On Monday we made the difficult, but necessary, decision to discontinue all TPN and hydration. Joanne's body is shutting down and cannot handle the fluids. The vomiting is creating so much suffering. We are now giving a drug IV that will hopefully dry up all the fluids in her body so the vomiting of stomach acid will stop and give her some relief. The consequence of the drug is a very dry mouth and we are attempting several strategies to help her with this side-effect.
Her strength is rapidly ebbing. We are spending our time reminiscing, looking at photo albums and watching the TV series "Parenthood" on DVD.
We enjoyed a week long visit from Joanne's other sister, Carol, last week. Her brother and sister-in-law and niece also came for a visit.
Please feel free to leave comments for Joanne - I will be reading them to her. Socializing takes too much energy these days, so we are restricting visits to people willing to "sit" and be with her when I must leave the house.
Please hold us in your prayers - for strength, comfort and courage as we walk these final days together.
47 comments:
HI Jan, my thoughts and prayers are with you both. Love her up good!!!! I hope the good memories and cuddles can out way the suffering!
All my love,
Natalie
Thank you Joanne for all your inspiration, coaching, and encouragement through USANA. Today is the first ever International Day of the Girl. I will always remember you and your true grit on this day.
Peace,
Donna
Sending buckets of love and armloads of prayers for comfort and connection. You both continue to be amazing and courageous.
Unending prayers and much gratitude for all the ways you have lived fully into the gift of life.
Peace,
Kent
I love you both. Joanne, you are and will continue to be a model of a truly amazing woman. I will always treasure my time with you. You are the brightest star and will continue to shine. I love you, I love you, I love you, Beautiful Woman.
Shannon Wallace
Love to you both. Keeping you in my prayers, unceasingly. Sending light and comfort to you. I picture a mandala with the most brilliant colors and the most glorious light surrounding the edges with you in the middle.
Blessings and peace,
Tara and Daemian
Dear Joann and Janet,
once again I was thinking of you both, this morning as I walked to work from my bus. Time to be with you in my thoughts, and now even more so as I hear your news. For both of you, I appreciate your grace and courage, and your willingness to include all of us far away folks, and I'm only sorry how heart wrenching this all must be.
very much love, Ruth (and Bob)
Dearest Ones,
SO much love to you both as you walk this part of the journey. My life is forever changed and enriched for having shared time together. I carry extra beauty, laughter, celebration, and love in my spirit as a result - precious gifts that I will ever hold in memory. Heaps of blessings on your sweet beautiful heads. May deep peace and comfort be yours.
With LOVE,
Meril
Dear lovely spirits,
Please know that many prayers surround you now and hearts celebrate what you have been individually and to each other. Thank you for the incredible gift of sharing your journey with those who are your friends. We are better for knowing you. Sending you peace, courage and comfort with tons of love.
Etta
Godspeed, Joanne into Light. We will hold Janet close. You are both so loved.
JoKo
Sending you a spirit-shrine filled with skeins of warmest love beaded in joy and surrounded by silken scarves of color and light.
TB2
I love you so much. That's the best I can do tonight. I am so happy to have had time with you last week. After our remarkable time together I feel complete and hope you do too.
What an amazing journey...thank you both so much for being so open to sharing it with us. I apologize for not being more in touch, as I have been so focused on my father's own journey, too! What an education these transitions can bring, in so many ways.
Joanne, your clarity of thought, and warmth of heart, have taught me so much. I only hope I can put into practice some of the things you have taught me, and pass on the gift you have been to me. I love the earrings you made, and have been wearing them a lot lately, enjoying the energy those beautiful crystals bring....just like you.
Know that you are loved and cherished. And if you need ice cream or anything else brought by, please let me know, and I'd be happy to deliver it special!
Kristelle
Sending much love, bear hugs from Rob, kisses from Tiika and all of the above from me. You both have been such an inspiration in the way you have walked this journey. Thank you for the gift. Love, light and prayers, .Jenn.
Sending much love and peace to the bestest big sister ever!!!!
Love ~ Carol
Joanne and Janet- Thank you for the gift of sharing your journey. You have enriched so many lives with your courage and grace. Sending love, Kathi and Bob
Hi Janet and Joanne...
Thank you for sharing this journey with us...
I love you both and am sending prayers for ease, lightness and serenity....
