Saturday, October 10, 2009

A Week of Sad News

In the last post I mentioned that a club member of the Traveling Americans had been admitted to the hospital and was not doing well. On Tuesday we learned that Russ Bishop had passed away. He had been fighting a bone cancer for 4 years ever since Tom and I had learned to know him and his wife, Sandy. Russ was a gentle man with a quiet sense of humor. He was someone you could enjoy being around. Today we attended his funeral with many other members of the T.A. club and afterwards another couple in the club invited everyone back to their house for the reception following the funeral. We will all certainly miss Russ. We are hopeful that Sandy will continue to camp with us on our weekends.
We also learned of another dear friend of long standing that has a brain cancer is losing her battle. By email her husband tells us that she is in need of someone to be with her continuously. She was such a fun person with lots of spirit to be around.
Then there is our little buddy, Travis. After having bloodwork done in preparation for removal of a little growth on his eyelid and teeth cleaning there were some enzymes elevated. So further blood work was preformed that indicated something is wrong that involves the liver. We are now scheduled on Monday to take him to an internist for further evauation and a possible ultrasound study. So far he does not have any outward signs of any problems. The eyelid and teeth surgery will be delayed until the problem is diagnosed and it is felt he will be okay having anesthesia.