Depressing Times

I realize it's been a while since I posted but things have been a bit depressing.

Back in June we came back to Ma. because my mother's health was failing and at 95, we knew she was getting ready to leave us. We arrived home on a Tuesday and she passed  peacefully two days latter.

For the past year, our close friends Don & Lucy have been at a campground about an hour away from where we were in Florida. Don was there because he was diagnosed with stage four melanoma. He was given a year to live if he did nothing but there was a drug program going on at a Cancer hospital in Fl. as well as Ma..

Don was able to get into the study at the Florida hospital and was getting positive results from the med's. The downside was the side effects were bad and he had to drop out. Another program was offered and again the tumors began to shrink immediately but his system could not handle the side effects and he was put in the hospital.

Once he began to get his strength back, he was given a minimum dosage of another Cancer drug. This time he was better able to handle the side effects and the tumors were beginning to shrink again. This seemed to finally give hope that he would be around for a while but that wasn't to be.

Don had a right brain stroke after being on the new med for a few weeks. It was determined that the stroke was not the results of the meds or cancer. At this time Don decided he wanted to return home to Maine so they found a campground to stay at.
Because of the stroke, Don was no long given the cancer meds and his tumors have progressed rapidly.

The doctors now have given Don no more than a month. Joyce and I are in Ma. visiting family and settling my mothers estate so we decided to go to Maine to help where we could with Don. Joyce stayed in Maine to help Lucy take care of Don and I had to return to Ma. to have some work done on the coach. I plan to return to Maine in a few days. I did get to spend some time with Don and we talked about a lot of things we are going to do but I'm afraid that he will be gone before I get back up there.

Don and Lucy have been very dear friends of ours for over twelve years. We have traveled together in our coaches across many states and I will miss our times of going to airshows, interesting places, or just sitting around having a drink and chewing the fat. As I sit here with tears in my eyes......I am going to miss my old buddy Don.