Eulogy

On behalf of Rick’s family I would like to welcome you here today. We are gathered here today to remember Rick. The definition of eulogy—a summation of a person’s life in a few words—is a difficult task, but I’ll do it in one word—gentle—Rick’s was a gentle spirit.

I have known Rick for 26 years, but I’ve learnt the most about him in the last 8 weeks. He was like a father to some, a confidante to many, and a teacher and friend to all. However, to Joey, Patty, John, Ed, and Mary, he was Ricky, their baby brother first and foremost.

Rick grew up in Syracuse and attended St. Lucy’s Academy. He studied Chemical engineering in New York, but while taking a psychology class to fulfill his elective requirements, he realized that studying the human mind presented a much more challenging task.

Rick graduated from Syracuse University with a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work which was the beginning of Rick’s career of helping others. Over the next 26 years, Rick honed his skills to perfection, selflessly helping others to the exclusion of helping himself. Rick was not motivated by financial or material gain and was more concerned about rewards on a higher plane—enlightenment and inner peace.

Rick liked discussing the wonders of the universe and the latest car models. Always reading and highly intellectual, Rick was able to communicate with everyone he met. Acutely aware of the injustices of the world Rick did his best to help those in need. He also had the ability to make everyone feel included and comfortable, a gift from his mother, Norma, with whom he had an endearing and loving relationship.

With his razor-like and quick wit, a gift from his father and Aunt Barbara, Rick was able to rapidly analyze situations as he took it all in with his sweet, soulful blue eyes. Ever the gentle and patient teacher, he hoped his students would come up with their own resolutions.

His children, Kaitlyn and Justin, brought him great joy and they will now carry the light of his life. They are endowed with the legacy of caring, love, humor, and wonder that was their father.

Rick loved loud rock music, flying, the power of the ocean and feeling the breeze in his hair. Think of him when you experience these things.

As the quote from the movie “The Outlaw Josey Wales” states “I rode with him and I got no complaints”

Good Bye

Rick passed away late Monday night.

A memorial service will be held on Friday April 17th at 5.30pm at "Christ The King" Lutheran Church, 499 Plaza Drive Vestal NY

An additional memorial service will be held at Assumption Church 812 North Salina St., Syracuse, NY on Monday April 27th at 5.30pm followed by a reception.

Monday April 13, 2009

Reposting pictures to keep them on an upper page

Easter--April 12, 2009

HAPPY EASTER--Now that I've made it to Easter, let's shoot for Memorial Day as the next target. My brother-in-law got me approved for SSI benefits which don't start for a month

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Nancy and Tina visited today along with Sh***. Nancy brought hotdogs from Heid's and Sh*** brought ham and scallopped potatoes--what a feast! (for my relatives).

Good Friday--April 10, 2009

Didn't do much again today.

Tina and Nancy called to say HI!

Do*** stopped by to say goodbye and Tom might have stopped by in the morning

Thursday April 9, 2009

Don't panic--I took a day off blogging yesterday!

Wednesday I had a visit from JP and his wife and Chris came back down with "High Plains Drifter" which we watched for 40 mins until I dozed off.

Thursday was mostly spent sleeping as my morphine drip was increased to reduce the hourly "booster" shots to relieve the breakthrough pain.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Peaceful night last night. Tina visited along with her two daughters in the morning, and Mark and his wife visited in the afternoon.

Monday April 6, 2009

Wow--it's Monday. I lasted through the weekend!

Woke up at 6AM and drank 2 glasses of water and snaafed (sp) down an orange popsicle. Had a lot of energy and spoke with my sister for almost 10 mins--is this the surge they keep talking about?

Jim visited (not sure which one!)in the afternoon

Tried out some fancy air-bed that was really uncomfortable--glad to get back in my old low-tech bed--exhausted!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

This party's getting kinda old!.

Brothers returned along with Connie and Jane. Gary came down too. Spent most of the day sleeping except for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Brother-in-law contacted two Jims and a David (old friends) for possible visits tomorrow.

Saturday April 4, 2009

Saturday brings little change and my two brothers bearing gifts of Heid's hotdogs.

Kim and Peter visited in the evening and told a lot of old family stories.

Pictures are Here!

