The last time I was online was about two months ago; my Mom (who was 91) had been in and out of the hospital and I was going over to see her (six hours each way).  Unfortunately, she continued to have serious health issues and passed away at the end of October.  The end came so quickly, which was good for her, that I was unable to make it back over when she passed.  My Cousin was with her and we were talking on the phone when Mom closed her eyes and slipped away.

Rusty had a checkup two weeks ago; His diet for the past two months has been vanilla ice cream only, ½ cup four times a day, along with vitamins and meds for his stomach and appetite.  His liver functions have improved over the past two months and his kidney issues have also improved since being on the ice cream diet.  Dr. Macy threw up his hands and said that there was nothing from a medical standpoint that makes sense.

Rusty has such a strong determination to live, which along all of the love and attention that he receives, is keeping him alive.    We have tried almost every low protein food out there and he will not eat anything else other than an occasional hard boiled egg.  He is very happy and enjoys every day, but is showing more signs that the liver issue is taking its toll on him.  We are taking it a day at a time and making sure that he enjoys each day, even if it crimps some of the things that we want to do.  We are so close that we hope that he makes it through Christmas, but are very aware that he could drop at any moment.

He is now 34 months post amputation and is still cancer free; if not for his other complications he would have easily surpassed his original prognosis of 18 to 36 months.

Chuck & Rusty