Virginia DeLaMare Cannon passed away April 9, 2019 at 6:00pm surrounded by her family and loved ones. She will be dearly missed but we are grateful she is no longer suffering. We all felt the Spirit so strong around her as she passed through this veil into the other side and was welcomed by her own mother and grandmother, as well as her Heavenly Father.

Details for funeral services will be coming later.

With Love

Dear friends and family,

This is Ginger’s daughter, Kim. We had a beautiful 68th birthday celebration for my mom in March with lots of warm memories shared and childhood photos. Her brothers created a book of memories as well which she absolutely loved. My brother, Paul, and his family were able to come for her birthday from Texas which made it extra special.

Shortly after her birthday, she began a rapid decline. She has needed an increase in pain medications and has been losing function in a lot of things. She is no longer very aware of anything and can hardly respond to questions. She is completely wheelchair bound at this point and requires a lot of help. According to the signs given to us from her hospice nurse, Gabby (who has been incredible), she is very close to the end of this tough journey and entering into her Heavenly Father’s arms.

My dad felt strongly prompted to give her a blessing the other morning and it stated that her life has been accepted and that her mother and grandmother are waiting to welcome her to the other side. My brother, Mark, was able to schedule a layover in Utah on his way back from a work trip to Florida and has miraculously been able to be there with them this week.

On Monday of this week she was still able to talk fairly well and she told me she was not scared at all but only felt peace. Her only worries included how much more pain she was going to have to endure. She wanted all of you to know how much she loves and appreciates everyone in her life.

We are asking that visits in these last few days are limited just to family. My dad has appreciated all of the care they have received from their amazing ward and neighbors.

We are all at peace with her being released from her pain, but having a tough time accepting the grand hole that she will leave in all of our hearts and lives. She is the definition of a legacy and has been nothing but the most perfect mother, wife, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, teacher, neighbor, and friend even in the midst of this last and hardest trial.

Our family asks only for your prayers at this time and continued love. My dad says they are “good on food”.

Moving into March

February came and went with a few surprises as well as the regular fun and cold and bad air. We had a fun day with Rachel and her kids. They made some darling big, hearts with clear contact paper, construction paper and and tissue paper. Even the two year old was able to make some. They hung them up on my living room and kitchen Windows, which brightened everything to look like stained glass hearts. I am reluctant to take them down. Gabey also came and made his own version of a Valentine heart.  Some of the girls in our ward came by bringing treats and decorating our door with a heart attack. The young women even learned how to cook an Argentina dinner and delivered it to us. We did have a lot of love showered upon us.

Over President’s Weekend, Mark flew up from Hawaii to spend a few days. Since he was coming we planned a big Sunday dinner with everyone that could come. We didn’t realize how much we needed family to come that day. Scott and I were sitting on the back row at church. He is the choir director and as he got up to lead the choir he said he wasn’t feeling too well. He walked forward weaving back and forth, he passed out cold right in front of the podium. Luckily someone was able to catch him before he hit the floor. A doctor and several nurses were right there helping him until the paramedics arrived. The bishop excused everyone to go to Sunday School. We followed the ambulance to the hospital. They did all the tests and couldn’t find anything wrong, but ended keeping him for observation overnight. So Mark flew in and went straight to the hospital. Most of our daughters were able to help out getting me where in needed to be since I can’t drive. Scott was sent home next morning with nothing wrong. Who knows? I am still doing okay and hospice is a big help. Life stays  interesting. I did get to enjoy Mark’s visit and his extra help!

January Jitters 1/22/19

This has been a busy and different month.  We had a great time with all our family over Christmas.  Christmas day was wonderful with a fun buffet, The Nativity put on by all the children, Singing and playing pipe chimes and gift giving.  We gave all the children pajamas and puppets which was fun.  The following day we had a special catered dinner at a big reserved room for all of our adult children with none of the babies or little children.  We had a special, but necessary meeting to discuss upcoming things.  It was a chance for them to all ask questions and talk about plans.  This was a bit difficult but important thing to do.  Then after dinner we had a fun night of Bunco.  We met together with everyone one more night where we had listed all of the special Christmas decorations including those beautiful ceramics made by Grandma Kimball years ago.  Our children each worked out a system where they each were able to choose some of these decorations since Scott does not plan to use them next year. It will be so good for these precious items to be given to loving homes. After everyone went back home, we have had separate visits from the more local families.

January has brought good help from our hospice help.  They have kept trying to update and figure out what medications will work better.  I am on so many strong pain pills, it seems a bit scary but helping with the pain more and more.  I have had a lot of pain in my hip, leg, back pelvis, etc.  I am finally finding some better relief at night where I can sleep with only once or twice having to get up.  But that does come with more sleepiness during the daytime.  We did get to enjoy a dinner with all of my brothers and their wives except one.  They all came to Logan since it is more difficult to travel any more. I hope this will publish okay on the blog.  It has given me more trouble lately.

 

It’s Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas! 12-17-2018

I just realized it has been many weeks since I wrote on the blog. This will be a bit shorter as we recap these last 5 or 6 weeks.  As I said earlier, we decided to not use any of the other possible procedures or suggested treatments because there was no guarantee that anything  could even make a difference and the side effects sounded worse than anything I have had yet. So we said goodbye to our doctor and the infusion team.

