Is this really happening? Obituary and Tribute Information: 1944 - 2011

It has been five days and it still doesn't seen real that my Daddy has left this Earth to join the angels and God above.

Below is the link to the amazing funeral home that has helped us through this difficult ordeal. Blount and Curry Funeral Home - Carrolwood; Funeral Director Kathryn. Here you will find his obituary, a video tribute/slideshow, areas to leave a memory, sign the guest book, download and view pictures and also memorial service arrangements:

William "Ron" Eichman - Obituary and Tribute

The obituary reads the same but we had it posted in the following papers:

St. Pete Times Obituary - William "Ron" Eichman

Winona Daily News (Winona. MN)

La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI)

Trempealeau County Times (Trempealeau, WI) - this is where my Daddy grew up

Sunday, August 14th we will gather with friends from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The memorial celebration of life will begin at 4 p.m. and run about an hour. It is going to be an amazing celebration and I'm so excited to celebrate my Daddy's life with this wonderful event we have planned in honor of him. I won't spoil any surprises as I hope to see you there. It will be held in Tampa, FL at the Blount and Curry FuneralHome - Carrolwood at 3207 W. Bearss Ave.

Tomorrow family and friends arrive. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. My uncles, Tom and Pick, aunts, Phylis and Vickie, Pam and Dorothy, from Minnesota and Wisconsin and family friends Phyllis and Patsy from Texas. Also, my 93-year-old Gramps is coming, too, who I'm very excited to see. When he found out my Daddy died he said, "I lost my boy." and then im and my uncle went to Granny's grave. And, anyone that has told me they are coming just makes my heart melt with joy.

I've never lost anyone very close to me and in six weeks I lost the only grandmother I've even known, who was an amazing, caring working and my Daddy, who is just irreplaceable and I still can't believe is gone.

I'm overwhelmed with joy by all the flowers, plants, thoughtful messages, "sorrys," and prayers for my Daddy and my family as we try to make it through this tough time. Thank you everyone!! My mom and sister and I are having a hard time with this. My Mommy knew Daddy since she was 15 ... I wish he the strength she needs to get through this as she won't sleep in the bed and just lays on top of it along the bottom with my Daddy's clothes laid down that he was supposed to wear home from the hospital. I have nightmares each night sinc I watched my Daddy die that fateful Monday morning.

I'm afraid that after everyone is gone come Tuesday that we all may crash and burn and this aweful reality may hit us ... please pray for strength for my sisters, mom and me. Daddy, I know you're up there with your mom, brother, and everyone and all the angels with Jesus watching over us. The card I got to go with my Daddy was ... "God and I have something special in common ... we both love you very much!" ...but I'm jealous God gets to have you now, Daddy. We all selfishly wish you were still with us physically but know that you are watching and guiding us from above now. We have a special memorial for you Sunday and so many people are coming but I will remember and miss you each and every day.

My sister, Tonya, put together these poems:

"God saw you were getting tired and a cure was not meant to be, so he put
his arms around you and whispered "Come with me". With tearful eyes we
watched you as we saw you pass away. Although we love you deeply, we could
not make you stay. Your golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands
at rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us - He only takes the best. REST IN PEACE DADDY! #LiveStrong!"

After...
So lonely…seems surreal – You have left us forever
Feeling numb – almost no pain - so afraid to face it
Knowing that you would want me to be strong
Knowing I need to be strong
Knowing that if I break – others will break - Not an option!
Keep going back in time – so many memories – no one can take then away from me
Not even the evil disease that took you
Nothing will come between us – We will be even stronger now!
No more suffering – no more pain – No more fear of the uncertain and unknown
You are free Daddy – You are Free!!

I put together this one, roughly:

Do not weep for now I'm gone
Smile because of how I lived
Don't be saddened by all that's lost
Be comforted by all I provided
I will see you again, though I hope not too soon
Til then, live your life in honor of me
For now I get to watch from above, my heart will swoon

I love and miss you, Daddy

Such a cute 1944 baby!

My Daddy was Prom King, played football, basketball and baseball and was Vice President of the Letterman's Club all his Senior Year :-)

I love you, Daddy!

