Tributes

Friends and family, if you would like to leave a tribute to Brad, you can add a comment to this post and we will keep track of it and print them all in a keepsake book for Carla.  Thank you.  The link to comment is: http://bradsbattleblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/tribute.html.  The comment link is at the bottom of the page.  

Also, if you would like to send us pictures, you can email them to megan.lagoy@gmail.com and I will post them to this blog.  

Many thanks, 

Megan

Obituary

This is the obituary that appeared in the newspaper on October 26.

Family Service

The day after Dad passed away, Adel woke up early, went to the store, and cooked the whole family Boppa's traditional pancake breakfast.  All the kids said grace.  Isaac prayed for us not to forget Boppa. I felt like it was such a tribute to my dad, and I am fully confident that Adel will assume the role of servant-leader for the family, at least as far as breakfasts are concerned.  

This is the chapel where we had Dad's family memorial service.

The roses were special to DD, dad's mom.  Papa, her husband, brought her yellow roses at the birth of each of her four sons.  We had the kids pass them out to all the family members and then enjoyed the sweet family chaos that ensued as each family member placed a rose (or more than one) in the vase by Dad's portraits.

This was the centerpiece, also with pictures of Dad and family.

Dad's brothers (he was the second oldest brother). 

Lindsay and I with Dad's portrait. 

Halfway through the service, the pastor specifically addressed the grandchildren, which was lovely, and then dismissed them to go outside with one of Lindsay's friends, Tami, who had offered to lead them in a time of crafting, singing, and learning about heaven.

We were so happy with the way the whole family service went.  It was perfect for us.  

After the memorial, Uncle Tom treated us to lunch at Papadeaux.  It was the first time I had really been able to relax and enjoy the company of my family, and I really appreciated it and thought it was the perfect end to the service.  

  

And I wanted to take photos of the flowers that were sent...

In God's Hands

Hello,

This is Teri, one of Carla's sisters on her computer.  Carla asked that I write to you to let you know about our Brad.

Brad passed away last night, Friday night October 18, at 10:15pm in his home while surrounded by family.  He had come home from the hospital Wednesday under at-home hospice care.  Many family members were able to be with him in the prior days, and he was surrounded by much love.  This happened much sooner than anyone expected, but we know our times are in God's hands.

Lindsay, Megan, and Adel are at the funeral home now, helping to make arrangements.  Carla and the girls are planning on cremation and having a private family service.  However, they are planning a Celebration of Life gathering as soon as can be arranged for all who can come.  We are unsure of the date or location at this time, but we will let you know as soon as plans are made.

I am sorry to be so brief, but much needs to be done right now.  I know you are all praying, and have been praying.  Brad is with Jesus, and that brings us comfort, and it brings us joy for him.  But, it hurts so badly for us.  God bless all of you and we feel your prayers.  Carla is grieving, but is surrounded by lots of family, with more arriving, and we will take care of her, as will all of you.  You are precious friends for which she is grateful beyond measure.  I am grateful for you, too.

We will keep you updated.
Love,
Teri

Hard Day

(Teri writing)

This has been a painful day.  The doctors all looked at the scans.....the neurosurgeon, the infectiious disease doctor, and the oncologist......and they all concurred that his staph infection is so bad, that they would normally do surgery to help clear out the infection because the anitbiotics alone can't clear it......but they will not do the surgery, because they found that the tumors in the brain were worse, and that it would be of no benefit to put him through a very hard surgery, with a long recovery, and having his remaining time spent in pain trying to recover from the surgery.  Therefore, they want to keep him as comfortable as possible and let him go ahead into in-home hospice care.  He is currently getting a very strong pain medication every 2 hours, and hospice will have access to all of the pain medication he will need.  They will deliver the bed and all of the equipment Wednesday morning, and will transport him home by ambulance in the afternoon.  Thank all of you for your prayers for him!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

(Megan Writing)

On Wednesday, Aunt Teri wrote a post about how we had a plan to use antibiotics to defeat the Staph infection in Dad's spine and take away the stiffness and pain he has been suffering from for the past two months.    Then he had another fall on Friday morning and had another, terrible two-hour episode of back pain on Friday night (why does it always happen on the weekend?!?).

On Saturday, we decided to be more proactive in trying to get him home healthcare so that there would be help for his back pain as well as the hospital bed that we had been thinking about getting for the house for some time.  By the end of the day, we learned that home healthcare cannot prescribe stronger pain meds, which is what we desperately needed.  So Dad went to bed with little more help than the hope that his pain wouldn't get out of control.

