Dad's Obituary

Dad's obituary is in today's paper, the Kentucky Enquirer only (not the Cincinnati Enquirer). Here's the link:

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20090429/NEWS0104/904300310/-1/obits

See you next week.
Theresa

Update

Just a quick update....Dad's Funeral Mass is still going to be next Wednesday, May 6th, at 11:00am at Holy Cross Church but the gathering place afterwards has been changed. We will now be gathering at the American Legion in Latonia after the service.

Thanks and see you next week.
Love,
Theresa

Message from Mom

WHAT A WONDERFUL FAMILY..........I have been overwhelmed with all the cards, prayers and wonderful words of support from EVERYONE....As you all know, this has been a very difficult time for all of us and I have to believe that I would never have made it thru without you. I know it has been hard for all of the kids, what with making all those trips to Florida and I just want them to know that I love them dearly for it. I know Wally was overjoyed to see Rita & Joy and I'm so glad they made it. And for the brothers, I think you four being here held our family together for the time you spent with us. You made the sorrow we were feeling into something joyful to lift our spirits. Your big brother is looking down and is proud of you.

May God bless you all and we will see you next week.

Love, Bernie

Update On Dad's Funeral Mass

All,

The date for Dad's Funeral Mass had to be changed. It's now on Wednesday, May 6th, at 11:00am at Holy Cross Church in Latonia. We hadn't put the notice in the paper yet so hopefully no confusion.

Turtle and Susie are meeting with Aunt Joy tomorrow to work out the final details for the Mass. Gary and I are staying down here with Mom to wait for Dad's remains. Then we're planning on driving home sometime late next week. Turtle has reserved that house in Taylor Mill (where we used to have our Timmerding Family Christmas Party) in order to have a place large enough for friends and family to gather after the Mass.

What's really sad is Dad passed away exactly two months before Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary. We should be planning a 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration instead we're planning a Funeral Mass.....just very sad. We're now going to celebrate his life and remember all the happy times. As Uncle Dave wrote, we've spent lots of time the last few days reminiscing about the good times and I think that helps tremendously. I'm so happy all nine kids were able to be down here with both Mom and Dad and even more happy his sisters came down in March to visit and that his 4 brothers were here with us the last few days. We had a wonderful visit.

Here's the obituary we wrote with Mom to be posted in the Enquirer and in the online version of the Ky Post:


LEESBURG, FL - Walter W. Timmerding, Jr, 73, died Monday, April 20, at Cornerstone Hospice in Taveres, FL.

Walt was a 1953 graduate of Holy Cross High School in Latonia. He served in the USMC from 1953 to 1956. Walt and Bernie moved to Florida in 1997 and enjoyed many wonderful years of golf, fishing, and traveling. They would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 20th of 2009.

Survivors include his wife, Bernadine Timmerding and 9 kids, Lisa Collins, Walter W. Timmerding III (Karen), Karen Lunsford (Rick), Theresa Carson (Robert), Gary Timmerding, Brian Timmerding (Robin), Susan Edwards (Rob), Cindy Seibel (Trey), Tonya Jones (Brad); Sisters, Diane Vogelsang, Rita Tobler and Joy Bohman; Brothers David Timmerding, John Timmerding, Bill Timmerding and Tom Timmerding; 23 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.

Funeral Mass will be on Wednesday, May 6th at Holy Cross Church in Latonia, KY at 11:00am

Memorial gifts are suggested to: Cornerstone Hospice, 2445 Lane Park Road, Tavares, FL 32778

Love to all,
Theresa

Dad's Funeral Mass

Aunt Joy confirmed with Turtle earlier today....Dad's funeral mass will be on Tuesday, May 5th, at 11am at Holy Cross Church in Latonia.

Love to all!
Theresa

Dad's Funeral Mass

Just FYI....Dad's Funeral Mass is now tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, May 5th, at 11am at Holy Cross Church in Latonia. Dad's wishes were to be cremated and the cremation process takes a lot longer than we expected. Apparently the doctor gets 3 days to sign the death certificate, the medical examiner gets 3 days to sign the death certificate and then the cremation place needs 3 days. So we had to push out the date for the funeral mass in order to assure we had time.

We're having a good time down here with all the kids and with the uncles. They're in the kitchen right now reminiscing about growing up in a large family....it's funny, their stories are very similiar to our stories. We're having lots of fun.

Mom's neighbors and friends are sending over lots of food and desserts so we'll all be carrying a little extra weight when we get home.

