In Loving Memory of Carol Lewis - Video Played at Memorial Service

In Loving Memory of Carol Ruth Lewis

We had a lovely memorial service today for mom. Dad was able to give a scripture reading and message. Kristi and our sister-in-law Jessica sang Day by Day and He is Able. I gave the story behind why they sang He is Able. Karen shared a memory and read mom's poem that mom wrote to her stillborn son. The boys presented a necklace to my dad with mom's wedding ring on it. We then showed a slide show with pictures of my mom and our family (we will try to post this slide show on here soon). Then the assistant pastor from a church in Longbeach gave a nice closing message and prayer. Here is a picture of all of us before the service.  

Well Done Thou Good & Faithful Servant...Enter Thou Into the Joy of thy Lord

Shortly after I finished posting the blog on late Friday night, mom went home to be with her Lord around 2:15AM on Saturday. We were all with her praying, singing and talking to her even though she was unable to communicate with us towards the very end. We knew that she could hear us and feel our presence. Everyone had left the room for just a moment and when my dad went back in to check on her she was gone. I believe even up to her last moment she knew that we had left the room and she wanted to part privately.

We are all heartbroken that she is gone. We did not expect it to happen this soon. The Lord was working though, because he knew we would not be able to stand seeing her in the condition she was in for very long. She will be greatly missed by many and we are just so thankful that she is no longer in any pain or suffering.

We will be having a memorial service for mom at the Fairhaven Memorial Park on Tuesday at 10AM.  Our family has greatly appreciated all of your prayers through this time. We continue to covet your prayers.

Fairhaven Memorial Park
1702 Fairhaven Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92705

For those of you who would like to send cards, please send them to Karen's address.
1737 N. Bates Cir.
Anaheim, CA 92806

1Thesselonians 4:13...sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

Today mom woke up with about the same amount of strength as yesterday. This afternoon she was even up for a walk in the wheel chair. She said the sun felt good and it was good to get outside.

As the day has progressed she seems to be getting worse and worse. This afternoon she became more and more week with hardly enough strength to walk. She then began coughing. Her speech has become more slurred and as the day has come to an end is not really talking much at all.

Our main nurse that will be seeing her weekly stopped by tonight to check in and take her vitals. She basically told us some things to keep our eye on like congestion, fever and confusion. This is our indication that the end is near. We have already started to see the congestion and confusion today. It seems like today has been the fastest deterioration of all. She has gone from being able to walk and hold a few minutes conversation to hardly walking and hardly talking. This evening she has started coughing up some of the congestion. The nurse told us in her best judgement from what she has seen previously mom has probably just a few days or maybe a week left to live. This is a lot sooner then we had all hoped, if it is the Lord's plan to take her. We do take comfort in the fact that she knows without a shadow of a doubt that once the Lord decides to take her she will be taken into the arms of Jesus. The best comfort right now is knowing this and that she will no longer be in any pain or suffering.

It was good that we had a hospital bed delivered for her as she is really struggling to breath tonight. Even as I'm typing she is extremely exhausted and tired.

Ok. Had to take a break and now I am back. As I was typing mom started gurgling up fluid and was having a really hard time catching her breath. She sounded as if she was drowning in fluid. She has coughed it all up for now and is trying to sleep, but still having a hard time breathing. Kenneth and Jessica arrived tonight and are here. We have called Kevin and Kyle and they will be getting here tomorrow. At this point and time we really feel the Lord will take her soon. She is pretty non-responsive right now, but we are not sure if it's because she is sleeping or can't respond. The last thing she said through her gurgled words was "I love you guys".

We called hospice and a nurse is supposed to be arriving soon to assess her. Since we are all non experts here we don't know what to think of the situation except that the end is near, but not sure how much longer she can go on like this.

Please pray for strength, grace and comfort for our family. We hate seeing mom in this state and would like for her not to have to struggle through each breath that she takes.