There are so many awesome memories of our travels and visits together--I will always cherish those special times...
Thank you Joanne for being an unending inspiration of amazingness and courage...
All my love, Mara
Joanne will always be in our hearts. We are better people for knowing her. We have cherished our time together and we will always love her.
Love to you both,
Dan & Nanc
So many fond memories to look back and reflect on. I hope they bring smiles and joy to your lives. I know they do for me. I continue to pray for you both. May you continue to find the strength and courage you need now more than ever. I love you both so very much…. XO Sarah
Hello from Ladner
Thank you for so much....for chocolate at the Hotel Vancouver, for tender care in hard times, for a genuine welcome, and for being truly yourselves...thank you. Wendy and I discovered Parenthood this past weekend and have been watching the dvds this week. We are watching with you and thinking of you both.
With love
Gillian and Wendy
My heart aches for both of you. Thank you for sharing your journey – and yourselves – with so many people. Joanne, I so enjoyed our brief time together and truly wish we had many more. Thank you for sharing your profound wisdom, vision, and sense of humor with me. You are so warm and loving, and I carry you in my heart everyday. Much love to you both.
My heart aches for both of you. Thank you for sharing your journey – and yourselves – with so many people. Joanne, I so enjoyed our brief time together and truly wish we had many more. Thank you for sharing your profound wisdom, vision, and sense of humor with me. You are so warm and loving, and I carry you in my heart everyday. Much love to you both.
Joanne, I am thinking about you my friend. Thank you for that unforgettable Usana trip we took back in something like 2006...What?! it feels like it was just yesterday! and for your inspiration and support. There are a handful of people in my life who have helped me to see that I can do anything and you are one of them. Much love...Jenn Hebert
Joanne, I am thinking about you my friend. Thank you for that unforgettable Usana trip we took back in something like 2006...What?! it feels like it was just yesterday! and for your inspiration and support. There are a handful of people in my life who have helped me to see that I can do anything and you are one of them. Much love...Jenn Hebert
Holding you both close to my heart this morning. Prayers for a gentle journey and a peaceful ending filled with light and love.
Love and hugs,
Nancy
Dear Joanne and Janet,
I am praying for re-membering the strength, comfort and courage to draw from in both of your ancestries during this time.
With you in remembering that love never dies,
Lisa
Cousin Joanne, It's been years since we've seen each other, but I hold you (special) in my heart always. Skip and I are coming to Seattle next May and I had so hoped to visit with you. Guess we're going to have to put that on hold until we meet again in the great beyond. When we do come I would love to meet and visit with Janet. I love you and hug you with my heart. Cousin Jackie
Knitting the yarn I was sent by my oldest and dearest friend. Alot of miles between us but always in my thoughts and prayers. Your the best part of my youth,your in all my stories and events that made me who I am today. T
Your the only person who knew me as a kud and an adult!, will be together again someday. I hope Janet can give my love to you. Live you lots. Joanie Mc Kelvey
My thoughts and prayers are with both of you. Joanne - you will live forever in my heart - your beautiful and wise spirit, your cherished friendship. And Janet - this blog has been such a blessing - and what a gift of a companion you have been through all of this. My love and thoughts will be coming to you through these next few days and I think of you both constantly. All my love, thoughts and prayers are with you - Vicki
Joanne:
Holding you and Janet in much love and light. I was beyond delighted to get to finally meet(and bunk with) the infamous Joanne at Artburn this year. A (the) highlight of my weekend was playing witness to how you grace others with your wisdom, your amazing creativity and your generous spirit. May you know peace on this continuing intrepid journey of yours of which the signposts might say, "Traveler there is no path, the path is made by walking..."
Love, Always & Only,
Danna
Joanne,
My heart is heavy. Although we were acquainted through Carol for years, it wasn't until Artburn that I was blessed to have spent time with you. Your creativity was an inspiration, your gentle guiding ways a joy, your generosity a pleasure, and your courage such a lesson and an example for all of us. I believe with all my heart that you will make this transition with the same grace with which you have lived in this life. You will be received with open loving arms into the next phase. We will miss you greatly, Joanne.
"Released from earthly bonds, their souls are free once more to travel further."
