Dad has finally lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Dad passed away Thursday afternoon, at home surrounded by loved ones. We are having a celebration of life at the house, this coming Wednesday from 4 to 8 pm. I've included the obituary information below.

After his release from the hospital late last Thursday night, we noticed a quick decline in mobility, and the nurse told me friday afternoon that she didn't think he'd have long due to the edema (fluid buildup in his body). Thank goodness many family members were able to fly out quickly, to be by his side.

Our goal was to keep him comfortable and pain free, and I think he was that, through the last several days. He still joked with everyone at times, and even towards his last hours, he maintained awareness and was able to say goodbyes with wife, all of his children, plus nephew Ron, his sister Angie and her husband Ray. It has been a very difficult time, particularly for my mom. We will need to give her a lot of support to get through this terrible loss. (on top of all this, her mom and dad's little yorkie Tutti who has been her doggie on the lap for the past several years, had to be put down today, unbelievably, but it was the right thing to do and mom had accepted that, she did not want to see the doggie suffer through the weekend)

I am still in shock and disbelief, every little while I break down because it seems like we all should be able to wake up from this terrible nightmare and find my dad smiling and asking "what's wrong with you?" We can take some comfort knowing he is at peace and his spirit is among many loved ones, and will always be with us. This was all just many many years too soon. Damn cancer.

Below is the obituary and service information. We will also be preparing some things for his service which I will share on this blog.

DAVID ARTHUR PAGE
David Arthur Page, age 71, lost a long battle with pancreatic cancer at 2:30 pm on Oct 27, surrounded by loved ones at his home in Seneca, MO. Beloved husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather and friend, he was loved and admired by all who knew him. He never had an unkind word for anyone but the occasional politician, and his sense of humor never left him. Passionately dedicated to his love of family and country, Dave was loving, patient, generous and hardworking; we can all aspire to live as well as he did.

Born Dec 28, 1939 in Los Angeles, CA, he attended Downey High School (1957), retired (manager ) from Western Electric / AT&T in 1988, worked at Disneyland until 1998, then moved to Seneca . He volunteered at the Recycling center and as a poll and census worker in Seneca. He and his wife have been active members of the Central Committee for Newton County Democrats for many years.

David is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of 51 years, Cathy, son Steven (Diane) of Lantzville, BC, Canada, daughters Mary Wassgren (Gary Swindler) of Fullerton, CA, and Lori (Jeff Armantrout) of Banning, CA, 5 grandchildren: Tyler Wassgren, Ella, Anna and Lily Page, and Samantha Armantrout; sister Angela Coulon (Ray), brother Gary (Wendy).

Many thanks to Freeman Hospital, Dr Hassan and the compassionate cancer clinic and Hospice Compassus staffs in Joplin, MO; also Dr. David Linehan and staff at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Hope Lodge St Louis.

A celebration of his life will be held at his home, 108 Oak Ridge Dr, Seneca, on Wed., Nov 2 from 4 to 8 pm; all friends welcome.

long tiring day

Got some equipment for the house, including oxygen machine...should make dad more comfortable. We think we'll need a better wheelchair than grandpa's old small wheel variety to help dad to and from the bedroom. Also most likely need a hospital bed, perhaps tomorrow, which will also be safer and easier for dad. We'll see how it goes tonight.

We'll install the new shower head tomorrow.

Dad ate okay today including a whole protein shake. Having steak, chicken, potatoes and green beans for dinner...if he eats a little of each, that will be good.

dad is weak, took a fall but okay now

Last night, after the game I came in to help dad to the bedroom but he had already made it there and mom said he was fine. Not 5 minutes later, mom screams a horrific bloodcurdling scream. Dad had fallen (somewhat of a slow slumping fall he said) on the carpet in the bedroom, when he was trying to pull back the blankets on the bed. He was okay, thank goodness again for Gary being able to lift him up.

He slept very well (probably the best sleep he's had in 12 days!) But this morning at 8, gary and I were just getting up when mom screams once again. Dad fell while trying to step down the one step into the great room though mom was right behind him supposedly helping him but she clearly wasn't holding onto him. He said he wasn't hurt, didn't think he hurt anything, but we called 911 for help lifting him up. Then while waiting for them, discovered he was bleeding a bit from the back of his head. A couple small scrapes, and you know anything on your head bleeds worse than other spots, plus he may still be low on platelets (but doesn't want anymore!). Paramedics checked him out, helped clean up the scrapes on his head, get him up and in a chair. Of course, they would have taken himto the hospital if he wanted, but he was pretty sure he's okay and the hospital is not where he wants to be.

Waiting for the nurse at 9am to do her assessment and order equipment to help around the house.