My Daddy is an Angel Now

My Daddy died at 7:33 a.m. at Tampa General Hospital. He was surrounded by his loved ones.

My mom received a call around 4 a.m. that he was declining fast. We hopped in the car and 30 minutes and running two red lights later we were with my Daddy. He ma not have seen to know we were there but we know he knew. He was wearing an Oxygen mask and making aweful noises in pain. He couldn't say words. We waited until my sisters, Melissa (with her husband Barry) and Tonya, to put him just on morphine. Around 6:30 a.m. they unplugged all his medicines and pumps and he was left on morphine and Oxygen. We didn't want him to be in pain anymore and be able to go in peace.

We all sat around him and near the end my mom was sitting on his left holding him and I was on his right holding his hand with the sisters standing around. He was fighting for every breath that he took. We had his solid gold oldies on in the background. Around 7:30 a.m. his heart level started to drop rapidly. Tonya screamed out in fear and Melissa started to wail in pain. I kept kissing my sweet Daddy and telling him how much I love him and how he won't be in pain anymore and over and over how much I love him. At 7:33 a.m. he went red and to 0. He didn't go in any pain. The morphine kicked in and he was completely comfortable and surrounded by his loved ones.

We spent abot the next 10-15 minutes in the room. I kept holding his hand and kissing him and telling him I loved him. Barry closed my Daddy's eyes. I still have blood on my hand from one of his IV marks on my hand. Then we left the room and had to inform family and friends, cry into each other and the nurses and doctors arms. The staff was amazing toward us. The chaplain came to talk to us about next steps.

My Daddy is going to be cremated. There won't be a funeral but there will be a memorial service that we'll be planning and of course we will let everyone know so they can choose to come of not. We plan to scatter his ashes around the beach, the family gravesite in Trempealeau, WI, his favorite hill in WI, where my Daddy met my Mommy and so on.

As the family was driving home there was a rainbow ... The Lord made my dad into a rainbow to shine down on his family. He's up there now with his Mommy (who died June 12th, 2011), his brother Jim, who died at a young age in 1972, and his wonderful grandparents and the rest of our family and friends that have passed.

Rest in peace Daddy. I know you'll be watching over all of us. We pray for strength and comfort in this time.

William Ronald Eichman, March 10th, 1944 - August 8th, 2011 - Retired Air Force, Beloved Husband, Father, Brother, Son and Friend.

We love you and miss you already.

God saw you were getting tired and a cure was not meant to be, so he put
his arms around you and whispered "Come with me". With tearful eyes we
watched you as we saw you pass away. Although we love you deeply, we could
not make you stay. Your golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands
at rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us - He only takes the best. REST IN PEACE DADDY! #LiveStrong!

Philippians 4:4-7 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Songs for my Daddy

Daddy's Hands

Butterfly Kisses

Love Your Baby Girl

People Are Crazy


Some Beach

Weeks, if that, left to live ...

There's no more surgery. Doctors say he won't survive. We signed a DNR providing our persmission to not have him survive artificially if his lungs or heart were to fail. This gave him a purple bracelet so if sirens were to go off in his ICU room with a water view were to go off the staff is to just turn them off and let him pass. We don't want him to suffer anymore.

We're no longer in a curative, recovery mode. The infection in his lungs is not completely draining. His enzymes are too high in his liver caused from some kind of liver issue - the cancer did not spread there, this they know from a CT scan today. This issue has caused him to look of jaundice. His eyes and skin are very yellow. They'd know what was wrong with his liver if they did a biopsy but whatever it may be wouldn't change thei management of him. Right now they want to treat his acute issues such as working on the lung infection and getting him stable enough to come home.

He has a feeding tube, but they are unable to to feed him through it because he keeps throwing up and we don't want him to aspirate. He even through up blod. They think the cancer may have spread to the lungs and fluid and around the lungs. They are running a citology test on this and we'll have results tomorrow. This would mean he is in Stage 4 cancer.

