Westover, Russ

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Thanks.

Cory & Cheryl. 

Russ's funeral will be held at the Knox United Church - Located on Church Street on Wednesday August 20th at 2:00 and a gathering will follow out at the Little Beaver Ski Hill Park ( Maps will

Mom and I goto the funeral home tomorrow at 10:30 to sign the papers to have Dad cremated.

Dad passed away tonight at 10:00 - Mom is having a hard time....but she will be ok. 

Feel free to call to have a chat - 807-274-7005

Russ says to say....Paul Peltier....Where the hell are you.  ....Ian and Russ are here talking about him..and Ian says his ears should be burning.....he.he....says Russ.

Today was a tough day. Russ got up around noon today and was not too interested in eating anything.

Russ is now on oxygen at the lake. We are still giving him his 3 injections daily of an anti-nausia drug. He has to use his walker 100% of the time now, but it keeps him from falling on his ass.

We took Russ into the hospital on Sunday night.  He was throwing up all weekend.  He had blood tests done and his white cells are high - indicating that he has some type of infection going on.

Russ went in for his chemo assessment today and his weight is down due to his lack of eating. They are putting his next treatment on hold until he can bring his weight up.

Russ had a little setback last week and was pretty sick from the chemo.  He has been throwing up quite a bit, but I think it has now passed. He has been starting to slowly eat again.

Sorry for the delay, been crazy here. Russ has just finished his first round of chemo since his radiation. He is down in his weight (145 Ibs) and has lost his appetite.

Russ just got his first round of radiation today as he was able to get in on a canceled appt. He will now be taking 16 rounds of radiation for his back.

Russ has now just received his 4th round of chemo and is doing well. He is eating like a horse in the mornings. We met with the spine surgeon last Thursday and he reviewed Russ's catscan. 

Russ went in today for assessment. This will be his 3rd round of chemo.  We have a Dr.s appointment this Thursday in Winnipeg to see if he will be getting Radiation to his vertibrais.

Russ has just finished his 2nd round of chemo and is doing good. His back is not hurting as much, and he is able to get up and sit at the table, and dry the dishes.

Russ finally got rid of the hiccups and is doing good.

Russ got his chemo yesterday and is doing good.  Dr.

Still waiting for chemo - it should be next Tuesday after his Monday assessment. Russ is just getting over a cold and I think the bastard gave it to me.

We are still waiting for the date to be set for Russ to start chemo again. He got the results back from the catscan and they seem to show the same thing as the pet scan results.

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Been crazy here since we got back from Winnipeg.  Mom and Dad are in Florida right now for a week.  They decided to head down for a quick trip before Russ starts

We just got an appointment for Russ,s \pet Scan today-- Wed Jan 30th at \health Science Center in  Winnipeg.  \our telehealth with Dr Wong went about what we expected.  He paints a picture of do

Christmas was great and just finished a weeks holidays. We are having a video conference with Dr. Wong tomorrow and we just had a phone call tonight that Dr.

Sorry for the delay in updates.....been crazy with all the running before Christmas.

Back from Vegas and broke but we had a good time. Russ played craps and won more than he lost. Mom and I lost alot on the slot machines but did quite a bit of shopping in the Bass Pro store.

We are ready for takeoff....Russ got a haircut and his wallet is full.

Russ is getting anxious for the Vegas trip this weekend. I think he might try to bet the cabin in a craps tournament but I will have to keep my eye on him.

Just got back from Winnipeg and all went well. Russ got the results back from the second results of the liver biopsy. It was negative for cancer.

Russ is now 184 pounds and is now starting to watch what he eats as I have given him the new nickname, "Tubby"  His hair is slowly starting to come back and it looks like it will be blac

Russ is now finished going to the chemo ward for Monday assessments.

Russ is doing great, he got his central line flushed in Emo today. We went and hauled a load of gravel in the truck once he got home.

Had a phone call from Mom today and she was very mad.

Russ is doing good. He gets his 4th nupogen injection tonight and has had no problems with side effects.

Russ is now disconnected from chemo......the chemo rounds are now finished! He has turned a little red tonight..but nothing out of the ordinary after a round of chemo.

He is still eating like a horse and mowed the lawn the other day. I even had him haul a load of fire wood with me on the weekend.

Russ got his tooth fixed and is doing good. He goes in for assessment today and we are crossing our fingers that he will be good to go ....this will be the last round of chemo for Russ.

Russ is back on the path...they gave him Vitiman K to lower his INR and after 48hrs he stopped pissing blood.  When they took his INR last week they said it was so high that it could not be measur

At 7:00 last night Russ had blood in his urine. Mom took him into emergency this morning and they are going to run blood tests to see what is going on.

Russ got his blood results back from yesterday, and round 3 is a go! He is still feeling good and will now be over the hump!

Russ is doing good and we have him working on the new deck. He is screwing the last half of the screws into the boards. He goes in for the 3rd round of chemo on Tuesday next week.

