This is Matt with what will be the last update to my mom's blog. The last 5 days have had their ups and their downs, but the immense amount of support that has been received from family and friends has been a great blessing. We have decided to post the message that Dr. Delp delivered during the memorial service and the music that was performed. This is to allow anyone who wasn't at the service the oppotunity to read Dr. Delp's sermon and to hear the beautiful music that my mom personally requested the day before she passed.

The music that was played during the service was:

There are now two options to listen to the music. If one does not work please try the other option.

"On Eagle's Wings" by the Faith Westwood Chancel Choir

#1 - http://nielsen.matt.googlepages.com/02Track2.wma

#2 - http://jacqniel.googlegroups.com/web/02%20Track%202.wma?gda=AeOULD8AAAA_D0-ZaGXYe42nEca54aLYKneSjl0vjdZh2IXdOlTMa2G1qiJ7UbTIup-M2XPURDRFYFIBJFHU3Fop3AFHVoql

"I Can Only Imagine" by Jeff Anderson (Jacque's nephew)

#1 - http://nielsen.matt.googlepages.com/04Track4.wma

#2 - http://jacqniel.googlegroups.com/web/04%20Track%204.wma?gda=eZ90qj8AAAA_D0-ZaGXYe42nEca54aLYKneSjl0vjdZh2IXdOlTMa2G1qiJ7UbTIup-M2XPURDTK--kiTiYyP29dSOhjhMRU

"A House Is Not A Home" by Chad Stoner, accompanied by Jim Mertz

#1 - http://nielsen.matt.googlepages.com/06Track6.wma

#2 - http://jacqniel.googlegroups.com/web/06%20Track%206.wma?gda=XNMrQz8AAAA_D0-ZaGXYe42nEca54aLYKneSjl0vjdZh2IXdOlTMa2G1qiJ7UbTIup-M2XPURDQUz_DI0YshZZNQ8J9d1cbT

"Come To Jesus" by Diane Muir

#1 - http://nielsen.matt.googlepages.com/08Track8.wma

#2 - http://jacqniel.googlegroups.com/web/08%20Track%208.wma?gda=W86LVT8AAAA_D0-ZaGXYe42nEca54aLYKneSjl0vjdZh2IXdOlTMa2G1qiJ7UbTIup-M2XPURDQPj41J9yimTuHU23fISnBa

We would like to thank you all for sharing your stories, memories, and how much Jacque meant.

God Bless.

Update on time

The funeral will be at 3 PM on Sunday. The memorial service is still from 6-8 PM on Saturday. All directions can be found in the post below.

Again, we would all like to thank you all for your continuous prayers and support.

A Better Place...

This is Jacque's youngest son, Greg, checking in. I'm sorry to say that my mother passed away earlier this morning. Yesterday, the doctors discovered that her liver was failing, and they gave her two to four weeks. Over the night, her breathing became labored, and the doctors called us to come in at 5:30 this morning. She was able to hear us, and we were all able to say our goodbyes to her. She went peacefully with her family around her.

Her visitation will be at the Crosby-Kunold-Burket Funeral Home from 6pm to 8pm on saturday. Directions to the funeral home are Here

Her funeral will be on sunday afternoon at Faith Westwood United Methodist Church at 3pm. Directions to the church can be found Here

We would like to thank all of you for your continuous support and many prayers as she fought the battle of her life.

Still Mark

No chemo today due to low blood counts. Dr. Silverberg's P.A. indicated it might be time to switch treatments. We will meet with Dr. Silverberg next Monday to determine the next treatment options. Jacque will be meeting with a home health care consultant tomorrow to see what is available to help her move around the house a little easier during the day. We are watching the weather for Wed. night closely: Matt and Courtney will be driving in from St. Paul, MN. after school and work. The snow forecasts make us a little nervous. Hope you had a chance to enjoy some of today's 70 degree temperatures, it was very nice outside. Thanks to all who continue to support and pray for us.

Mark again

Jacque is home from the hospital. She is tired from her stay, and it is hard for her to talk due the meds she is taking. Please, no calls or drop in visits. She is saving her strength with a goal to enjoy Thanskgiving with friends and family. Chemo tomorrow is dependent on blood tests. We thank everyone for your continued support.

Mark Checking In

This is Mark checking in for Jacque. A trip in for fluids at the cancer center turned into a hospital visit and check-in. She is not up to writing her blog today. She had two transfusions of platelets today, and had her lung drained, and is quite tired. She is not supposed to talk much, so please hold back on calls and visits. Hopefully, she will feel better soon, and be able to come home this weekend. Thanks for your continued prayers.