Right now we just want to make him stable and maintainable so we can get him home to enjoy his last few months, weeks or even days of life in the comfort of his home with his family and dogs. We want to take him to the beach. We want him to ride in Barry's cobra. We want to have a family get together at the house. We want to celebrate his life while he is still alive. We're already setting up for a in-home Hospice to help.

He is in a lot of pain - especially stomach pain. There is brown liquid coming out of his lungs and stomach. They are also giving him morphine. All the medicine and the trauma he has been through has caused him to not be there mentally. He also had a pinpoint stroke. His eyes roll in the back of his head and he makes "uh" noises all the time. We asked him where he was and the past few days he says Tampa General, correctly, but today he said Travis as in Travis Air Force Base in Cali where he was in 1976 ... he also didn't know who one of his daughters was right away. He says random things like "lets get the ball rolling ... how's the chicken ... that feels good ... I want to go to the front office .. I'm on base ... Gearge Bush" It's very scary. He has no personality and it is almost like he is off in la-la land. His doctor is even from Texas and went to school in San Antonio and we tried to tell him that because it hits close to home but Daddy didn't seem to acknowledge it. All that matters is that he says "I love you," which he does and I make sure I say it and hear it everytime I leave that room.

Right now we don't even know if he will even make it through the night. The hospital just called and said that his Oxygen significantly dropped and they had to put him on 100% Oxygen and he isn't getting enough fluids in his system. They said he is not doing well at all. My mom and I are probably going to head to the hospital in a few ... we don't want him to die alone.

I just want my Daddy to come home and be in comfort and peace with us. I'm still praying for a miracle.

I heard this song on the radio on the way home today and found comfort in it ... Justin Moore, If Heaven Wasn't so far Away ... LiveStrong Daddy. We love you.

Three hospital visits in 6 weeks ...

Every summer I work at Texas Bluebonnet Girls State as a staff member. It's a rewarding, great time and I was hesitant about going this year but decided to commit since going to the mythical 51st state of Girls State would be a nice escape from the pain of cancer.

The night before my 5 a.m. flight left from Tampa to San Antonio, TX my dad went into the Emergency Room. We were concerned because he forgot how to write a check, how to drive the car and even how to shower. My mom found him standing naked and cold in the bathroom not knowing what to do so into the ER he went.

The nurse said I would be fine to go on my two week trip. On the third day into Girls State, the day before the citizens came I was eating breakfast with the staff and my mom called telling me I had to come home. Worst call ever. My staff friends were great. Within an hour they had packed up my room and stuff and gotton me in the car to head to the airport to get on the next flight from Austin to Tampa.

My dad's lungs were affected by the radiation. They had become inflamed and were bleeding. His oxygen levels were extremely low, which explains why he wasn't thinking clearly. He was put on an oxygen mask and the reason they wanted me to come home was because there were about to intubate him. He would be out with a tube down his throat to breathe and there was a chance that he wouldn't come out of it so I needed to say my goodbyes.

My brother-in-law Jose picked me up and when I got to the hospital we were all there and I went into see my dad. They actually informed me that he got better! He was rallying and getting better. I came back into the waiting room and my mom sat me down. There was more news. My Granny had just passed away about two hours prior. June 12th officially went in as worst day of the year so far. We took it as a sign that Granny died and became an angel for her son because he got better around the exact same time. We couldn't tell Daddy about his mom passing away because he couldn't handle the news. We waited a whole week to tell him. We sent a gorgeous bouquet of flowers to Wisconsin for the wake and funeral had one of our cousin's read a poem on behalf of him:

On behalf of Helen’s Oldest Son, Ron, I would like to share the following poem.
My Uncle and his family cannot be with us today as he is battling cancer in ICU in Tampa, Florida.  They send their deepest love and prayers, knowing that he has his own Guardian Angel…His Mother.
"There's magic in a Mother's touch,
And sunshine in her smile.
There's love in everything she does
To make our lives worthwhile.
We can find both hope and courage
Just by looking in her eyes.
Her laughter is a source of joy,
Her words are warm and wise.
There is a kindness and compassion
To be found in her embrace,
And we see the light of heaven
Shining from a Mother's face."
Rest in peace with the Angels…Mom/Granny!

