The blog ends here

SCHWAGER, Gilly. On Thursday, January 18, 2007. Most precious husband of Cindy Blauer. Adored father of Tamara and Yaron. Beloved son of Sema and George Schwager, and Jerry Friedman and son-in-law of Shirley and the late Haskell Blauer. Dear brother and brother-in-law of Gad and Talya Schwager, Gittit and Yuval Peleg; Nitai and June Friedman, Aviyam and Cynthia Friedman, Hadar and Elana Friedman and brother-in-law of Fred Blauer, Joey Blauer and Susie Mayers. He will be fondly remembered by his aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends. Funeral service from Paperman & Sons, 3888 Jean Talon St. W. on Friday, January 19 at 2 p.m. Burial at the Beit Abraham Congregation Section, Kehal Israel Cemetery, D.D.O. Shiva at 5768 Palmer Ave., C.S.L. Contributions in his memory may be made to Beit Halochem, (514)482-6548. Published in the Montreal Gazette on 1/19/2007.

Gilly passed away at a few minutes to 3:00 PM today, January 18th, 2007.

Funeral services are to be held, tomorrow, Friday, at: 2:00 PM, at Paperman & Sons, 3888 Jean Talon West, Montreal.

Still very little to report

Gilly, Cindy, Tamara and Yaron are camped out at the Jewish General. Loved ones continue to pop by and help pass the time.

Gilly's condition remains the same. He did develop a fever yesterday, which is being treated with tylenol.

No change since yesterday

Gilly is still sleeping soundly surrounded by loved ones.

A restful end of the day

As of last night, the accommodations at the Jewish General were certainly comfortable. Gilly was placed in a private room, in extremely good condition, and with a reclining chair for Cindy to relax and sleep, if at all possible. There’s a comfortable family room down the hall, with television, chess board and fish tank, providing a much needed change of scenery for the family, when they desire.

When Gilly arrived, the nurse changed his butterfly attachment for medication. Gilly reacted to the slight pain that the procedure caused, which we take as a sign that he is not otherwise experiencing pain – of which we are pleased.

As Susie, my Mom and I left at around 11:30 PM last night Gilly was sleeping soundly, and seemingly very comfortable in his new surroundings.

Another quick update

This is now Joe, filling in for Tamara, filling in for Cindy.

Gilly has just left for the Jewish General Hospital, where he will be admitted in to the department of palliative care. Matters should be expedited due to the involvement of his devoted nephew Evan, who initiated the process.

All of what Tamara said in her last heartfelt post applies. I will try to keep you all posted of any developments, though not nearly as eloquently as you've all become accustomed.

Pinch hitting at the bottom of the ninth…

(This title seemed to fit the image in my head, I’m no Cindy but I’ll give it my best shot.)
Tonight is a very difficult evening for all of us, so I have taken it upon myself to write the blog for my mom. Today was a day of crucial decisions, and most importantly we chose not to admit my father to Mt. Sinai. Unfortunately the events of the day have led us to question our choice… Gilly started to run a fever just after the final decision not to admit him today was made, a sign we were told would indicate what unfortunately lies ahead. He also started to have a more pronounced seizure as soon as the nurse left. Regrettably, we were unable to admit my father so late in the day, and we were told that we would have to wait until Wednesday for admission.

We are waiting for a doctor from the hospital to come and assure us that everything is okay for the night, and we will proceed accordingly once we have all the information. We always have the Jewish General as an option, but we prefer Mt. Sinai for my father’s comfort. As with anything in life, there can be no exact predictions as to how long we have left with Gilly, therefore we are taking this opportunity to form our close four-way huddle (I will definitely be sleeping here for the next few days) and spend the rest of our time together.

I would like to personally thank all of you who have shown us so much support and love during this time, and to assure you all that we love you too, and we appreciate everything you have done, and continue to do for us, and for my father. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives, and as frightening as the future seems to me right now, I take solace in the knowledge that my family is lucky enough to have such an unbelievable network of loved ones, friends and family alike. I am unsure of how the blog postings will continue for the next couple of days, but since I realize that our immediate family has multiplied exponentially since my dad’s illness, I feel that all you faithful bloggers deserve to be there right alongside us. Therefore, I will do my best to continue posting any important developments as they occur here, or my Uncle Joey will step in. Please use your best judgment for calls and visits. We welcome your support, but we are under an enormous amount of stress so please call beforehand, and refrain from calling too late in the evening. I can’t say enough how wonderful all of you are and how much easier this unpleasant time is because of your love. Thank you.

Firsts are difficult to deal with

Gilly had many visitors today (as expected, and some pleasant, yet unexpected). Unfortunately, health-wise, it wasn’t the best scenario; he was running a fever for the first time. Eventually, the medication brought the fever down, and he is resting comfortably. It was a scary experience, but I had a lot of support (on both a personal and professional level).

Gilly is beginning to appear very ill; less eating and drinking is taking a toll on him. He did not respond to people today in an overt manner, but I strongly believe that he sensed their presence and appreciated the love that was bestowed upon him.

Love at first bite

The arm is slightly improved, so I will post today. Maybe I’ll have to revert to every second day or so, though, because I was told to give it a rest. The pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication are working, but not enough to really resume activities completely, and I need to reserve for what needs to be done.

Thursday evening started off with a visit from Steven (actually he was around afternoon as well, but I was at work). There was very little response from Gilly until later in the evening when Steven entered his visual field. He clearly exclaimed, “Oh my God.”