We had Russ playing Texas Hold'em last night with our neighbors from Chicago. We are almost done the new deck on the front of the cabin....going to be a pretty nice view.

Russ and his sister (Auntie Jean) are coming out to the lake today. She is staying with us until Sunday. It should be a good weekend with lost of B.S. flying around.

Russ did some weed eating with the electric trimmer today and is feeling good. He also took the clippers and did a little tree clipping.

Russ is now back on chemo as of yesterday and is doing good.

We just got back from Winnipeg with good news. Dr.

Russ is doing good and his incision is starting to heal up. We are off to Winnipeg on Monday and Tuesday for his checkup.

Russ is at the lake this weekend and is doing good. His incision is leaking a bit...but we are on him steady about trying to take it easy.

Russ got his blood results back yesterday and his INR (blood clotting time) is 5.0 (Very Thin!) He is now off of the blood thinner medication for a few days and we are hoping that his Dr.

Russ is doing good. He is healing up and has been sleeping good. His Dr. will be visiting him on Thursday and will be giving him the go or no go to goto the lake this weekend.

Russ got this blood work back this morning and his INR is still low (blood is too thick) They are talking about waiting another day and checking his blood again in the morning.

Russ is doing good and he ate another huge breakfast this morning.

Russ ate a big breakfast today, french toast and fresh fruit, hot chocolate and a muffin.

Russ is doing great!

Russ is doing great and more tubes are being removed each day. They gave him a bag of blood around 1:00 last night and he has barely been using the pain med pump.

Just getting ready to start the night shift with Russ. He is doing really good. He got his spinal removed tonight and everything went well.  I will give another update in the morning.

Sorry for the delay in updates. Been nuts here with no wireless internet connection.

Thanks for all the comments, I will be printing them out, and bringing them up to Russ after lunch.

Up at 4:30 am - got Russ to preop. for 5:30. Did all the dam paperwork then went bedside to watch and stay with him while waiting for his turn.

Russ is doing good today. He got his blood results back and they were border line for the clotting time that they require for surgery.

Russ got his appointment for this coming Monday to meet with the anesthesiologist. He then is scheduled for surgery on Friday of next week.

We got invited to go to a fish fry across the lake. We got picked up and it was a pretty nice night. Russ had a really good time.

Russ is doing good, here is a photo. He is still gaining weight and muscle. He mowed the yard again today. We are still waiting for Winnipeg to call with a surgery date.

We had Turkey yesterday for supper and Russ was very happy. He really likes turkey soup the next day. We went to the dump last night and got rid of the trash.

Russ got his blood test back and his INR is now once again steady at 2.3 (a little thin but that where they want it) Mom called Winnipeg and still no date yet for his surgery.

Russ got to see alot of the lake people yesterday. We went out for supper across the lake and the weather here is beautiful.

Russ is doing good and mowed the lawn today. He is now 169 pounds and still climbing. His hair is coming back and he is starting to look normal.

Russ got his PET scan done on Tuesday at 12:30 and we learned that he was put into a study group for Manitoba.

Russ is now able to walk up the stairs from the basement. He drove the van to his sisters yesterday (3 blocks away). He also went on his first outing to Safeway with Mom on Friday.

Russ and I just finished raking the front lawn. He got his root canal done today.

Russ is doing good and we are at the lake this weekend. He was walking outside today and filled up the bird feeder.

Russ had a good weekend at the lake. He fell down just before we left, and both Mom and I had to help him back up. He looked like a turtle on his back with his chicken legs wiggling in the air.

Russ has been doing good at the lake. We had to lay down the law and make sure he wasn't going to do something stupid.

Sorry for the delay in updates - been back in emerg and trying to get my blood pressure and pulse under control. They have cut back on one pill, and added another.

Russ is holding at 140Ibs and got to see the dentist this morning. It was 17 stairs to get into the office and we had to drag him up the last 4 steps.

Russ is doing pretty good! I had to read him the riot act after he got a little goofy the other night and tried to walk with a cane.

Russ is eating like a machine. He had lots of fruit and even a turkey sandwich for lunch. Comcare came and buffed and polished Russ today. We weighed him and he is 138Ibs - and on the climb.

Russ has now been home 1day and is doing well. He is eating alot now and we just need to get the weight back on him.

Russ was weighed tonight, and he was 61.5 kg = 135.6Ibs  He has lost quite a bit of weight since March 11. He was 178Ibs while he was on i.v.

Russ did 2 laps around the ward tonight with Mom. He is still getting stronger every day!

Russ did one full lap around the ward with his walker. He had alot to eat today.  He is still having his 3 power shakes along with alot of fresh fruit.

Russ ate a full breakfast today with hot cereal. A whole bowl of fresh fruit and a hot chocolate. Physio came and got him around 10:30 and took him down in the wheel chair.

Russ is doing good. He is gaining ground every day now. He is walking twice as far as he was yesterday. He ate 6 bites of roast turkey and half a mug of cream of chicken soup + his power shake.

