DCIN Helping FD People

March 3, 2012--Patricia's husband and Kelly's father Robert died this morning at 10:40 am Central time.

DCIN and all of its friends send their most sincere sympathies to all who loved Robert, especially Patricia and Kelly. Robert was such a large part of Patricia's life. I seldom heard the name Patricia without also hearing the name Robert.

Death is nothing at all.

I have only slipped away to the next room.

I am I and you are you.

Whatever we were to each other,

That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.

Speak to me in the easy way

which you always used.

Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed

at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word

that it always was.

Let it be spoken without effect.

Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same that it ever was.

There is absolute unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind

because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you.

For an interval.

Somewhere. Very near.

Just around the corner.

All is well.

Henry Scott Holland

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February 13, 2012--DCIN still needs to raise $350 to satisfy DCIN's $1,000 pledge to Pat and Robert.

Pat's February 10 update is below.

Robert"s surgery went great, the doctor's said it was the best possible outcome for him. They removed what little infection they found, removed some of the packing in the sinus cavity and removed the bloodclots that were on the back of his throat. He can now breathe more easily and is able to swallow and not feel like he's drowning. They were able to save his eye and it looks like his sight will eventually return to pretty much his normal vision. I think he was more concerned about his eye than anything else. I'm not sure he even realized how close he came to death. If not for the first surgeon at Arlington Memorial, he might not have made it. All the doctors at UT Southwestern Zale Lipshy have worked so hard to save him and will continue to follow him at their clinic after he is discharged. We're hopeful that will happen within the next few days. When he does leave, he will not be able to go home, he will have to go to Kelly's house. We have some mold issues in our home and he doesn't need to go back to that. As money allows, we will get someone in to fix the problems. I don't know when that will happen, but we will work on it.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, I have no doubt that they made the difference. He still has a long road ahead of him and I would lilke to request continued prayers please. He still must fight the MDS with chemo treatments every month, but we will fight together and together, with God's help, we will win.

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February 6, 2012--The latest updates from Patricia.

January 31, 2012. Robert has been very sick the past few days. His left eye began swelling last Thursday. At first the doctor thought it was a simple sinus infection, but medication didn't help. An eye specialist was called in and she said he had an infection on his cornea. He was started on a different medication, but he was stilll having problems. She called in an ENT and they did a third CT scan. He suggested doing surgery to decompress the sinus's. About midnight last night, he did the surgery. At 3:00 AM, he came out and told Kelly and me that he had misjudged the situation. He couldn't see it on the scan, but Robert has invasive fungal sinusitis. This is a rare disease with a high mortality rate. He said he had never seen this before, so he got him transferred to a hospital in Dallas with more experienced doctors. Kelly and I followed the ambulance and that's where we've been all night and all day today. Robert is in ICU and they will be doing more surgery, maybe tonight. He's very confused and agitated, I'm scared and worried. I'm praying hard and I'm asking everyone to please do the same. I want him home and healthy.

February 2, 2012. He will be going back into surgery tomorrow, just to make sure there hasn't been any new growth of the fungus. I talked with the doctor tonight and he said he's a bit concerned with the amount of drainage from Robert's nose. Since he was operating pretty close to the brain yesterday, he wants to make sure there's no leakage of brain fluid.

Kelly and I had a long night last night in the ICU waiting room. I haven't slept in my own bed since January 25th, I'm worried, scared and I can't think clearly. It breaks my heart to see Robert and know how much he's hurting, but unable to do anything to help him.

Please keep the prayers coming.

Kelly called me to see whether DCIN could send Patricia's two diabetic cats to a foster home for care. DCIN found a short-term (thank you Heather) and long-term foster home (thank you Dale) for the cats, as well as people in the Dallas area and OK who would transport. However, nothing has yet happened. From Kelly.

