The End of a Battle, but the War Goes On…

James Preston Tyerman passed away yesterday, Friday November 19, around noon. It was just 9 days after his 63^rd birthday.

My dad always hated hospitals so it is wonderful he didn’t spend his last moments there. He was in the living room in his wheelchair. Josh, Mom, and Aunt Linda were all there.

Roberta from Hospice came over within 5 minutes of my mom’s call to check his vitals to make sure he had gone to a better place and help with preparations.

This past week was a progressive decline… Just five days before I was here and he was still walking, with assistance. Since then he became bedridden. Friday was a rough morning - he was very weak, refused oxygen, and just couldn’t seem to get warm enough.

I am so relieved he is not suffering in such great pain anymore. It is not a way to live. We are happy he was at home, although this was a struggle for the family too.

We plan to spread his ashes over the sand dunes when the weather is better – perhaps in April. We might have an informal memorial service sooner …details to come. I am still going to put together the aforementioned "memory book."

I can’t believe this all happened in only about a year. Cancer is a terrible disease that should be a “war” we are spending energy, time, & money on, instead of these other dishonorable, futile wars. The hardest thing to watch is how cancer sucks the vitality from a person, especially someone that had so much verve.

My father’s strength will live on in us and his spirit will not be forgotten…

Back Home

Jim is home and happy, and busy! He's back to fix things around the house - he has been pretty much since we got home a week ago!

He did great on the ride from Bakersfield - I needed to stop more than he did - and a great change in weather welcomed us in Bishop.

When we were getting everything set up at home we had a bit of a misunderstanding about the nebulizer. Airway Medical told us we needed the Albuterol solution but Dr. Trang didn't prescribe that. So we went through a series of actions to get the little vials from Dwayne's to later find out he doesn't need them - that he can simply use distilled water instead, as he had in Bakersfield. LOL Goes to show you can get a prescription if you are persistent, I guess.

My dad had several doctor appointments in the past week - for his eyes with Dr. Hiroyasu and a check-up yesterday with Dr. Boo. All seems well. He's been sleeping better overall. He now weighs 172 pounds, which is normal for his height, and a wonderful change! The next doctor appointment is back in Bakersfield on Monday with Dr. Gorla (radiology) and Dr. Shambaugh (chemotherapy). Hopefully more positive change to report soon...

5-14-10 - Homeward Bound

The appointment with Dr. Trang was rescheduled from Wednesday to today at 3:00. He seems to have his own personal family issues going on...

My mom has been coordinating with Airway Medical (name?) to make sure he will have all of the necessary machines.

I will be on my way to Bakersfield with chair in truck after work. We will load up machines, nutrition, supplies, etc. to transfer the care setup to Bishop.

Tomorrow (Saturday) my dad and I will be on our way to Bishop - time for him to go home, finally! Yay!