Sorry for the delay in the updates. We have been very busy with Russ over the past few days. He has been up at least 5 times per/day now.

Russ had a big breakfast today. Coffee, bowl of fruit and a banana. Mom came up today since her cold, and just stayed at the foot of the bed and didn't get to close.

Russ ate about the same today, and has been really getting alot of sleep. He has bed sores, and we are going to keep an eye on them over the next few days. We don't want them to get infected.

Russ tried to goto the bathroom by himself last night, and fell.

After entering the building today, and looking in his room...I wanted to just cry. There at the base of his bed was a shitty diaper on the floor....and it was there since midnight last night!

Today the infectious disease control person for Riverside Health Care has now posted new signs and the glove and gowns are now back in effect.

Today the sign that we made was taken down, and a new hand scribbled note that read, (STRICT HAND WASHING ONLY!) was on the door.

- Russ's day can be best described as being like the gong show once again.

What a day!

9:00 - Deslimed russ and saw Dr. Shack this morning. He said that his white count was at 20 and we didn't have to suit up and wear the stuff anymore.

9:00 - Went to Deslime russ and he had already drank a glass of apple juice before I got there. He asked if i had John C.'s email (chemosaubie#2) I told him mom would read it to him later.

9:00 - Deslimed russ...I got lots of crust out of his eyes..and the first thing he asked was, did chemosaubie #2 reply to my email?

Today was a better Day for Russ...He kept his 2nd milk shake down and we deslimed him again around 630 ...and he got another hit of antinausia drugs in him...they make him sleep.

We are just on our way up to go and de-slime Russ's throat and brush his teeth. Then we are off to the lake for a few hours. Wong has taken a leave of absense. The new Dr.

 22 days...and all he has had today is small sip of water. Still no one has showed up today to evaluate about TPN (nutrients thru central line).

We just got off the phone with Dr. Shack. His reasonings for giving him pill form for the C.Diff is that he thinks the pill form works better on the infection.

We had our meeting with Dr. Shack today and he had indicated that Dad will be in the hospital for at least a week and that he will not be going onto his next chemo round.

We went up and saw dad last night and he looked better and had color. The have dripped 4-6 bags of liquid in him so far.

We took dad in to the hospital last night. They hooked him up to a anti nausea drip and also 2 L of liquid to get his fluids back up. He is down to 152Ibs.

Yesterday was a bad day....shitting and puking continued and mom is getting worried about him dehydrating.

 Just got off the phone with mom..she said that they got the 2nd CT scan results. It was a pretty lengthy write up from the same guy who did the report of the first CT scan.

Had supper with mom and dad last night and he seemed a bit better. He was able to eat some melon balls and he wanted coke. He goes in for round 7 this morning.

Dad got his 2nd injection for blood clots (tinzaparin) and he is not doing very good. He has been puking and diarrhea all day. Mom said his left leg is swollen and bad stomach cramps.

We just got back from Winnipeg...left here at 8am....back here at 6:30 pm...We just tried to get some chicken with rice soup in him..but he puked his guts out as soon as we got home.

We just got back from Kenora and everything went good. The old man had to drink 1.5 (1/2 gallon) of some pink shit and was able to keep it down. They catscaned him and we made it home by 5pm.

Russ is doing really good today...Mom said he ate a burger and fries last night and was helping her do the dishes this morning.

Russ went in at 8:15 for his assessment this morning. He is checked by a Dr. and then blood tests on Tuesday to find out if he goes for round 6 on Wed. At 1:00 today he meets with his family Dr.

Russ is now on the rebound....he took a full sleeping pill last night and slept good!

Russ is doing good today. He got his CEA test results back, and they are a termor marker in the blood. Before he started chemo he was at 8.9.

Round #5 is a go for chemo this morning. Russ will be receiving a new shot to boost up his hemoglobin as it was lower this time.

5th day after 4th chemo round and Russ is feeling a bit better today. He has slept non stop for most of yesterday. He had his blood test yesterday and a few of the levels were down.

Dad was admitted yesterday after his chemo. They found a level in the blood that indicated that the heart may be in distress and wanted to monitor him for the evening.

Dad went in for Chemo today. His blood levels were very close to the same as last time...so it was a go.

Mom and Dad are heading back into town today....he did some wiring yesterday and took it pretty easy. He sleeps most of the day..but is up all night.

Russ is doing good...he is now out at the lake and we are just getting ready to watch a movie.

 Chemo cycle #2 is now complete and Nutrigen will be added once again on Monday to get the blood counts up. The teleconference on Thursday was a basic meeting with Dr. Wong.

 Had blood test back and all levels are up...but white blood cells are way down from the Chemo.

Booked for surgery for 8:30 Monday morning to get the port put in.( Hoping that the machine is back up and running.) What was to follow was 3 units of blood administered on Tuesday...then Chemo on

Upon searching for medical coverage from Russ's Drug plan, we have been told that he has the cadilac plan that the Mill offered, but it does not cover the drug "Avastin" which we are