At approximately 2:00 A.M. Yaron noticed that Gilly’s leg was shaking uncontrollably. He had a 40 second bout of shaking that very morning when Cathy the nurse was here providing a training session for Elise. She said it was a small seizure and to track the occurrence if it happens again. It didn’t stop, so I called the all night medical hot line for the very first time. A nurse arrived at 2:30 or so, and by 4:30 Gilly had received new medication (by courier from the Gare Medicale’s main office out east somewhere) and he was fast asleep. The seizures had stopped.

On Friday, Golda Tradunski from the Mount Sinai Hospital (who I renamed Dr. Ruth, explaining it’s the image her name brought forth in my mind, only to be shattered by the realist; she’s young and ever so sweet) spent four hours here with her nurse, Judith, equally lovely. Dr. Golda readjusted all the medication and clarified many questions for me. She has officially taken over Gilly’s case, so if he needs to see a physician for any reason, she will come to the house.

Josee-Marie caught wind of Gilly’s seizures, and so she too made a visit while Dr. Golda was here. She insisted, even though I assured her we were being well taken care of. She was so desperate to come that I acquiesced, and so began the debates on medical practice. I let them thrash it out, but I had mentioned to the Mount Sinai team that the protocol differences between the CLSC and D’Entraide is confusing; I do not know who to listen to. They both stood their ground and helped Josee-Marie compromise so that I could be the recipient of one order of instructions as opposed to two. This in and of itself was exceptionally helpful.

He had a few mild, short lived seizures while the Mount Sinai team was around, but nothing to write home about. The change in medication obviously helped. I was uptight about potential seizures for the remainder of the weekend, especially since I was to be gone for much of it. I felt very strongly about attending Noam’s Bar Mitzvah, and I’m glad that my reservations did not prevent me from taking part in most of it. He was fine, and in safe hands with Elise, Tina, Marvin, Sharon and Rosanne (not all at once of course). We are so very fortunate to have such amazingly kind and dedicated friends in our lives. Words cannot fully express how thankful we are to these angels.

Gilly has moved onto another chapter; he sleeps pretty much always, but with his eyes kind of opened. He responds very rarely to people in an external way, but I am certain he feels the presence of the loving people who have paid him a visit in the recent past. Many family members have taken the time to pay a short visit, since they are in town for the Bar Mitzvah. I sincerely believe he knows that they have visited, even though he did not greet them in any way.

He still eats and drinks, but getting the liquid up through the straw is arduous at this point. We use foam tipped sticks and small spoonfuls to hydrate him. Last night he chewed off the foam from the stick and wouldn’t open his mouth for me to retrieve it. He bites hard, let me tell you! I finally managed to pry his mouth open and get it out, but it took me quite some time and I was in a sweat by the end; what a tense struggle that was.

All medication is now taken in liquid form, which makes it much easier, but it was a challenge finding the pharmacy that could prepare the suspension. We’re still waiting on one type of medication, but luckily it is not as crucial as the others. Hopefully by tomorrow the pharmacist will have found the best recipe. I’m learning so much through this experience.

Gilly continues to appear as if he is free of pain or any sort of discomfort. I can only hope and pray that his peaceful existence persists, but if not we are poised to provide pain killers of the highest order.

I will sign off, because John and Stacey are on their way.

There were 4 in the bed and the little said, "Roll over."

My right arm is in lots of pain, so I am going to have to take a few days off from posting on the Blog. If anything BIG occurs, I will make sure to pass the news along through someone else. It’s an ergonomic problem and I have to be careful, so it doesn’t pay to fool around.

These pictures tell the story you all really need to hear. My husband is loved beyond measure, and he feels it.

The nurse from Mount Sinai paid a visit today, and the doctor will do her first house call this Friday. Belle echoed what the professionals have been saying all along; Gilly is in the best place he could be under the circumstances. He seems comfortable and serene; no pain is evident and he is well taken care of.

I will be receiving an additional 14 hours of service from the CLSC (now 28 hours) but from a different agency; supposedly the best and most expensive. They are concerned with Elise’s apparent lack of training for palliative care, and so they have just about had it. I will not let Elise know until after the weekend.

Remember, please allow me some time to recuperate (arm-wise); do not worry that I stopeed writing for a few days because something is wrong. I promise to post any new development. You’ll just have to read the funnies for awhile and trust me on this…I haven’t let any of you down yet, and I do not intend to.

I will resume on Monday, good arm or not, to provide an update.

Gilly deserves the best of care

A quick note to report that nothing much has changed. Gilly eats a little less everyday, it seems, mainly because he is sleeping more; as soon as he awakens, we run to get the food, and during this time frame he often falls back to sleep.

Elise is dependable, but clearly not anywhere nearly as good as Raquel was. I have to leave her during the day for a few hours, and I am not worried about Gilly’s safety, but she needs reminding for several mundane tasks, and so on, so when I’m away, they do not get done. She’s quick to do whatever it is she has forgotten once reminded, but I wish I didn’t have to go that extra step. Too much brain work. We wrote out a list of everyday ‘duties’ related to Gilly’s care. She does absolutely nothing else, so it should be easy to manage, but she doesn’t. Nothing serious, really, but I do like him to be as clean and comfortable as humanly possible; perhaps my standards are too high!

My weekdays are very full at this point, so I will not have much time to write at night. Short updates will have to suffice.