Yesterday evening mom was released from the hospital. The second opinion that came back from the doctors confirmed everything that they had already told us about the pancreatic cancer, etc. We were all glad to have mom back home at Karen's house and she said it was good to be back too.

They sent her home with a catheter, since her kidney's started not functioning again. The time that she left the hospital they were not functioning and the doctor said that they may function on and off. The doctor did tell her when the kidneys stop functioning all together that it will not be painful. She will become more and more tired and will one day just not wake up. This has been hard news for all of us to hear, but know that it is the reality of the situation unless God has different plans.

Since mom has been home, she still sleeps most of the time. Her skin seems to be more yellow again. She does have a bit of an appetite back, which we were happy to see. She is eating more now then when she left for the hospital. We are trying to keep it mostly liquid and slowly introduce solids since it is hard for her body to digest right now.

Thank you all for praying for her hospice care. We were getting the run around up until today. We were referred to Vitas Hospice and they came to the house today and accepted mom as a patient. They did this as a charity, since mom and dad did not have the Medical they would have needed to cover it here in CA. I know this is an answer to prayer so we do praise the Lord for that.

Since mom has been put under hospice care, they have been very efficient and loving in getting the care that mom needs. She is very happy about their service. Within several minutes of being accepted they brought the medical equipment that mom needs for now (walker, shower chair, oxygen & side table) and her medication. Mom is not in a lot of pain now. We are all set up for everything that she needs when she does start feeling more pain. She will have a nurse that will check in with her one to three times a week and a physician as needed.

We are looking forward to seeing Kenneth, Jessica and their daughter Kendra this Saturday. They are coming to visit for a couple of days. Thanks again for keeping our family in your prayers. For now we just pray for strength and energy for my mom and no more hospital visits.

Here we are at day four, since we took mom to the hospital. She is still there, but will most likely be released tomorrow. Here are the updates as we know them as of now. My brain has felt a little jumbled these past few days so please bare with me. I feel like I can't even think straight with all that is happening and all the information that keeps coming our way. 

After the doctors ran some preliminary tests, they decided to do a CT scan yesterday to get a better look at what was going on. Basically, the CT scan results showed what we already knew and additionally showed lesions on the pelvis that we were unaware of. There is nothing more to really do with this information as we know already that she has cancer and are aware that it will continue to spread.

Mom did have a small infection that was forming, but she was given an antibiotic to take care of that. The kidneys are now starting to function properly. They believe that they were failing before due to lack of hydration and nourishment. Now that mom has been on an iv, she has been well hydrated. She also feels a lot better and looks amazingly better then when we took her in. Her skin is hardly yellow now. Her appetite is also back and she has been eating/drinking everything on her all liquid diet that the hospital has put her on.

The doctors did say that they wanted to try to get a second opinion on everything. We also have been wanting this all along. They kept her for one more night because nothing has come back yet on that opinion. We hope to hear tomorrow.

We will likely still need hospice to come in to help with her care as she is still very weak and unable to do too many things on her own now. Just keep praying for the paperwork end on this though. We were told today that hospice will not care for her unless they are resident of CA. This is not a quick process and so we are trying to find out what our options are.

We were all excited to see Matt finally arrive on Friday night. The girls were so happy that he was finally here and so was I. He had never been away from the girls for that long.

When Matt saw mom, he said there was a big difference in her looks since he had seen her two weeks prior. Basically, the last few days she didn't eat or drink much. We kept telling her to try to force herself to at least drink to stay hydrated. Because she had not eaten much, she lost 10 pounds in the last three days. She was looking very yellow and weak. She was also needing more physical help with even walking to the bathroom. On Friday we did take her to get some blood work done and that completely exhausted her.

On Saturday Kristi arrived! Everyone was so happy that she was finally here as well. Kristi told me that mom did not look good at all.