My dad spent 17 total days in the hospital, going between six different rooms. We celebrated father's day on the 4th floor of Tampa General and had a lovely time together. Although we had to wear masks, gloves and gowns each day. Happy Father's Day Daddy!

He was finally able to go home but he had to be on Oxygen and he was unable to walk anymore. He had a physical therapist and an at-home nurse assigned to him. At home I'd help him do his exercises, we'd try to fatten him up (he was down to 130 at this point at 5'11''). He is very picky about his food and then his food started really burning and it hurt to swallow.

Not even two weeks later he through up blood and ended up going to Tampa General in an ambulance at 5 a.m. This hospital stay was only 3-4 days. He had radiation induced esophagitis. His esophagus was inflamed and bleeding from the effects of radiation as his lungs were weeks prior.

He came home again and started eating a little better and I continued to do his work outs. A few days back at home it really hurt him to do his exercises and he started to not eat or drink again. This past Saturday morning my mom decided to take him to the hospital to get an IV as he was quite dehydrated. Turned out he had a collapsed lung .... and his chest cavity was full of infected fluid. They are still draining it. It started out brown and is up to 1000mLs that have come out of him. He started to not act aas fast ... he looks like he is in la la land and doesn't really focus or respond much. They had to put a feeding tube in him so they could feed him and give him his medicine. They are running all kinds of scans, MRIs and x-rays on his brain and chest. Surgery is planned for Saturday to remove the giant puss pockets out of his chest. The MRI of the brain shows slow activity.

I saw him this morning and he didn't look well at all. He says hello and I love you but he stares off into space and the doctor says his eyes and skin are turning yellow and that the prognosis isn't good. He is down to 120 lbs. Please send all your prayers/positive thoughts toward my Dad and my family. We really need them right now.

LiveStrong Daddy

Time to Make a Decision

If you had a choice to make where if you chose yes, that you would have a 50/50 chance to live what would you decide? Being the optimist I am, I would assume I'd be one of the lucky 50% ... but this is a decision my Daddy has to make.

Tuesday the family spent the whole day at Moffitt Cancer Center to hear about options. Options such as surgery, more radition and results.

Good news: The tumor is now 90% smaller than it's original 15 cm it was back in November. They aren't sure is this is active cancer or dying residual cancer but, they were very impressed with my dad's reaction to the chemo and radiation. They gave him the most aggressive kind possible. After the PET and CAT scan, the radiologist and surgeous discussed the next steps. My dad, mom and sisters were in the office and I listened in on the phone while at work.

Dr. Meredith, the surgeon, is a strong proponent for surgery. He deems my dad healthy enough. They woul do a pulmonary and nutritional test to identify his strength beforehand. The surgery is an esophagectomy - completely removing his esophagus, which is where the tumor was. They said this is the only way to completely CURE the cancer. Dr. Meredith declared my dad at a moderate risk for this surgery. He would be on a feeding tube for a few weeks afterward. He even said right after the surgery that he would have so many tubes in him he'd look he stepped out of a horror film. During the surgery they would need to collapse a lung. He said some patients recover and go through a McDonalds drive thru not long after and some take up to 6 months. There's no saying how my dad would react.

Dr. Shradir is concerned because he severely radiated my dad's right lung during radiation to treat the tumor. He is afraid his lungs won't make it through surgery or won't inflate properly afterward. There is also a risk of pnuemonia and other complications. He said that my dad would be the most high risk patient he'd submit to surgery.

Brachy therapy is another option - but results aren't always as favorable. This where they would do direct radiation hits on the esophagus zapping the tumor away.

Things to consider - quality of life after surgery? Just sit and let things happen? Reaction to brachy therapy? Complications during and after surgery?

My dad was 135 lbs a few weeks ago. He's 5'11''. He looks like a Holocaust victim, but the doctors aren't as concered about he weight as we are. I weigh more than my daddy. We're just not used to seeing him like this. I was going through old pictures and it's so apparent how much weight my dad as lost.