February 3, 2012. Things have been happening so fast and furious with the multiple surgeries my dad has been going through, he is in his 3rd surgery right now, that we just haven't had a chance to try and get the cats to someone for transport. It has been late at night when I have been going over there. I leave out lots of food and they get their shots once a day. So far this seems to be working ok. They have been doing fine. If the situation changes I will let you know. We greatly appreciate all the work everyone has done to arrange a transport. We have just been completely consumed with the whole situation. I will keep you updated on the latest.

DCIN continues to request donations to fulfill its pledge to Patricia and Robert of $1,000 to help ease the situation in any way it could. I describe the way the money is helping in the January 27 post below. If you can help with a donation, please go through the above chip-in. Prayers are always welcome.

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January 27, 2012--Here's the latest news I have on Robert, from Kelly, Patricia and Robert's daughter:

This week has been very stressful. My Dad is back in the hospital because he was having extreme confusion, vomiting, and shaking cause he felt cold. It turned out to be very high blood sugar of 988. His blood sugar has finally come down but he is still very weak and not feeling well. He will probably be in the hospital until Monday. I have been going out to Arlington twice a day to help my Mom out so she can stay at the hospital with him. I even took today off so that I could come out here to help this morning.

This is how Patricia and I have agreed to use DCIN's $1,000 assistance grant. Kelly is the only one Patricia trusts to care for their ~40 rescue cats without supervision. Kelly, who has a family of her own, works an hourly part-time job. She is reducing her hours at work to help her parents. The DCIN grant will be used to replace her lost wages and to help pay for the food that she buys to make meals for her parents. I will send $200/week, meaning DCIN will provide coverage for five weeks, and maybe more if the chip-in exceeds $1,000.

I feel good about this arrangement.Please help with the chip-in if you can. Prayers, of course, are every welcome.



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January 6, 2012--DCIN's mission is to help diabetic cats and their people. I purposely set that mission up because I knew that people who need help with their diabetic cats often need help themselves. But at the time I established that mission, I never envisioned a situation like the one that Pat and Robert are now in.

Pat and Robert are long-time friends of diabetic cats. They run a sanctuary at their home for more than 40 cats, mostly special-needs cats including on occasion diabetic cats. Pat and Robert have helped and saved many cats through the Feline Diabetes Message Board (FDMB). I couldn't start to tell you the stories of all those cats because Pat (Patricia and Gang on the FDMB) preceded me on the FDMB and I have problems with my memory. Pat and Robert have helped when nearby diabetic cats, like Phoebe, Slappy, and Garland, have needed emergency help. Pat and Robert also adopted Pauline, a CRF cat listed on the FDMB that was facing death, and loved and cared for her until she passed several months later.(You have to be a member of the FDMB to see some of these links.)

Patti (left) handing Pauline off to Pat and Robert

Now Pat and Robert, members of the DCIN family, need our help. Pat has posted twice on the FDMB about her husband's ill health. Here and here. Robert was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which is basically pre-leukemia. He started on week-long chemotherapy during Christmas week. He will have to take these chemo treatments for 1 week every month for the next 6-12 months. Pat wrote:

He is worried and scared and so am I.

That statement alone broke my heart. Some of you know that my husband Jim went through a difficult time with his health a few years back. I know the heartbreak that Pat is feeling. I know how difficult it is to care for someone that needs intensive care.

Robert is now home. He has dietary and activity restrictions, including that he cannot help care for the cats.

DCIN pledged $1,000 to help Pat and Robert with this situation. I offered suggestions, such as hiring a private duty aide so that Pat could get good sleep. Pat and Robert accepted my offer, and came up with a unique way to use those funds. I will tell you about it as soon as we have the logistics worked out. In the meanwhile, DCIN needs to raise the $1,000 it pledged for this purpose. If we raise more than $1,000, that will also go to help Pat and Robert. Here is the chip-in. There is no goal stated on this chip-in.

If you can send prayers and good wishes, those are greatly needed. If you also can donate a bit, that is great!!