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.

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