I have had a busy day (thanks to the steroids). Mark is on vacation until Thursday - but had cut his hunting trip short due to circumstances with the hunt that weren't panning out. He was going to go ahead and head back to work today - but when the alarm went off this morning, decided one more day would be nice. It was truly nice for me, as Mark took me to Westroads, got a wheel chair and pushed me thru DSW to find some much needed shoes! He also ran me through Younkers where I grabbed a couple sweaters. I didn't try them on, so hopefully they work! But - Mark rocks!

We ran through Arby's on the way home from shopping and I got ANOTHER sandwich - of which I AGAIN ate half! I am not sure why those are tasting so yummy - but I figure - go for it!

Carolyn drove me to my podiatrist's appointment this afternoon and I got a gold star on my healing toes, so I won't need to go back. Yea!

Tonight, my dear PEO sister Martha is bringing by supper, so Mark and I can relax this afternoon and look forward to a nice home cooked meal.

My prayer request for all my prayer warriors is that my blood counts are good on Friday, that I stay 'healthy' until then and that the procedure to drain my lung is a success. I know I will feel so much better once I can breathe. Hugs to you all.

Puffer Fish

Woke up the same way I did Saturday - more unwanted purging - so Carolyn dropped me off at the Cancer Center so I could get fluids. I would really rather not get fluids - I already feel like a puffer fish from retaining water - and the infusion, of course, adds to that 'look'. Also, while the steroids make me feel better on the whole and give me back somewhat of an appetite - it also causes me to loose my voice and makes communicating difficult, at best. Another draw back is the two and a half to three hours of sitting in a chair while being infused. If my body would let me totally relax I could take a nap - but it won't, and when I am feeling punky I really don't want to visit on the phone or watch TV, so there I sit. OK, enough complaining - the bright side is, I DO feel better. Also, I ate an entire half of a Market Fresh Sandwich from Arby's for lunch! Yea! It tasted wonderful!



Tonight is PEO, and I won't be able to attend. I would LOVE to hear tonight's program - but, since I still don't have daylight savings time figured out, I am usually in bed by 8:00 reading and many times fast asleep by 8:15 - So PEO is definitely not on my to do list, yet. . Donna and Cindy are reporting on their trip to Africa, where Cindy is establishing a women's hospital. They have received so much support for this venture - it is truly heartwarming.

Grazing

Saturday was a real blah day. Extremely sleepy, nausea (and yes a little unwanted purging). I basically slept all day - and night. I have a bit more energy today, but food still doesn't sound all that wonderful. Carolyn has volunteered to go to the store and get me some 'grazing' items to make it through today, since an all out meal makes me shiver. Thanks, Carolyn.

Diane was going to take me shoe shopping on Saturday, but my body just didn't think it was a good idea. It would have been nice to get out of the house and enjoy some bff time, but we'll just have to hope for a good day this next week. I really do need some new light weight black tennies. I know Diane would bring shoes for me to try on, but I have such a weird foot - that would be a full time job!

Greg came over this morning to do a few things around the house for me. (Mark has been on his yearly pheasant hunting trip and comes back this evening. I am anxious to hear all the details of this male bonding ritual.) Greg has a busy day today - frat house clean up day (of which he is in charge, some type of board meeting, a parent pot luck (which unfortunately I won't be able to make :-( ), and then his regular Sunday night frat meeting. I appreciated his sharing a bit of his hectic day with me.

Repairs

Dr. T will be draining my lung a week from today, if the counts are good. He said it has filled up some more - which I was pretty sure of since I was so short of breath! Thanks for your prayers.

This is the first day since Monday's treatment I haven't slept the day away. A good sign I am sure.

Furnace guy out today to fix the humidifier - only to discover the heat pump isn't working - Yikes! The cost to cover the repairs is not a pretty number. The joys of home ownership. Sigh.

Busy Lazy Day

I have had as busy, lazy day. Busy in that both the clock guy was here to pick up the clock innards (didn't take the case - which I found interesting), and exterminator came today. Two planned items. BUT I also had a plumber, as our hot water heater was out. Tomorrow the furnace guy will be here to see why our humidifier isn't working. Sigh. Referring back to the beginning - lazy, because I have basically snoozed and rested all day.

Tomorrow I see my pulmonologist to see if he can help with my breathing issues. Last I heard, he is planning on draining my lung that never fully healed from the procedure I had done earlier this year. This won't take place until next week sometime - if my blood counts allow.