Last week we began with Hospice. We have been very impressed with our team. We have a great nurse and  good social worker. The chaplain was just delightful and very positive. They brought us a wheelchair for longer trips where the walker wasn’t feasible. They also brought in a hospital bed where I can actually sleep instead of using the recliner each night.  It is very comforting to have someone checking on you every few days and they stay up on any needs or changes I might have. We appreciate these good organizations and their desire to help people.

We are looking forward to all of our family arriving in town this week. Mark and Stacey’s girls just found out on December 16 they were coming to Utah and they are very excited.  Paul and Vee’s children have known since before Thanksgiving and have made sure that all of their friends and neighbors and teachers and grocery store employees and the rest of Austin knows they are coming to Utah for Christmas! We do have some fun times planned for all 32 of us together. Everyone else will be coming and going as they can.

The highlights of our month so far have been attending the Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas concert, the AFC Christmas concert, and enjoying a wonderful Christmas CD made by our daughters, Emily and Rachel.  We sure wish each of you a wonderful Christmas celebration and a  NewYear full of blessings and joys.

This Season of Love 9-29-18

As I watch snow falling steadily while listening to Christmas music, the spirit of Love surrounds us.  Today we went to our doctor appointment and basically had our last appointment with our oncologist. I decided not to use the other options that were presented to us at the last appointment.  The side effects were very bad without very promising help.  We chose to enjoy this time without trying to fight all those side effects.  I am able to stop several of the other medications I have been on.  I am working with doing a bit more with a healthier diet, such as doing green smoothies each morning.  I am hoping that it will reduce a lot of the inflammation that is occurring with my leg pain. I am changing some of the soaps and lotions to more gentle formulas that can help the irritation and constant itching I have had.  I have enjoyed all the special love and calls I have received.  We are excited that all of our children and grandchildren will be able to come here for Christmas this year. It is hard for the Hawaiian kids and the Texans since they practically have to come up with whole new wardrobes for the cold weather here in Utah.  Bless their parents for having to somehow bring along their Christmases in addition to all the other things necessary for travel.  We look forward to a wonderful Christmas holiday together.  I love all the lights, music, decorations, treats, gifts and cards we enjoy this time of year.  It is a chance to be reminded of all our blessings as well as remembering the gift of the baby in the manger, our Savior, and what his birth means to each of us.  Merry Christmas to you!

Another tough Week 11/8/2018

This has been a hard day.  We have been working with the Pain and Spine Institute to try and reduce the pain I have had in my leg.  Yesterday they began a new medication hoping for some better benefits.  I am on a 10 day trial for that.

Today we went in for the Keytruda infusion and for the doctor appointment.  Dr Johnson was to tell us about the results from my recent MRI and CT scan.  There are only a few things we learned from the MRI.  It showed there was a lot of swellingaround the hip and leg, and a small hairline fracture in the pelvis area.  The CT scan showed that there has not been the hoped for results using the Keytruda.  Most of the same spots of cancer were present as well as some new ones.  He found new cancer showing in the liver, the adrenal gland, the clavicle  and a couple of spots that had grown a bit bigger in the lungs.  This was certainly not what we were expecting.  We still went ahead with one more Keytruda infusion today because sometimes it takes a bit longer for it to work. We came home with some new information about some possibilities of things to try.  There are a couple of other chemo drugs we could try, but don’t sound really promising.  There are two possible oral pills I can try taking. They have shown promising results with people fighting Melanoma, but not really with my type of cancer.  We are not sure what we should do next so we will study out the possible procedures and pray about what would be best to do next.

We could really use your prayers right now as we figure out our next steps.  I keep coming back to my favorite hymn.  I Need Thee Every Hour p 98 in the LDS Hymnbook

“I need the every hour, most gracious Lord, No tender voice like thine can peace afford,    I need thee, oh I need thee, every hour I need thee.  Oh bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee!”

Another Adventure 10-25-18

It has been another interesting couple of weeks. After Scott had his heart attack and his stent put in, the doctor at McKay Dee Hospital met with us for a consultation.  He really felt like waiting for additional symptoms with Scott’s other blockage could be a problem.  He arranged for Scott to go to McKay Dee to clean out the other blocked artery.  They felt there were several options, but from what the Dr. could see from the other operation, this should be an easy one.  So he went down and had the procedure.  They were able to put in 2 more stents and repair the blockage.  It was easily fixed as the blockage was not a hard plaque, but still soft.  They felt it was a fairly new blockage and now he should be fine.  He just needs to be careful of his diet and exercise and getting used to new medications.  He did spend the night in Ogden and we were grateful our daughters were able to take turns being with him, then bringing him home since my treatments were here at the same time.  My good friend LeAnn was able to take me to all of my appointments.

I also had my MRI a couple of weeks ago.  Today I went in to find the results of those tests.  We are working with another doctor at the Spine and Pain Center who requested the MRI.  The results were a little discouraging as it shows increased Edema and swelling of the muscles and bones around the pelvic bone and hip.  This is mostly caused by the carcinoma.  We may need to do more radiation there, but we are going to try some new medications first.  There is a little hairline fracture there as well.  At least there are some answers for the pain I have had.  I have some swelling in the lower back area as well.  Mostly we will wait until the CT scan the first of November and put both together to make further plans working with my oncologist.  I am grateful to still be able to function mostly doing small jobs around the house and cooking meals.  I appreciate my wonderful friends, neighbors and family members who are constantly helping us out.  More later when I have more answers.  Love to all of you!