Here's my dad and at I at my sorority's father's day weekend Sophomore year, 2006:

And here we are during Easter this year:

It's a blessing that the family has all been together through all of this and that we're fortunate enough to have Moffitt. I can't fathom the weight of this decision that my Dad has. I ask for prayers and positive thoughts as he comes to a decision that would be life altering. I will hope for the best, that he'll go with surgery and it''s be successful, with a strong speedy recovery and that'll he will enjoy many more years of life.

Livestrong Daddy

Below is some research we found online on this procedure:


Cancer Society.
National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/
American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org/
I love you!
***********************************************************************************************************************
Ann Surg Oncol. 2010 Apr;17(4):1159-67. Epub 2010 Feb 6.
Pathologic response after neoadjuvant therapy is the major determinant of survival in patients with esophageal cancer.
Meredith KL, Weber JM, Turaga KK, Siegel EM, McLoughlin J, Hoffe S, Marcovalerio M, Shah N, Kelley S, Karl R.
Source
Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA. kenneth.meredith@moffitt.org
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Esophageal cancer remains a malignancy with high morbidity and mortality despite improvements to diagnosis, staging, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Neoadjuvant therapy (NT) may improve oncologic outcome in many patients, however the degree to which patients benefit remains unclear. We examined the relationship between pathologic response to NT and magnitude of benefit in patients with esophageal cancer.
METHODS:
Using a comprehensive esophageal cancer database, we identified patients who underwent esophagectomy between 1994 and 2008. Pathologic response was denoted as complete (pCR), partial (pPR), and nonresponse (NR). Clinical and pathologic data were compared using Fisher's exact and chi-square when appropriate, while Kaplan-Meier estimates were used for survival analysis.
RESULTS:
We identified 347 patients who underwent esophagectomy, and 262 (75.5%) were treated with NT. The median age was 66 years (28-86 years) with median follow-up of 20 months (1-177 months). There were 106 (40.5%) patients exhibiting pCR, 95 (36.3%) with pPR, and 61 (23.3%) with NR. The rate of R0 resections was higher amongst pCR (100%) compared with 94.7% in pPR (P = 0.02) and 87.5% in NR (P = 0.0007). There were 15 (14.2%) recurrences in pCR, 22 (23.7%) in pPR, and 17 (28.8%) in NR (P = 0.04). Patients achieving pCR had 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of 52% and 52%, respectively, compared with 36% and 38% in pPR and 22% and 19% in NR (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001).
CONCLUSIONS:
Esophageal cancer patients frequently succumb to their disease. However, patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy who achieve pCR have a higher rate of R0 resections, fewer recurrences, and improved 5-year OS and DFS.PMID: 20140529 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Ring of Fire

I'm hoping that this cancer nightmare is coming to a close. Five weeks ago my Daddy had a PET scan and they discovered that the tumor had shrunt 2/3 the size. Praise the Lord! That's really been the only big news lately.

Every week day my Dad and Mom go over to Moffitt for radiation. He is in is last week of scheduled radiation treatments. This weekend he started to show a radiation burn. It looks like an aweful sunburn and even is on his back. The radiation has been kicking his butt more than the chemo. He had gotton two four hour infusions during these five weeks and wears a five-day chemo pump. He gets the weekends off, which he really likes. One of the major difficulties he has had is the organ sunscreen shot they inject every other week. This makes him feel more sick than the actual treatment. This shot protects his heart and lungs from the radiation, while it works its magic on the tumor in his esophagus. He doesn't mind the treatments. They play good music for him, cover him in blankets and make him comfortable and in a few minutes, it's over.

This upcoming Monday he will have another PET scan to see how the five weeks effected him. Lets all hope and pray for the best!

My Daddy also celebrated his 67th birthday on March 10th! We had a great time at Pete and Shorty's with all you can eat shrimp night. He got a Packer's Super Bowl package from Sports Illustrated and also a Coach wallet. ;-)

Happy 67th Birthday Daddy!

My Daddy also had a lovely visit from his brother, Pick and Vickie. They came down from Minnesota and thouroughly enjoyed the 70some degrees weather here in sunny Florida. :-)

 They also enjoyed watching the Packers beat the Bears!!