Clock Getting Repaired!

Mark decided to chip in some of his birthday money to help pay for the clock - so it is going to get done! Yea!

My new cleaning guy started today - the house looks great!

I am not feeling the best today. I am running a fever - probably from the flu shot, am achy and short of breath. Hopefully tomorrow things will calm down. I know for sure it will be an early to bed night as I have basically slept all day.

Dinner, Side Effects and Presents

Dear Donna brought dinner by last night. It is so nice, after sitting in that chair getting infused to come home knowing I don't have to even THINK about cooking. We did so appreciate it.

I made it through last night with NO side effects. Not so lucky today - but nothing horrible. I have the normal husky voice caused by the steroids and mid morning my hip began to act up. I have taken my heavy duty drugs, but so far they haven't seem to do much. Who knows - maybe it would be a lot worse without them. I have been icing the hip all afternoon, and this seems to help. One good thing is my body seems to have adjusted to the pain drugs so I am not totally wiped out when I take them. However, I still don't think I would get behind the wheel of a car - I would hate to cause an accident!

I am SO disappointed. Mark's birthday is today and he is terrible at giving good ideas for presents (other than his usual socks or underwear - boring) so I had the great idea of getting his grandfather's clock repaired! Speaking with the receptionist at the repair shop, it sounded like the repairs would be within my budget. I scheduled it for today and was going to just have it running and see how long it took until either he noticed it chiming or I couldn't stand it and told him. But NO - the repairs were three times what I had expected - needs full blown revamping of the gears. So, at least for today, all he gets is the paid receipt for the house call. :-(

Yea!

I was able to have chemo! Yea! It was touch and go - my counts weren't as high as they would have liked, but they went with a lower dose (1/3 less). I am glad, as I don't want to give this beasty any room to grow! I also received my flu shot, so the next couple of days will be interesting to see what kind of side effects I will have. Thanks to Carolyn for dropping me off and picking me up!

The Brabec's and O'Connor's were over last night and we enjoyed pizza, cherry pie and conversation. I was rather whimpy, but I still enjoyed listening and laughing. I hadn't thought about daylight savings time, and by 8:00 my body was longing to go to bed. Our dear friends had no problem letting me do just that. Luckily we had started at 5:00, so we still had a nice visit.

Pizza

I missed blogging yesterday as I was nursing a bladder infection and all the side effects I get with the antibiotics. Yuck. I didn't stray far from the couch, so there wasn't much to report, anyway.

Dinner at Famous Dave's on Friday night was tasty - even though I didn't taste very much of it. By the evening my appetite is shot - but I do graze most of the night in hopes my stomach will remain full enough to get me through the night.

This evening our friends the Brabecs and O'Connors are coming over for pizza. It has been quite awhile since we have gotten together as a group so it will be great getting caught up with everyone!

Tomorrow is my Gemzar treatment, if my counts are good. I will also be getting my flu shot, which always has it's own side effects for me, so I am not looking forward to that. However, I do so want to have the chemo so we can continue to stomp on the beast. Thanks for all your prayers. Oh, and thanks for all who have written me about special prayers that have been sent up on my behalf. You will never know how much they mean to me.

Resting

I spent the day resting so I could go out to eat tonight for Mark's birthday. His actual birthday is Tuesday, but Greg has to work and I might not be feeling the best, so we are going tonight.

I went all day with no need for my breakthrough pain meds! I will have them in my purse, just in case, but so far so good!

Have a lovely weekend!

Rested

Wow, we had the best Halloween turn out we have had in years! It wasn't anything outrageous, but I would guess at least 50! With a later Daylight Savings date this year we didn't see anyone until around 7:00. My friend and former teaching partner in crime, Melanie, her hubby Jay and brother in law stopped by with their kids - SO adorable. In the confusion, Brenna, Melanie's daugher, kept saying "Where is Miss Jacque?" over and over, and I had to go show her! I told her - I know I look different tonight (no makeup, stocking cap on my head) but her eyes lit up once she realized who I was. I wish I would have been awake enough to have thought to grab my camera! She is a beautiful, sweet little girl - and is a real prayer warrior!

I was exhausted last night. I had had two nights in a row of no sleep and napping during the day just hadn't happened. I finally went to bed at 8:30 and slept all night. I felt so much better this morning! However, I am still tired and have taken little cat naps off and on today. I switched to my lesser pain pill today and so far it has been enough. Hopefully it will continue and I will adjust to it!