Memorial Saturday October 11th

The memorial service for Anno will be on Saturday, October 11th at 3:00pm. It will be at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church at 4805 NE 45th St, Seattle, WA 98105.

Directions to St. Stephen's

Map to St. Stephen's

In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates memorial gifts in her name to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, Swedish Cancer Institute or Seattle Children's Hospital.

Online 0bituary in NWSource (in print Seattle Times Saturday 10/4 and Sunday 10/5)

Thank you for the many emails, cards, and calls we have received from those who appreciated Mom over the years.

Jan, John, Sarah and Jeff

Anno Peaceful Passing

At 1:20 a.m., Mom passed away peacefully. She had been in some discomfort and had been given morphine earlier in the evening. She died very peacefully in her sleep with Sarah holding her hand.

All of her body systems had been heavily taxed for almost two weeks fighting the C. Diff. and colitis. She had let us know that she was ready to die.

She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and friend to many. She will be missed but we celebrate her life and all that she was and did.

In the next day or so we will be making plans for a memorial service and will post plans here and be contacting people in as many ways as possible.

Thanks again for your prayers. We are grateful that she was able to communicate with us til the end and that she died peacefully. We imagine she is golfing and playing bridge waiting for us to join her.

Daughters Jan and Sarah

Very Ill Many Systems

Mom has really been struggling with many problems. Her bowel is barely functioning. Her protein levels are low. Her breathing is difficult. She has trouble talking though she is following everything. She is uncomfortable being in bed so long.

There is nothing that by itself is irreversible. However, happening all together in an 80-year-old is difficult.

Daughter Jan

Out of ICU

Mom had a great night according to Sarah who was on a cot in the ICU with her. She took her medicine orally at 3am and was asking a lot of questions. We know she's back when she starts telling us who should bring what and asking when we are going to get our hair taken care of!

Sarah says she had a session with the physical therapist this afternoon, moving arms and legs which she couldn't do at all a couple days ago. She worked with the swallow therapist this morning and is able to eat soft foods like applesauce and yoghurt (she sent someone out for pina colada).

The hospitalist said that the spinal fluid was clear, not cloudy, so they think it is unlikely there is lymphoma there though we will have to wait for all the cultures to be sure.

This afternoon, Mom was doing so well they kicked her out of ICU and back to the 12th floor. She has a long, hard rehabilitation ahead of her and still needs to lick serious infections but we are so thankful that she is doing so well!

Many thanks for your prayers which seem to have been answered!

Daughter Jan

Spinal Tap Done; Moving to ICU

The spinal tap was completed successfully today. It will take at least a day to get results from the lab on the fluid.

Mom was MUCH more lucid this morning and able to communicate. She seems to tire as the day goes on and communication becomes more difficult. Her friend Phyllis came buy with a photo of the two of them in front of a South American waterfall and Mom was able to say the name of it immediately.

John, Sarah and Barb were here today when the doctors came in. They are concerned that with the effort she is making to breathe and the number of breaths she takes per minute (about twice what a healthy person does) she may be wearing herself out. They would like to have her blood gasses assessed periodically to make sure there is not a CO2 build-up in the blood. They would also like to have her transferred to Intensive Care where she will be monitored more closely by the nursing staff.

Mom was able to take her liquid medicine for the C. Diff. and colitis mixed in applesauce. She is not to have any liquids by mouth as her swallow reflex has slowed down so much that there is a risk she would aspirate liquid. But we are excited that she was able to swallow applesauce and keep it down! This will avoid less pleasant ways of getting the medicine into the GI system!

Mom will be transferred to ICU this evening. Then we will wait for what the tests of the spinal fluid might show.

Daughter Jan

New Tests

Mom continues to baffle the doctors. Even though the CT scan was normal, they said sometimes it takes a while for the effects of a stroke to be manifest. So this afternoon they did an MRI to see if that would explain her difficulty communicating and give us some ideas of prognosis. The MRI came back normal!

Tomorrow they will do a spinal tap. The brain is bathed in spinal fluid and they will be checking to see if the lymphoma is in the spinal fluid or if there is some infection there.

Meanwhile, her blood counts are good. The colitis and C Diff seem to be responding to antibiotics though it is difficult to get them into the GI tract as she isn't swallowing well. She hasn't had a fever in some days and she is not retaining fluid. She has a blood clot in her leg which they are treating and watching. She is on IV nutrition as she has not been able to eat for some days. We hope this will give her the building blocks to fight off whatever bad stuff there is.

Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Daughter Jan

Update

I just talked to Jeff who is down at the hospital with Mom. He had just talked with the doctor. She had an episode this morning that they thought might be a small stroke. A CT scan was clear however so it may have been that she passed out due to her overall weakness.

Her white and red blood counts are good now and her abdominal swelling somewhat reduced indicating that the infection may be improving.

Mom continues to be gravely ill. Sarah is coming down from Calgary this afternoon.

Daughter Jan

Test Results Coming In

Mom did test positive for a bad infection of the GI tract from a bacterium called Clostridium difficile, often simply called C. diff or C. difficile. It flares up when people are taking antibiotics!

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/DS00736

As the name implies, it is difficult to get rid of. Mom has been under treatment for a couple days now and things seem to be a little better. There is swelling of the gut which makes breathing labored and talking difficult.

The bone marrow biopsy results are coming in. So far, they are not finding lymphoma which is great news. There are more cultures still being developed so we are not out of the woods there.

Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Daughter Jan

September Back in Hospital

Mom's Aug 26th PET Scan was great. However she has recently been plagued with 101 to 103 fevers and other symptoms that have her back in the hospital to try and find out if a bacteria or something is going on. All the antibiotics we fear are taking a toll on her gastric system. A bone marrow biopsy is next step. She is very frustrated by these ailments that keep her from progressing.

Daughter Sarah

Summer

Mom has had a very busy summer with her grandson John Kirkpatrick's wedding at the family cabin on Vashon and birthday parties for herself, her 16 year old grandson and her 11 year old granddaughter at the cabin. Anno is feeling comfortable driving, she is golfing tomorrow and her hair and eyelashes are growing back in! She is making plans for visiting folks and flying so the game old girl is going again. Her only issue right now is that her computer got sick and is being fixed so she feels a little out of sorts with out her command center! Another pet scan is scheduled for Aug 26th to chart her progress.
Thank you all