Love,
Theresa

Dad's Service

All,
Thank you so much for all of the kind words...it really means so much to all of us. Believe me, we're reading all of them.

This is all tentative but the current plans are to have Dad's Funeral Mass on Friday, May 1, at Holy Cross Church in Latonia. We'll be sure to share all the details once the plans are finalized.

We'll also be having a Memorial Service in Leesburg, Florida sometime the following week.

Keep us in our prayers.
Love,
Theresa

Dad

Dad passed away a little while ago. He was very peaceful and we all know he's in a better place. His brothers arrived a little bit ago and we're all here together.

Keep us in your prayers.

Love,
Theresa

Dad

Hi All,

We all made it! All nine kids and Mindy and Jeremy are here with Mom and Dad. Uncle Bill, Uncle Tom, Uncle Dave and Uncle John are on their way here right now. Dad has slipped into a coma but we think he's waiting to see his brothers. His liver has shut down and his kidney's have shut down. He squeezes our hands every once in awhile. The nurses said his hearing is the last to go so we're talking to him constantly and letting him know it's okay to go and that we'd be here to take good care of Mom....

Keep us in your prayers.

Love,
Theresa

Dad

Another of my favorite pics...

Brian and Gary are in Florida helping Mom with Dad. Thank goodness they were able to leave on short notice to make the trip down.

The hospice nurse came today and they're moving Dad to a hospice facility this afternoon. Mom has been agonizing over this decision for the past few days but the hospice nurse said Mom has done a wonderful job taking care of him but now it's time for hospice to help.

The rest of us are leaving either Sunday or Monday so we'll all be down in Florida within the next few days.

We're going to celebrate with Ryan and Emily tonight knowing Dad is going to be in good hands with Mom, Gary, Brian and the hospice folks.

Keep us in your prayers.

Love,

Theresa

Dad

Another one of my favorite pics.....1957.

Hi. The hospice nurse came to see Dad again today. He was up and in the recliner but not very responsive to the nurse. Mom said she was having a hard time getting Dad to take all of his meds and the nurse said to just give him the morphine and not to worry about anything else. The nurse gave Mom some liquid morphine since he's having trouble swallowing the pills.

It's just so very sad. Mom has been a real saint taking such great care of Dad. But the nurse said she feared his kidneys were beginning to shut down.....she said at some point he'll probably slip into a coma. There are 3 hospice facilities near their home so he'll at least be close by once he's admitted to hospice.

Brian and Gary are on their way down right now, hopefully arriving within the next few hours. Thank goodness. Those of us who can, are heading down early next week. Hopefully Dad will be responsive and able to communicate with his brothers who will be there on Monday.

Keep us in your prayers.

Love,

Theresa

Not A Good Day....

Hi All,

Dad didn't have a very good day today. He took his first dose of morphine last night around 9pm and Mom also gave him the new pill the doctor is hoping will help him sleep better. She gave that new pill to him around 11pm. He went to bed at 11:30pm and Mom had a hard time getting him up at 10:30 or so this morning. So I guess the new pill worked. :) The oncologist did stop giving Dad the Nexavar. It was a new cancer pill specifically for liver cancer. He was hoping it would stop the progress of the cancer but not sure it was really working. Dr. Hossein told Mom on Wednesday that his main goal now is to just keep Dad comfortable. Again, very painful words to hear. We know it's for the best and we don't want Dad to be in any pain. But we're not ready for Dad to leave us just yet so we're praying for a miracle.

He's really having a difficult time getting around now because of the swelling in his legs. Brian and Gary are leaving early Friday morning (tomorrow) to go back down. I think Mom could use the extra help. She feels really bad the boys will miss Ryan's wedding but it's more important for her to have the help she needs. I know they'll all be there in spirit.

Mom was going to see if the hospice nurse could begin coming two or three times a week rather than just once a week. I think it would give her peace of mind, as well.

More news tomorrow...

Love,
Theresa

Dad's Doctor Visit

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mom and Dad from 1958. Doesn't he look mischievious?

Dad went to see Dr. Hossein today, his oncologist. The doctor said Dad looked very jaundiced today,more so than the last time he saw him. Mom was telling the doctor that Dad was needing his pain pills every 3 hours rather than the prescribed 4-6 hours. So Dr. Hossein changed his pain medicine to morphine to help keep Dad more comfortable. Dad is having a hard time sleeping at night so the doctor had originally prescribed him a sleeping pill but when Dad took it, it knocked him out not only at night but all day the next day.....must have been some good stuff. :) The doctor gave him a different pill to try to help him sleep at night. We'll see how that goes.....

