A Wonderful Celebration

Great Uncle Reading letters from the family!!!

Gramps Memorial Service

Our complete Family!!!

Today we said are goodbyes to Gramps and Joel really wanted to sit on his lap one last time.

Memorial Service

We will have a celebration of life service on Saturday, May 9th at 11:00 am, at Bethany Baptist Church

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made out to Bethany Baptist Church who will then send them on to two ministries close to Bill's heart.

Memorial Funds will go to benefit the ministries of COME TO HIM http://cometohim.com/ and Athletes In Action http://www.aia.com/ .

Please send all Memorial Fund gift to

Bethany Baptist Church

4545 NW Kaiser Road

Portland, Oregon 97229

Thank you all for your prayers, love and concern.

Becky

Heaven

Gramps is in heaven now, he went to be with the Lord this afternoon at 4:10pm and is now dancing around in his beautiful garden in heaven. Thank you everyone for all the love and support you've shown our family through this process. ~Megan

As we prayed as a family, by Gramp's side Joel was very quiet and then as my Dad (John) was in the middle of the prayer Joel started yelling AMEN:o) What a blessing!!!

Tentatively the service will be Sat. May 9th, 11am at Bethany Baptist Church.

Comfort

We are just trying to keep him as comfortable as possible now.

As we near the finals hours, the nurse told us that Gramps no longer needs his oxygen tank so at 7pm tonight we shut it off. Mom (Becky), Dad (John) and Gram will all be spending the night together tonight and caring for Gramps as we near the time for him to go to heaven.

Pain

It hurts Gramps to even hold his hand now. Today was very hard one for Grandma and tonight when I visited (Megan) I wish to forget. It isn't my Gramps anymore............................

No one knows for certain what exactly is going on, but we seem to be on a downward slope right now with Gramps. His pain seems to have increased, so we continue to pray for comfort and peace.

Who are you?

Gramps will still try and open his eyes, but doesn't seem to know who anyone is. He doesn't try and talk really. And yesterday he wanted to know what Ward at the Hospital he was in........even though he is still at home with Grandma.

Just Waiting

Gramps is just waiting on the Lord. I (John) am able to talk to him but last night, but he now was wondering who I was............Becky is admitting to being very tired, she has been doing night duty to help Grace for the last few weeks.

In addition, our little dog Barkley became paralyzed suddenly and we had to euthanize him. Thank you for praying with us! John

Gramps Rubber Chicken

A Dear Old Family Friend
The One and Only Rubber Chicken

The Chicken's Toes


After dinner tonight Joel and I (Megan) went to see Gramps. His eyes would only peek open for a split second to see who was there and then were closed again. Joel insisted that Gramps kiss his hand and kept putting it on his mouth which Gramps responded to and kissed for him. His words are very hard to understand when he tries to talk now. For the most part he just wants to sleep and be left alone, with the occasional drinks of orange juice here and there. He goes about 20-30 seconds now without breathing. His heart seems to be beating strong, 88 beats per min.

A Brighter Day

Yesterday, Joel and I (John) went over to see Bill. He perked right up when he heard Joel. We conversed off and on for 2 hours. I showed him a plant and he told me a name, in addition to that he also gave planting instructions. When I showed him tulips he wanted to touch them.

He also wanted to know what sort of cart he was on and if he could he go outside. I assured him that we could crash through the slider door if he really wanted a ride. Becky and I (John) changed the location of the bed so he can look out onto the patio and see some of the garden. His heart rate is strong and steady today. He slept very soundly after we left.

Sleepy Gramps!!!

Tonight we couldn't get Gramps to open his eyes at all, he continues to breath irregularly. But, my kisses and Joel's voice didn't work to get his eyes to pop open.

Breathing....

Gramps breathes are very shallow and sometimes he skips some. Although this morning at about 7:30 he woke up and was asking for FUEL, I need fuel. Apparently he was hungrey, he drank a whole bunch of orange juice which he has been living off of and has been asleep off and on most of the day.

Final Hours or Days

Gramps nurse told us today that it could be 24hrs or a couple days. As he is beginning to choke and even coughs stuff up every once in awhile. (sorry, if that sounds gross)

I (Megan) had the magic kiss again tonight I kiss him on the forehead tonight and he was awake for I think what was about an hour. He shared with us that he talked to Ralph Stronach again today in Heaven.

Also, a few days ago his Mom and Grandma's Mom......he saw them talking about how they were amazed how long they (Bill and Grace) had been happily married to each other.

Gramps, has been eating about one meal a day for the last few days and now it's been 24hrs or so since he has eaten. As for liquid we have to just squeeze some in with a sponge and that's only if he opens his mouth.

Non Responsive

Gramps, pops his eyes open every once and awhile....but doesn't seem to be responsive any longer. This went on the entire day until.

5pm: On my way home Joel and I (Megan) stopped by to say Hi. Gramps popped his eyes open and said HI to Joel and gave him his normal greeting, like there was nothing wrong with him. It was unbelievable, then his eyes started closing and he was asleep again.

Easter Lunch

We had lunch together as Grandpa rested peacefully today, is breaths seem to be getting very shallow now as we reach these final days.