Much love to you,
Barbara
Angel and I were just talking about what an extraordinary teacher you have been and are. I have learned so very much from you and from our friendship and am more grateful that words can say. I know you know that I have been and am your devoted student. Only this morning I managed to beat Pam for the first time at Words with Friends ... and am seriously ahead in ALL four current games! I love you and miss you and expect you to keep your promise to "haunt" me! Big hugs and kisses,
Peggie
Sigh .....
I am dancing prayers of strength and love and peace to surround you both.
Also holding tight to my memories of and gratitude for your kind eyes and warm words of encouragement, Joann, as I struggled with my art phobia while painting on silk.
You both continue to amaze and inspire me with your graceful embrace of life's journey.
Love to you both.
Margie
J & J,
Thank you both for showing us how to live and love with courage, grace, and passion. You are such an inspiration and are two of the strongest women I know. I love you both!
Marty
You both are very much in my thoughts this morning. I'm so glad Bob and I were able to come north to see you when we did. Hugs and love, Ruth
You both are very much in my thoughts this morning. I'm so glad Bob and I were able to come north to see you when we did. Hugs and love, Ruth
Joanne,
I had such vivid dreams about you last night. You were up and working. You had an entourage of health helpers who were distraught because they didn't know how to help you. I told them to relax--that when you didn't get out of bed they could help you.
I was looking at my shrine this morning from Artburn. I love that you contributed the centerpiece. Underneath I put the word Energy.
Holding you in my heart,
Elisabeth
Joanne, I have experienced you as a bright light of joy, beauty, and life that has gotten brighter & brighter over the years. I am grateful for your shinning in my life.
Janet, I cannot even begin to imagine your experience right now and am just sending love & ease & healing your way.
Siobhan
Joanne,
I cannot imagine an Artburn without your patient encouragement to keep going & your calm “is’ness” that just feels so right to me.
Knowing you has helped me hold the space for a world where people roll out of bed in the morning & live authentically from their core, have the courage to keep trying, and have the hoopzpa to wear grace & funkiness together in the same outfit.
Thank you for modeling so well what it means to be a woman who has ridden the edge of evolution. When I think of you, I feel inspired, I feel courageous, but most of all…I feel love.
And as the song goes: Love is all you need.
I love you Joanne.
See you on the other side,
Kir
Dear Joann and Janet
Just want you to know that we are sending you endless love and light to you. Ross, Jonas, Jember and myself are weaving you up in our love, blankets of gold, violets, blues and ambers...holding you as you walk this journey. Endless, flowing love to you.... Vicki Chaney
Sunflowers keep coming to mind; their faces following the solar arc from morning to night, then slowly turning east again standing ready to greet the rising sun. The two of you in a field of sunflowers, swaying hand in hand with the breeze, your faces drinking in the warmth, and the light and the eternal energy of the sun. Blessings on both of your journeys; and love. Nancy
Thank you for sharing this journey with us. To watch you both walk this difficult path with so much love and consiousness is an amazing inspiration.
Joanne, you have guided me, supported me and inspired me in so many ways. Your generosity of spirit and creative expression have been a gift to my world. You will forever be in my heart, and I will miss you deeply.
Jim is in Saudi Arabia right now, but I know how important you've been to him and how much he loves you.
Janet, I can't imagine your grief. I am sending you much love.
Thank you, love Brenda
Dear beautiful, brave Joanne ,
How much you have taught me as I begin my own journey with this disease. You are clearly gifted with amazing strength and unquenchable joy. Bless your heart. I can imagine the two of you and the cats snuggling in your warm bed as the first of the storms pounds Bellingham. My prayers are with you both along with heaps of admiration and love. Sarah Jacobson
Joanne, Every dayI have been wearing the beautiful celadon beaded bracelet you made to feel you close. You will always be in my heart.
Janet, I am at a loss for words. I can only send my love, to you both.
Devon
Joanne,
Thinking of you, loving you...
Dov
Joanne,
Every day, I am touched by your spirit, my friend. Your light continues in all of the lives you've impacted. Please know that I am covering you and Janet in non-stop prayer.
Janet, I'd be honored to come "sit" quietly by Joanne's side. Please call - 360-920-5624.
Rest easy. All my love,
Heather McKendry
Hi Joanneee
I worked on a mandala this weekend and dedicated it to you. It's the brightest, most uplifting piece of work I've ever done. In fact I'm starting to draw the mandala right now. And thinking of you, my dear teacher and friend in life and art...and salsa. I love you. Robyn
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