Dad made it through the night Saturday, I believe, on the prayers of our friends, without a bad episode.  But then he had another painful episode Sunday morning, when we finally had no other option but to call an ambulance to take him to the emergency room.  Once he got settled there, he seemed stable again, talking and enjoying a nap and a cheeseburger for lunch.  But soon, it became time for his pain meds and we once again realized that there was no doctor to be found to prescribe something stronger than what we give him at home.  This was maddening to us all, as we had to wait out the hours and minutes of his pain as it increased until the on-site doctor finally arrived to prescribe something stronger.

The stronger meds got him through the night, but were still by no means taking away all the pain.  Finally, this morning, being Monday, the neurosurgeon and the infectious disease doctors both showed up and gave us their combined opinions.  Dad would need to be sedated, intubated, and given all the medical scans (x-ray, MRI, brain scan, CT scan) while under sedation. The scans will determine if surgery on his back is an option. If surgery is not an option, he will continue on stronger pain meds and the antibiotic.  And we have all agreed that we are not checking him out of the hospital until we get the tools that we need to keep him comfortable at home (and a back-up plan on top of that!).

So, the plus side is we finally feel like Dad's back pain is being taken seriously.  The down side is that this leaves us all having to talk ourselves and each other out of the "if onlys" and the "what ifs." Why didn't we push for this sooner?  As I look back over the last two months, and his increasing suffering, I feel regret at the things we have missed. With the wisdom of hindsight, there are for sure things we would do differently.  But the more I replay the moments in my head, the more I am sure that we did what we thought was best at each moment, given the information that we had at the time.  This is frustrating, to be sure.  We hate to watch Dad suffer needlessly and there have been lots of tears all around.

Lastly, I believe that my dad's amazing strength has somewhat worked against him in this situation.  He is so dang strong, that he has managed to make his back problem seem livable for this long until it finally brought him down this weekend.  I would defy anyone else to stay on his feet as long as my dad has.  He is amazing.  Even though that strength, and his wonderful, good, self-sufficient temperament, may have contributed in keeping him from getting the care he truly needed, I also believe that those traits will be his assets in healing from this back pain once a true solution is found.  If anyone is strong enough to come back from this, it is my dad.

Please pray with us that the solution will be found and delivered immediately.  Pray that he is able to recover considerably from the back problem and reduce his pain significantly...or how about completely!?...so that he can focus on what should be his biggest concern right now: the cancer in his brain (which of course has taken a back burner these last two weeks with his increasing back pain).  We have all been just pleading and yearning for his back pain to turn a corner for the better.  Please join us in pleading in prayer!

Another fall. Please pray with us.

(Teri writing) Hello Everyone,
Brad fell right when it was time to leave for the scans this morning.......and then he was hurting so badly with his back, that we had to postpone the scans for a later time next week......he is doing better now, as long as he doesn't move too much.......the good thing, is that he has the antibiotics now that are targeted to his specific type of staph, and it is able to be given at his house every 8 hours through his chemo port (so no sticking!).......we are PRAYING that this antibiotic will zap all of the staph bacteria in his vertebrae, and calm down all of the painful swelling of the disc......thank you everyone for your continued prayers for him!

Action Plan for Back Pain

(Teri Writing) Hello everyone.....Carla and I took Brad to Dr. Sims this morning.  His specialty is infectious disease, and we all were very pleased with him.  He said that he recieved an early, preliminary report on the biopsy from yesterday, and that Brad does indeed have a fast-growing staph infection in his back.  Dr. Sims said the infection causes the disc and surrounding areas to be very swollen and he said it definitely causes severe pain.  He gave Brad IV antibiotics through his chemo port and he will go back tomorrow and Friday for more.  By Friday, the biopsy culture will be complete, and Dr. Sims will know specifically which type of staph Brad has.  After knowing which type, they will then give Brad an IV antibiotic, targeted to that type, to take for a few weeks, to be given at home.  Dr Sims  said it's a simple-to-use antibiotic that Carla can just attach to Brad's port, allow it to go in, and then detach.  Once the infection and swelling is under control, Brad will probably not need the "Kyphoplasty" surgery.  Brad was sooooo happy to NOT be in extreme pain while coming home from a doctor visit or procedure, as has always been the case.  We were all having a little celebration in the car on the way home.  We are very encouraged that at long last, we may have the answer to his back pain.  It will take a few days for him to really feel the benefit of the antibiotics, but we are rejoicing that we are on the right track!  He has scans on his lungs and brain on Friday, and we are hoping that 2 days of antibiotics might make his back not so painful during the scans, (where he has to lay on his back).  One additional thing the doctor said to do, was to take 600 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours and it should help with the inflammation as the antibiotics do their work.  It feels good to give encouraging news!