Still here! For better or worse here are a few pictures

Thursday April 2nd, 2009

Things still the same at my end--daughter visited this afternoon. Gary, an old friend, called my brother-in-law and might visit soon.

You know it's bad when visiting relatives bring pictures of when you were younger--I'll post these tomorrow--judge for yourself!

Weds April 1st

Can't believe I'm still kicking. Back on continuous morphine 3mg/hr to control the pain.

Two friends from OPA dropped by--kids coming later--hope they're in time.

BP 160/98 HR 128

Tuesday March 31st

Quite a bit warmer today--a couple of visitors, but no change in my status.

Monday March 30th

Cold and rainy today--not much change in my status--just waiting for the moment to come.

7.00PM Daughter dropped by to say "Hi"--she brought 17 "Get Well" cards made by her schoolmates in the after-school progran.

11.11PM heart rate 122, respiration 18

Something's changed

I fell asleep at about 11.00pm Saturday night and something must have worried the nursing staff as they called my sister at 1.30am on Sunday. They noticed that I was sleeping with my eyes open and did not respond to stimuli or calls to awake. My sister called one of her brothers who lives an hours drive away--he hit the road within 10 mins.

The next few hours were spent with my sister and a good friend each caressing one of my hands and reminding me of the good times we had together.

3.01AM The nurse tells my sister they want to take me downstairs for a brain CT scan--I guess they want to know if the central computer's still working and just in "hibernate" mode.

Brother arrived at 3.18AM--went down for CT scan at 3.35AM--back in room at 3.56AM.

10.30AM results show some brain atrophy and a brain cyst along with a 6 cm growth on one of my lungs (not good!).

1.35PM Son and Daughter dropped by to say "Goodbye"

Rest of day spent in bed in and out of sleep.

I've been here nearly 4 weeks!

I've been in hospital for nearly 4 weeks!

My picture shows me on the morning of Tues March 3, 2009, when my brother-in-law picked me up and took me to the walk-in clinic. We were there almost three hours while several tests and xrays were done. The doc said we should go immediately to the ER at the local hospital as he suspected possible pancreatic cancer.

Off we went on our next adventure to the ER, where more imaging by CT showed a growth in my abdomen along with other tests showing severe infections in my blood and urine. I was admitted after two hours and my brother-in-law thought I was in such bad shape that he called my wife and children in. Shortly after getting in my room, I started throwing up a black liquid but settled down after a couple of hours. The pain in my abdomen was pretty bad and I got some strong narcotics to aleviate the pain.

On Weds, March 4th I had an ultrasound guided paracentecis during which almost 1500 mL of fluid was removed from my peritoneal cavity which contained ascites.

On Fri, March 6th I had an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (try saying that after a few beers!) in which a probe was put down my throat and into my stomach to get a look at the biliary system. My stomach looked pretty good but the probe could not be advanced past the second duodenum (I didn't know I had TWO) due to a blockage

March 11th was a liver biopsy day. CT guided needle biopsy yielded some liver tissue which was sent for pathology. Also collected was some peritoneal cavity fluid which was also analysed. the liver tissue was found to exhibit normal pathology (not cancerous) while the peritoneal fluid showed elevated levels of CA19-9.

The next ten days were spent on a mainly liquid diet while the docs tried to get me stronger by defeating the infections.

Monday March 16 was a big biopsy day. The surgeons thought I was strong enough for a laparascopic abdominal biopsy. No food by mouth for two days prior to the procedure (that sucks) but everything went well and I came out of the general anaesthetic after three hours in the recovery room ( a LOOOOONG time). Pancreas could not be reached laparascopically but a sample was obtained from the abdominal mass (4.5 cm round) and was sent for pathology and cell staining. Abdominal mass was found to contain necrotic fat tissue infiltrated by a differentiated adenocarcinoma. Immunoperoxidase stains show infiltrative tumor cells to be positive for cytokeratin 7 and cytokeratin 20 with an increased proliferation rate of 80%. All consistant with diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

March 25th--not feeling too good! No poop for 5 days, so what's going on. Docs worried about bowel blockage, so down we go for xrays on Weds and Thurs. Possibly looks like just impaction, but tough to tell.

Friday March 27th--after two days of being NPO (just ice chips) and being fed Miralax, I managed three movements today--look how happy I am!