 And lets not forget that the Packers won the Super Bowl - which I like to believe was all for my Daddy! The ultimate CHEESEHEAD!!!

Daddy and his girls :-)

Cheers to the best!!

A LiveStrong Christmas

I decided Christmas should have its own post since it was a remarkably special one!

We did Christmas Eve at Tonya and Jose's and Christmas Day at Melissa and Barry's. Both days were full of good food and lots of memories! My daddy is so glad he can eat again! We had paella for Christmas Eve and seasfood lasagna for Christmas day. Yum!! Everyone got fabulous presents, too! Coach-a-licious of course!

On Christmas day we decorated an inspirational, New Year's Livestrong Tree! The whole family decorated ornaments and doves to decorate the tree alone with yellow ribbon. It was fun to do together and Daddy really liked it.

Here are some Christmas pictures :-)

<3

haha

Our Livestrong Tree!

"Always Daddy's Little Girls"

THE FAMILY <3

Hugh Hefner?! haha

I love you, Daddy! <3

We love you Daddy, but we're not going to shave our heads!

Sorry for the delay in updating this. The holidays at Coach kept me crazy busy.

The original treatment plan for my Daddy was canceled. He is no longer going to do radiation since the tumor is too large so they started him on chemo December 17th. I'm unsure of the exact names of the chemo but every three weeks he goes in for a four hour infusion. The first hour is hydration and then a diuretic. Then they infuse him with this red, jelly-like chemo, which takes about five minutes. Then there is about an hour drip of another kind of chemo followed by a final hour of hydration. The third kind of chemo is chemo to go! He wears a cylindrical tube about a foot long that is hooked up to his port. He gets this changed once a week. While being in the infusion center, he gets to relax in a big, green, comfy share complete with flat screen TV, and a fridge full of ice cream, jell-o, soup and juices and sodas. My parents bought themselves an iPad to occupy the time as well.

The first session they showed us a video on chemotherapy and potential side effects and what to do. The only side effect that my dad has really been experiencing is constipation. The nausea medicine they gave him really helps out with that so unless he forgets to take the drugs, he is fine.

Treatment and everything was going well until New Years Even when he went in to get his tube changed. They always do blood work each week to check his levels. Unfortunately, they discovered that he had a fever and a horribly low white blood count. They deemed this an emergency situation and admitted him to the hospital with nutrapenic fever. But, he felt completely fine! Fortunately this was a good weekend for football so my dad was well entertained and my mom, sisters and I visited him often. I watched TCU in the Rose Bowl with my Daddy at the hospital but I was still sad he was in a hospital to bring in the New Year, but he was ok with it. They pumped him with antibiotics all weekend to bring his fever down and enhance his white blood cell count. Anytime a patient has a fever over 100.5 it is room for major concern. He has been doing well since this incident. He didn't get the week of his chemo-to-go but they proceeded with chemo treatment the following Friday with the four hour infusion and his new chemo-to-go. They reduced the strength of the chemo by 10% because of the nutrapenic fever incident.

Another most commonly known side effect of chemo is losing your hair. About two weeks ago his hair started to come out during bath time and sleep. Just little by little. It progressively got worst and I suggested shaving it. My coworker at Coach, who is battling breast cancer, shaved her head right away because it was traumatic for her to lose her hair. Well, it was traumatic for my dad as well. My mom said that as she shaved it he started to cry ... but then when she was all done, he looked in the mirror and laughed. It didn't look that bad! Take a look!

Great shirt right? haha. Well, I woke up that morning and my mom warned me before I saw my dad. I was shocked ... it doesn't look bad at all but it is different. Apparently when I was really little and my dad shaved his mustache I got VERY upset. She had me send the pic to the sisters and his brothers. Uncle Tom replied with this picture:

haha, with the caption of should I continue or leave it?

Then he sent this one:

"All done! LIVESTRONG BIG BROTHER!"

Such brotherly love! All the way from Wisconsin! My one sister said it brought tears to her eyes and we both agreed that we love Daddy but aren't going to shave our heads for him. :-)