This will be our last posting to this blog. My best friend, husband and beloved Scooter lost his battle with "The Big C" on June 5th.

(Sorry, this had to be posed twice due to it timing out.)

Here is a timeline of events since our last blog entry:

May 29th - Regular check up in Omaha. Scott was having trouble with nausea and diarrhea. Due to the concerns for Graft v. Host Disease, the doctor admitted us to the Med Center. They began taking Scott off of oral meds and replacing them with IVs.

May 30th - Blood draws, platletts and Ivs were the theme of the day. Poor Scooter had to have a PIC line re-installed for more and easier access to his veins. Eventually that day, he had an Endoscope to take samples of his lower colon for pathology to look for Graft v. Host.

May 31st - Kind of a quiet day. The doctors gave him the ok for a clear liquid diet. He had been on only sips of water and ice chips until now. Late in the afternoon, a PA came in and told us she had an initial pathology report back. It was Graft v. Host, but the pathologist wasn't willing to "grade" it without talking to the GI doctor who took the samples.

June 1st - Another day of IVs full of steroids to fight GvH.

June 2nd - Scott, in his subtle way, began bugging the doctors to go home. The final pathology report came back. One sample was GvH level one the other level four, so the steroids were increased.

June 3rd - In his subtle way, Scott began bugging the doctors to go home. Strangely enough they agreed. We would need home health care to hang IVs and regular doctor appointments for blood draws but they were fine with that. Oh, forgot to mention that the TPN (nutrient supplement) and steroids had caused Scott's blood sugar to be totally out of wack. He was now receiving insulin at least twice a day, but they assured us it was due to the TPN and steroids. Once he was off those, it would return to normal.

I stuck closer to the room than normal waiting to learn how to do his blood sugar test, more instructions on IVs, and the other "stuff" I would need to take him home. We went for one of our hospital hall walks mid afternoon. As we turned a corner, he told me he needed the bathroom, so we turned around and went back. He did is duty and got back in bed. He was short of breath, but after walking and trotting back to the bathroom and wrestling the IV standard into the closed sized bathroom, I didn't think too much about it.

His primary doctor came in about 4:00 and was good with everything going on. He was fine with us coming home by the weekend, using home health care and everything. That night about 9:00 I noticed he was really breathing hard and he admitted it was hard to catch his breath. We called the nurse. After a chest x-ray, the PA decided he had fluid on his lungs, so they gave him lasix and started the normal nose tube oxygen. He seemed to settle down and I went to sleep about 1:00.

Before 3:30, I woke up and all hell was breaking loose in our room. He couldn't get enough oxygen in his lungs. The nurses and respiratory therapy put every type of mask on him they had to try and get his oxygen level up. They would get it to 92-95 then it would drop back to the mid 80's.

As the wee hours of the morning wore on, they put him on a machine similar to a CPap machine only the industrial strength version. HE HATED IT! He begged me to take off the mask. He had the respiratory guy convinced to let him out for 10 minutes until the PA came in and said no.

At about 8:00 am, the team descended into the room to install a breathing tube and put him on a ventilator. I tried to explain it to him, but all he could talk about was not having the mask on anymore. I told him, "I love you" and kissed him as they kicked me out of the room.

When I returned, he was on the ventilator, sedated and restrained to the bed. All standard procedures for being on a vent. Everyone reassured me that it was temporary to let his lungs rest and heal so they could figure out what it was.

I called his Dad and step-mom and asked them to come and bring his mother to Omaha.

When they put the breathing tube in, a bronchial sample was taken to grow cultures of it in hopes of finding a bacterial pneumonia Nothing ever grew. Blood cultures were also taken to see what it was. Nothing ever grew.

As the day went on, they did get his blood oxygen stabilized and he seemed calmer.

This is Nebraska and with the storms the mid-west has been having, it was our turn. I tried to chase everyone back to Lincoln before the storms hit. After I thought everyone was safe and sound, I took a shower for the first time in two days. I put on my PJs and curled up in bed.

Before my head hit the pillow, the nurses called me. They could no longer keep his blood oxygen level stable. I went flying to his room. The PA scared me with talk about reviving him if necessary and I called everyone back to Omaha, even my mother.

Somewhere around 2:00 my mother's ride took here back to David City, and I was chased by everyone else out to go to bed. I returned about 6:30 am and there had been no change.

June 5th - Every doctor he had ever seen made their way through the room, it was decided to move him to ICU for more care.

I don't know if it was luck or what, but my girlfriend's husband had been in that unit in February 2007 and unfortunately passed away there. He had an aneurism.

She brought my mother back to Omaha. As they arrived, Scott was being transferred. She took me around, told me the do's and don'ts for the unit, introduced me to the nurses and told them to take good care of me!

As the day went on, his levels kept dropping. It almost seemed like every time I left the room, something would drop and there would be someone calling me or waiting at the door when I returned.

By evening it was clear, Scott was tired of fighting. If it wasn't his blood oxygen level, it was his blood pressure dropping.

Scott's brother Pat and wife Michelle arrived from Lake Havasue AZ about 6:30. It seemed almost like that was what he was waiting for.

After a quick visit with Scott, the doctors began installing a dialysis port because his kidneys had failed.

The head ICU doctor assured us the team was doing everything possible to stabilized him, but it just wasn't working. He let us know we would most likely need to make the decision soon about how far we wanted them to go.

Sometime between 9:00 & 10:00 the end began. There was nothing that could be done to stablize him.

Finally, a priest arrived and gave him last rights. At about 11:00, the lead doctor looked directly into my eyes and asked if I wanted them to do CPR or use the paddles on him.

As my heart broke into pieces, I said, "No. Just let him go." The team quickly and quietly started removing IV tubes and equipment. They silently crept out of the room and left us alone as a family.

He passed from this world to next very peacefully. Only a couple of hard breaths and he came face to face with his creator and Lord - Jesus.

There will be a wake and rosary Monday, June 9th at Butherus, Maser & Love Funeral Home, 40th & A, Lincoln at 7:00 p.m. and the funeral will be Tuesday, June 10th at St. Joseph's Church, 7900 Trendwood, at 10:00 am. Memorials can be sent to the family at 8001 Hickory Lane, Lincoln NE 68510.

We thank all of you who have read about our journey with leukemia and have posted a note on this site.

God Bless all of you! Thank you!

Ann McFall