The doctor also put him on a water pill to see if that helps the fluid build up in his legs. It's getting so bad he's having a hard time walking. He's scheduled to get the fluid in his abdomen drained next Wednesday.

The hospice nurse mentioned to Mom that it appears as though his kidneys are beginning to be impacted as well. With all the information we've read, I'm fearing it's most likely the beginning of the end. That's very painful to say out loud. Mom said he's been getting progressively worse over the past week. He normally perks up when visitors stop by but he didn't even perk up today for the hospice nurse. Mom said his eyes were closed almost the entire visit.

Just FYI..Mom's phone isn't working correctly, the answering machine isn't picking up for some reason. So if you happen to call and get no answer after a few rings, just hang up. She's probably busy with Dad and can't get to the phone.

Turtle, Mindy and I are planning to leave either next Tuesday late afternoon or very early on Wednesday. Mindy and Turtle are leaving on Sunday to come home but I'm going to stay down there for a little while longer to help Mom out. She loves our visits and greatly appreciates our help. I'm thinking that everything happens for a reason and maybe the reason I was laid off from AT&T/IBM after 25 years was for this very reason...to help my Mom and Dad. (Of course the poor economy didn't help either) :)

Gary, Brian, Billy and Lisa just returned from a visit. Susan, Rob and the boys also visited last week as well. We're trying to spend as much time in Florida as we can since only God knows how much longer we'll have with my Dad.

Keep us in your prayers!

Love,

Theresa

Doctor Visit Today

Dad has a doctor visit today with his oncologist, Dr. Hussein. Mom actually likes going to visit Dr. Hussein because he's easy on the eyes. :) I think that's why Aunt Rita and Aunt Joy went to the doctor with Dad when they were in town. :) Of course Lisa, Susan and I got to visit with him when we were there and he's got a great personality, you can tell he really cares about his patients and okay, he's kinda cute, too.

I'll post an update later after we hear what the doctor has to say.

This weekend is Ryan's big day. I can't believe he's getting married! We're all looking forward to it but I'm heartbroken that Mom and Dad can't be here with us. I know Mom is very upset and we had a tearful conversation on Monday about it. She really, really wants to be here but can't leave Dad. I told her we'd all take lots of pictures and videos.

Welcome!

Hi Everyone! Thought we'd start our own personal blog to keep everyone updated on Dad's progress. Feel free to forward the url to anyone you'd think would enjoy it. And feel free to add your own comments or send to me in an email and I can post for you.

I know Mom and Dad are really looking forward to Dad's brothers visit...especially Dad. He can't wait to see all of them. I'm hoping and praying that Uncle Bill will be well enough to take the trip.

Dad seems to have a few good days but they're always followed by a few bad days, too. His legs are swollen making it very difficult for him to get around and he doesn't have much of an appetite these days. Mom is trying very hard to get him to eat but he insists he'll eat when he's hungry.

I was thinking of a funny story the other day....it's funny how roles are reversed once the kids grow up. Remember when we were younger and we weren't allowed to go out the door without telling Mom and Dad where we were going, who we were going with and when we were coming home?? Well about 10 years ago, Mom and Dad hadn't been down in Florida for very long when they decided to sign up for some kind of 3 or 4 day bus trip with some of their neighbors to some casino or something. Well Mom and Dad neglected to let any of us know they were going to be gone for a little while and we had all, individually, tried to get ahold of them. We began to panic after a day or two with no response from Mom and Dad. We ended up calling the security office in Hawthorne and asked them if they'd go check out their house. They called back with the news that their car was in the driveway and there were numerous old newspapers in the driveway and mail in the mailbox. Well, we all were really in a state of panic at that point..the security guards asked us several times if Mom and Dad were on the bus trip with the other folks and we insisted they were not since we were sure they would have told us if they were going anywhere.....

We had just given the security guards authorization to break into Mom and Dad's house when the bus pulled into the clubhouse......the security guards decided to check the passengers on the bus just in case Mom and Dad were on there...and you guessed it....there they were. They were so embarrassed! But guess what?? They never went on any more excursions without letting at least one of us know where they are... :) It's just funny to think about and brings a smile to my face!!

Keep Dad in your prayers!

Love,
Theresa

Hi! Thought we'd write our own blog since we were hogging Michele's. This is just a test to see if I'm even doing this correctly. More news later.

Theresa