Teri's Email

Hello everyone,

This is Teri, (one of Carla's sisters, just in case some of you don't know!).  Carla said she wrote to all of you August 27th, concerning Brad's breast cancer that has metastasized to his brain.  She has really been wanting to send an update, but has been so overwhelmed with doctors, medicines, endless paperwork/reports, etc. that she has not been able to bring you up to date on the latest.  So, I told her that I would be happy to give you all a brief synopsis of what has happened since she wrote to you on August 27th.

Well, Brad completed the required days of radiation, but then he began having severe back pain, which caused them to reconsider the Spain trip.  As it turned out, it was such a blessing that they cancelled the trip, because Brad had a couple of falls, much more mental confusion and of course, the continued back pain.  A trip to the ER for scans showed that he had additional bleeding from the tumors in the brain, and the ER doctor had some phone consultations with Brad's MD Anderson doctor, Dr. Nelson.  The ER doctor gave us the grim news that there is really nothing more to be done, regarding chemo or radiation.  He said that we have "fought a good fight" and it is time for Brad to move into what they call "palliative" care, meaning keeping him pain-free and having quality of life as a main concern.

Well, after weeks of scans, x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. they finally saw that Brad has a "compression fracture" in the L3 vertebrae......it could possibly be due to the chemo, but regardless, it is something that an orthopedic doctor can help by doing a procedure called "Kyphoplasty".  Basically, they will insert a needle into the collapsed space, insert a balloon through the needle to inflate and cushion the vertebrae, and then "cement" the whole process.

However, before that can be done, they need to make sure that there is not an infection in the spine that is causing the swelling and pain.  Brad had a staph infection in his knee after his knee surgery and it may have just stayed in his system, showing up now. So, Brad had a biopsy this morning of the swollen lumbar vertebrae in his back, and it will reveal what kind of infection, if any, that he has.  In the meantime, he will go tomorrow to an Infectious Disease doctor to maybe go ahead and start some antibiotics before the results of the biopsy come back.

There are some hopes on the horizon.  The MD Anderson doctor said there is a clinical trial that Brad might possibly be a candidate for, which would be downtown Houston.  Tom also has a neighbor who works with a company that does "sequencing of genes", using a sample of the original tumor and finding out if there is a particular drug targeted to his particular tumor.  At this point, hope is a good thing!

So, here we are, hoping to get his back corrected and pain-free, and then will pursue any avenue of a possible new drug to fight this awful disease.

Now that you are up to speed, I want to tell you that Megan started a blog to keep everyone updated in a central location.  She will update the blog and you can sign up to recieve an email notification when a new entry is posted.  You need to have a Google acct (free) to access the site, so just sign up if you don't have one.  Here is her blog site:  http://bradsbattleblog.blogspot.com

Well, I believe that covers the latest.  We pray for Brad to be healed, and we know that God is in control of everything......our days are ordained for us before even one of them comes to be, so we rest in that!  Psalm 139:16

Carla and Brad are so touched by all of the phone calls, emails, prayers, notes, cards, etc......they wanted to sincerely convey that to you.  What a precious thing for them to be surrounded by a crowd of family and friends who pray for them and love them!  In every possible moment, they continue to have as much family fun and laughter as can be squeezed in, making the most of precious family times.  The whole Sharp/Lagoy family took Carla and Brad to McKinney Falls State Park over the weekend, even taking along the big, comfy, leather recliner that Brad sleeps in.  Good times and precious memories.

Thank you all for your prayers for Brad......we are all in this together as we pull together for Brad, who we love so much!

God bless all of you,

Teri

Austin

This is Megan here.  I'm going to kick off this blog with a glimpse into the upside of things.

We all enjoyed a couple nights in Austin with Dad.

The kids, of course, get excited by anything new...especially one big slumber party.

We spent one day at McKinney Falls State Park, where the kids enjoyed some time in the "swimming hole."

And the adults enjoyed some conversation, laughs, and campfire cuisine.

Including s'mores.

Okay, we shared with the kids too.

The kids swam some more before we headed back to the hotel.

That night we had a family movie night, watching The Princess Bride, a family favorite.

 The next day we went to Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. I sat with Dad in the courtyard with a soda while the others walked the paths.

Here's Dad with girl 1...

 ...2...3...

...and 4!

We ate at the cafe there, before heading on the road back home.

We made a quick stop at the Bluebell Creamery.  Yum!

Dad enjoyed the company, the conversation, the laughs, and the special moments.

And here's a behind the scenes look at our efforts to make him comfortable.  Given his back pain...he only is comfortable sleeping in his recliner...so we brought it.  What's weird about that!?