Life...or something like it!

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a good weekend. It has been an interesting week for the Holliday home. If you want to call and talk please feel free to. If I don't answer it's because I'm with a client at work. I am back to work full time. Bri is back to school. We have our good days and bad days (or should I say moments.) Boys of Summer makes me cry when it comes on the radio.


We are signing the new lease for our new place. We will be moving on Saturday so if you're in town and would like to help two truly pathetic chicas and their even more pathetic dog feel free to stop by - pizza and beer (or in my case tequila) afterwards. We are moving less than two miles away - Bri will be less than a mile from her high school. It only adds 5 minutes to my work commute.

We consider you all family and I know this is hard on every one of you. I have Audio Rehab cds as well as September Falling and Creepside Drive so if you want a copy please email or FB your address and I will send a copy next week. I want to give everyone a great big hug from us as thank you for all the support and prayers and meals. We could not have done this without all of you.

I will send out the mailing address when we have it official. As always you can either email, FB or call...

I will be participating in the Light the Night walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Sept. so come out if you're local. If you're not local (and I'm too lazy to separate the out of state family/friends) then know that we love you.

Tonya Holliday

P.S. I have changed my Yahoo IM to t_holliday1.

News at 11...

Just a quick update for everyone who is on these lists. I know most of you know Mike passed away this past Saturday the 21st. He died in his sleep peacefully and is in a much better place.


I apologize if this is the first time you're hearing this news. I tried to call everyone I had numbers for.

Bri and I are doing ok. We are moving to a smaller house where we can keep Dakota. This may seem sudden but Bri turns 14 on the 25th of September and she wants to be settled in a new place to start with new memories for high school. She is taking it hard right now. She went back to school today. We are moving over Labor Day weekend so if you don't have any plans come help me out. Specific needs right now are trucks b/c I need to make a couple of landfill runs on Saturday and would like to get it done in one trip. I am cleaning Mike's basement which is a nightmare.

This is a generic email to everyone b/c I don't have the energy to sort out the locals versus those living out of state - disregard if you live too far away to help. We will be having a get together soon to celebrate Mike's life. He didn't want anything big but I'd like to see everyone. He will be cremated and scattered on Pikes Peak so he can blow with the wind to New Mexico (his words.) We will have a get together when Bri and I get back to Virginia so everyone can celebrate his life there too. He is going to be missed - he was loved by a lot of people. We are doing the scattering on October 3 which is the one year anniversary of his transplant. He loved you all - he is looking down on us from heaven while he's making the most beautiful music in the world with God!

If you know of someone who hasn't received the news yet please pass my telephone number on to them if they'd like to chat. I will continue to update the blog w/ new and improved news of our ongoing lives - Bri's adventures in high school and my adventures in being a single parent (which I confess scares me.) The blog site is www.hollidayfamilyinco.blogspot.com. Please feel free to stay in touch. He considered you all family and Bri and I would love to keep in touch with everyone.


Tonya Holliday

Mike

If you'd like an update on Mike please call my cell at 719/502-0172.  I don't have everyone's telephone number so please call.

Mike

As most of you know Mike was released two weeks ago into home hospice. This weekend his mind started to go and he was talking to invisible people, not knowing where he was or who was with him and such. The nurse was worried about him hurting himself, i.e. falling down, etc...


Today the nurse suggested he go into inpatient hospice b/c he was having chest pains he described like a heart attack but in the center of his chest. He agreed to inpatient to help his chest pains and breathing. Without constant oxygen he has 60% saturation. His blood pressure and his heart rate along with his tempature are all over the place - yo-yoing up and down. They say that is normal when the part of the brain controlling those bodily functions start shutting down.

Once he got to hospice today he told the nurse he was a baseball player and didn't want any fuss and he was currently in Philadelphia.

On another note Bri started high school and seems to be adjusting after her first day. My older sister is still in town but since Mike came into inpatient she is leaving in the morning. Mason still has not contacted anybody in this family so I'm not sure what is going on with him.

Thank you to everyone who has called, visited, emailed and prayed.

Update

Just a quick update b/c I realized I hadn't updated in a little while. Mike is not doing well. Last night he complained he couldn't breathe all night and he wanted to go home even though we were home. Then he wanted to go to bed and we were in bed. They are increasing his painkillers to keep him comfortable. The nurse is coming again today. I have been told several different timelines but the most accurate one is once the fungus hits the artery in his sinuses it's a direct line to his brain and it won't be long after that happens. With his confusion and disorientation I expect the fungus has started towards his brain. He is having trouble breathing and is only breathing from half of one lung still. His blood pressure two days ago was 88 over 44 and then yesterday it was 140 over 90 so it's up and down.


He cannot talk much because his throat muscles are weakening which they said to expect and he's not eating or drinking much. If the nurse has any updated information this afternoon I will send another email otherwise news at 11...

His mother, father and sister came to visit and my mom, dad and older sister came out - my older sister leaves tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who has called and emailed. The support means a lot. Thank you for all the meals, ice cream and coffee...much appreciated when I am sleep deprived and depressed.

Bri is hanging in there...she starts high school on Monday. We are doing life as it comes our way.

I know everyone wants to talk to him but he really can't talk much in person and the phone just depresses him. If you'd like to call me my cell is 719/502-0172 - if I'm able to answer I will talk to anyone who wants to talk.

Mike

Just a quick update that no one was expecting: Mike is at home in hospice care. The doctor said to us last week that we were between a rock and a hard place because the fungus infection was feeding off the steroids given for the GVHD so it was a no win situation. After finding brain matter on the optical nerve and the infection worsening in the sinus cavities Mike decided he was done trying to run a race with no finish line so he chose to come home to die with dignity. He came home today. He is on oxygen and lots of painkillers. The doctors give it a week before the fingus moves into his brain via his artery in his sinus cavity.


His mom and dad are coming this week. He is accepting visitors but please call first. We do not have a home # but I've taken the week off to be home. My cell is 719/502-0172. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news.