Just a HI or I Love You...

Joel and I (Megan) went to spend the evening with Grandma and Grandpa last night. It was very hard on me, he said Hi and was asleep again and I love you when I woke him to say goodbye, but no stories were told this visit as he barely keeps his I open anymore. Our voices are too loud and he asks for the noises to be turned off. (he thinks the TV's on. He also is becoming very hard to wake up to even get him to eat.

A Little Hard To Swallow

Here is the site http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/tc/care-at-the-end-of-life-the-dying-process

This is hard to send, but it let me know where we are at right now with Dad. You might read through this. I am taking a copy to Mom/Grandma tonight. He slept through the night and she had a hard time waking him to go to the bathroom just once last night. She got him awake for some breakfast and then he was back asleep again. I think we are very near the end. I Love you all and thank you for loving me back. Becky/Mom.

What to say....

What to say at this point.........Dad's left hand is slightly swollen and his arm joints are sore on that left side. He has little or no movement on that side at this time. Dad rests most of the day sleeping about 20 hours a day. But when he is awake it's the same old Dad with jokes and stories to tell. I (becky) am spending nights with Mom and Dad to give a little help and the knowledge for Mom that someone else is there if she needs help in the middle of the night.

A big thank you to each of you for your thoughts, concerns and as always we continue to covet your prayers!

Slide Shows

Upon Grandpa's request today was the day we were all invited over to watch old slides. Joel sat and watched pretty contently on Grandma Grace's lap for part of the time.

A Long Night

My Grandma and Grandpa didn't get much sleep last night. Grandpa was waking Grandma lots and at about 5 am just wanted Grandma to stay by his side and hold him. Grandma was unsure of what was to come in the next few hours, but for now he is awake and eating breakfast. Joel and I (Megan) are off to check in on him and see how things are going. We'll send your love and thanks for all the support.

A Day of Changes

Wednesday was a day of change. As Rian arrived to help me move Dad from his bed to his recliner, Mom (Grace) commented to him how comfortable he looked. She asked if he would like to stay in his bed for the day. He thought that would be nice to try. So, Rian and I (Becky) set about rearranging the furniture so that the bed could be in the living/family room so that he could watch television if he wanted.

The hospice nurse visited in the afternoon and Dad commented that he was having to have Grace open the door and turn on the ceiling fan sometimes. She suggested oxygen as this is a symptom of feeling like your not getting enough air in your lungs.

Today, Dad has slept most of the day. They delivered the oxygen and he says that it makes it so much easier to breath. He now feels like he is getting air into his lungs. He's still trying to make sure that we are all okay and wants to make sure that finances are in line. We continue to reassure him that we will all be fine. On the plus side, he has not lost his sense of humor and there is always a joke or some sort of dry humor in every one of his comments.

We laugh and cry and just continue to love each other as a family!!!

Yesterday, we thought we were losing him. At about 10:15 he called Mom (Grace) to come and hold him for about a half hour. He would go in and out of sleeping and being very lucid. Said he felt like he was floating and that he saw heaven. As I said this lasted about a half hour. Don't know if it was a minor stroke again or what. We all got there by 12:00 pm and spent the next 2 hours with him telling us stories of his life. In the afternoon he kept telling us that the left side of his head felt empty. ?? Becky stayed the night and he had a pretty good night only waking twice. This morning he says his head feels fine. Grandpa says he was worried that he was going to lose the use of his right side yesterday, but that side still seems to be fine.

A Rough Day

Today was a rough day as Grandpa had another stroke. We all rushed from work and home to be by his side as he told us stories non-stop and faded in and out. It was definitely scary and emotionally exhausting, but God helped us through.

Hello Family and Friends~

As many of you now this week has changed dramatically for our family. As many of you may remember Dad (Bill) was diagnosed with terminal cancer on July 18th 2008 and given six months or less to live. We began hospice at that time, but he did so well after radiation that we discontinued it the first of December.

For the last month or so I have noticed subtle changes but nothing major. Well, Tuesday morning we have to assume that he had a stroke getting out of the shower. The doctors still say it is an outcome of the cancer which I agree with since the tumor was on the right upper chest area to begin with and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. He is very weak on the left side but speech and cognition seem not to be effected.

We started up with hospice again on Thursday and have a hospital bed, wheelchair, etc.

I apologize for disrupting service last night but as I was getting Dad off to bed his left leg gave out completely. I was able to slide him down against his recliner and on to the floor but there was no way I could pick him up from there. I think I'm super woman sometimes but not this time. All is well and nothing is broken in either Dad or myself ( the Lord was gracious). Thanks to Chris Olsen and Doug, we got him up and into bed with no problem.

Please pray that he will accept this condition as he asks every day at some point won't it get better. We tell him yes when he's in heaven and then he can plant a big vegetable garden.

Pray for strength for my mom (Grace) that she will get enough rest. She has a sinus infection right now and has felt bad all week.

Pray for the rest of all of us as we work to come up with a schedule of help for her in the next week or so that will work for me (so I can continue to work some at my job), John (as he cares for Joel and helps out with Dad as he can), Rian, Emily, Megan and Doug.

Thank you all for your prayers and love. Becky Murnen