Rough morning.

just got home

It took all day to get the discharge done by the hospital, needless to say we are not happy with Freeman for that. Dad is exhausted, can't get up on his own- understandable after such a long day on top of being weak to begin with. Thank God for Gary to help him up, I could not lift him up out of the back seat of the car.

Nurse will be here in the morning; she came by tonight and dropped off some supplies butt will do the meeting and full assessment in the morning.

Dad is very tired but still wants to watch the world series game tonight, go Cardinals When in Rome). I am afraid he's overdoing it today. big day.

going home from the hospital this evening....

They finally are discharging dad from the hospital this afternoon. He will be glad to rest at home, and the dogs will be overjoyed to see him. I gave the dogs a bath yesterday so they're fluffly and smelling good for a few days, good because they'll want to be on his lap!

We'll be heading home soon and hospice folks will come over later this evening to do an assessment at home.

Oh there goes the lullaby again, another baby...

ups and downs

Yesterday dad was feeling pretty good and moving around a bit better, but last night he was sick and had a miserable night. Today he has fluid in the abdominal cavity again, not sure is they will do the paracentesis again.

Clearly he will not be going home today, maybe by Wednesday. Sure would like him to feel better, come home and rest comfortably. There's nothing comfortable in a hospital.

bad day today but he is okay and resting comfortably

Doc Hassan dad's oncologist came in today. Basically it is a very very sad day, she does not feel he should continue chemo, since it is making him so sick, unstable, electrolytes off and constantly sending him up and down. There's nothing worse than seeing someone you love suffering with all this treatment and its effects, but on the other hand, stopping treatment means giving up. Not ready to do that either, but this is dad's choice.

Today he was low on platelets so they started a platelet transfusion. I had just researched online and read that 1-2% might have a reaction. Well, less than 2 minutes into the transfusion, and we were talking with dad at the time, suddenly something was terribly wrong. His eyes were wide, he was unresponsive, and in what seemed like forever (really, forever...) but was probably closer to 10 seconds, the room was full of folks, mom crying and hearing a nurse say she can't get pressure, then hearing dad say he can't get air in, can't breathe...let's just say that was 5 minutes we never wanna relive. They mentioned moving him to ICU but then he stabilized and much better. He says he'd rather not get any more platelets. It was an awful experience for him I know. Lucky dad, he's part of the 1%, and here we'd all been thinking we're part of the 99%.

Anyway, glad he's resting comfortably now, we'll be back in the morning to see how he's doing.

He will be in the hospital at least until Monday and we met with a hospice person today who will make arrangements for everything we need at home. Their focus is to keep him pain free and as symptom free and comfortable as possible. This is a very hard thing to come to, but pain free does sound good.

will talk with doc tomorrow

Because the procedure was not done until late in the afternoon, we won't see the doc until tomorrow morning. Dad was feeling much better and awaiting a well deserved dinner when we left tonight.

procedure to drain fluids was completed

They are testing the fluid and doc should be in to talk with us today. At the rate these folks move around here, it could be hours before we here anything. Their communications have been very slow, we're very frustrated with waiting and not having any information. Good news is, dad is feeling much better!

having fluid drained

Yesterday dad's fluid buildup in his abdominal area got pretty bad. They scheduled a procedure to drain the fluid so we are awaiting that process right now. They just took him over to the ultrasound department.

still in the hospital

Dad's potassium was back to normal but still low om calcium. Not sure if he will need a stint for the kidney because they think the blockage is cleared and was caused by swelling. So he is awaiting a CT scan.

Hope he doesn't need the procedure, but would rather he not go thru another blockage like that, painful and dangerous because it caused irregular heartbeat because os high potassium. We'll see what they recommend today.

We've been spending a few hours at the hospital each day to visit with dad; sure hope he can come home and be comfortable soon.

this week was busy...dad's in the hospital and Tyler is here to visit

Blood work on Monday, they also gave dad a flu shot. Then started the new chemo on Wednesday. Gemzar and Carboplatin, plus a followup neulasta shot on Thursday which sends his white cell count up to ward off infection.

He was feeling better on Thursday into Friday, but yesterday afternoon he was having pain in his lower back, by 4 pm he knew the pain meds weren't working, so into the ER we went. By the time he was seen, his pain meds were helping, and they gave him more so he was feeling much better and really wanted to sleep. They did an ultrasound on his left arm which was swelling, no blood clot there, and a CT scan to investigate the pain, found a blockage from his left kidney. They kept him overnight, and will be putting in a stint for the blockage.

This morning, we don't have a time yet for the procedure to put in the stint but they did find that his potassium is HIGH now (was fine on Monday and Wednesday blood tests) and causing irregular heartbeat. So they are giving him something to lower his potassium now. We'll be heading back to the hospital as soon as mom is ready, we didn't get home until 2am from yesterday's trip.

Tyler is here now, Gary picked him up at the airport while we were at the hospital. Dad was happy to see him at the hospital last night.