent buildings and where there were no buildings was basically a cement border with a wire fence that was filled with garbage and weeds. It was right across the street from the ocean which they are presently fixing up. Because they don't have a disability act there, it made my stay a little more difficult, but with the help of the staff and other patients and their companions, I was able to get from one floor to another which required going up about 45° inclines and they were also slippery, but no one got injured and it was entertaining watching two or three people play slip and slide.

Our concerns about the clinic location were quickly dispelled when we met some of the other patients there, who some of have remarkable results in the short time that they were there.

On the first day it took about four hours to fill out the registration and complete medical history, I have never seen such a comprehensive medical history before, this was followed by an extremely comprehensive examination by three doctors which lasted about two hours each and they went over all the questions on the health history to, they didn't miss a thing and addressed everything and treated before even talking about the cancer. Based on the information that they gathered and the type of cancer I have and the aggressiveness of this type of cancer, they came up with the treatment plan which was pretty much all day long for everyday I was out there

Most of my treatment time was spent with IV therapy, which included a four hour drip of vitamin C and Selenium and a one hour drip of Aloe which were designed to improve my immune system so it was easier to fight the cancer cells, the other IV therapy was called POLY MVA and was given at a stronger dose, which is designed to kill the cancer cells. I have to wait one hour between IVs, so this occupied about eight hours a day. Other treatment I had their for improving my immune system, included supplements, infrared sauna for a half hour per day,lymphatic stimulation to make sure there is no blockage in my lymphatic system, and ozone therapy, which was given through the IV port to hyper oxygenate the blood cells, drinking eight glasses of high alkalinity water. Other treatment to treat the cancer cells specifically included localized hyperemia, and a vaccine that was made from my urine which involves a shot in my butt once a week. We also do direct infrared therapy over the cancer area, two times a day for 15 minutes. We affectionately call this iguana treatment because it reminds us of a lizard in an aquarium with a heat lamp on it. The great thing about all these treatments is that there is no side effects and they don't damage normal cells, unlike chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.

Also,I am on a restricted diet, which really isn't that bad, of course I got spoiled by the chefs there because they made everything very tasty. The diet consists mainly of organic food which includes a lot of freshly made juices, vegetables, fruits, raw organic nuts, rice, beans, whitefish, salmon, the no-no's are any processed foods, sugar, caffeine, red meat. A typical breakfast includes a glass of juice, a cup of special tea, oatmeal, or something similar, organic eggs, fruit. Lunch and dinner are fairly similar, which include a salad, fruit juice, fruit, vegetables, and soup.
A small price to pay, if you want to survive.

The treatment doesn't end there, it continues with their home care program, which is pretty much the same as what I was having done their, so you can see it is pretty much a full-time job I also have weekly consults to make sure that I'm following the program and get any questions answered that I may have.

My daughter was thoroughly trained on how to do everything and has been training as many people here as possible. We are checking on having a nurse come in and help out to take some of the pressure off my daughter and wife, so they can get along with their normal life again. We are also checking out some chefs to prepare meals ahead of time which would also help out my wife quite a bit, because I know this is tough on her.

So before I can move on, I'm waiting for the next two big events in my life, which is the sale of my practice and my MRI results. Everything else is on hold until then.

Adios

el POGO

Sunday, June 6, 2010

BUENOS DIAZ AMIGOS

I am going to keep this one brief because it's been extremely busy since I got back and will get you up to date over the next few weeks, since I'm busy about 30 hours per day. Got back Memorial Day evening, would have been back earlier, but made the mistake of coming back through Arizona and because I look like a Mexican, they kept checking my green card. Quick summary. I believe it was a good move to go there for treatment. I was very impressed with the quality of care and the thoroughness of the doctors and nurses, which was like night and day from the quality of care that I received here. I literally saw some miracles from some of the other patients that were there. But since I was feeling good to begin with, I won't know until I get my MRI done on July 8 on how the treatment went. What I can tell you though, is that my skin is a lot better and am not bleeding every time I bump into something, the swelling in my legs and circulation are much better in my blood pressure has never been better. I am back on a special diet which really hasn't been that bad and is not quite as strict as ones that I have had in the past. The cooks that they had their made everything pretty tasty, and was hoping I could smuggle them back with me, but I couldn't quite stuff them into my suitcase. I am presently on a home care program, which is very similar to the treatment that I was having done down there, which takes up a good portion of the day. Again more details will follow over the next week or two.

On a sad note, two good friends of mine passed away. One of them was from my old neighborhood had passed away while I was away in Mexico. The other person was from my ball team and passed away on June 1, who had to be one of the most gracious, caring person that you could ever meet and it showed by the number of people who showed up at the funeral home.

It is going to take us a while to get used to the new routine, so things may still be a little hectic for awhile. as usual, we will eventually get it down to a science, where it becomes second nature.

That's about it for now, adios amigos.

el pogo