Matt and I took the kids to the beach for a fun family day on Saturday morning. On our way home, I got a call from Karen saying that she, Kristi and dad were taking mom to the ER. Mom requested to go. She said she did not feel well at all, was feeling light headed and was afraid she wouldn't be able to walk soon. From here, it's been kind of a whirlwind of events.

They admitted mom right away and started to run some blood test, etc. One of the main things that came back showed that basically her kidneys have failed and were not working and her bilirubin numbers were really high. She was also a bit dehydrated. The doctor said that hopefully once she starts to get hydrated again that her kidneys will start working again properly on their own.

Mom stayed the night in the hospital and they hooked her up to an iv and gave her morphine. Dad stayed with her last night. Matt and I went to see her this morning and she looked a lot better then she did yesterday. Last night when we saw her she looked very ill and if I'm not being too morbid, at deaths door. She even started talking like she was about to die and of course that was hard emotionally. We still don't have many results back yet today or what the future looks like for right now. She said she slept the best that she has since before her gallbladder surgery. This was the best nights sleep for like three months. She is not in any pain now and was quite alert this morning to talk for a while. Last night she was in and out of it.

I will try to keep this updated with more information as we find it out. We know that the hospital is going to have a hospice care representative come and talk to mom and dad. At this point we are just trying to stay positive for mom and let her know that we by no means are ready for her to check out eternally. She needs to know that we still want her around, but we do support whatever decision she wants to make regarding her health.

If anyone would like to send a card to her you can send it to:
Carol Lewis
1737 N Bates Cir.
Anaheim, CA 92806

We finally seem to be getting the hang of things. I think we have ourselves on a good routine now. It's still busy, but at least we know what we are doing and we can do it efficiently.

Karen and I were able to take Jewels and Myah to the beach on Monday, while dad stayed with mom. It was nice to get away for a few hours and not have to think about the routine. The girls loved it too! It has been so hot here (in the 100's), it was nice to cool off.

The last few days mom seems to just be getting weaker and weaker. She has no appetite so it is really difficult for her to eat and get her juices down. The juices are supposed to help heal her. The indigestion makes her not want to eat as well. When I first got here I was concerned of eating in front of her for fear that I would tempt her to eat something she shouldn't have. That doesn't even matter, because she doesn't get tempted by any food. She has no appetite. She said it's all she can do to get down what she's suppose to. She has to pray herself through it every time. Yesterday was the first day that she only had three of her ten juices and she only ate breakfast. Today she seems to be on the same track.

Yesterday she told me that if God doesn't heal her quickly then she is just ready to go to heaven. She hasn't given up yet, but she is getting close. She said she had no idea how hard this would be. She said it's not worth it. She does want to see her brother and his wife again who is due to visit on Oct. 16th. She is also looking forward to seeing my sister Kristi who is coming to stay for 10 days this Saturday. She saw all my brothers in AZ, but Kevin and Kyle will be coming on the 16th to visit again as well.

She even told dad, Karen and I to go ahead and start the process of looking into hospice care. She's not ready for them yet, but she said she probably will be soon. This has been very discouraging news to hear her talk like this. We are trying to keep hope alive for her and have told her we aren't giving up on her. We always want to support whatever she decides so it's a hard situation to be in. We don't like seeing her in pain and deteriorate before our eyes either. She thinks she is worse off then originally told. She said that she can feel cancer pain in her back, under her ribs and abdomen as well as her pancreas and liver. She was also told by the doctor here in CA that nodules were found on her lungs according to the hospital reports that he reviewed. The hospital in Tallahassee had not told her this.



Another thing to pray for is all the paper work of everything. She is supposed to get blood work done next week and we are still trying to work on getting medical for her. She has medicaid for FL, but it won't work here in CA. This has tied us up in being able to get anything else for her medically that she needs like blood work and scheduling another PET scan.

We are looking forward to Matt coming again to visit on Friday. The girls and I really miss him. He will be here for the weekend. We greatly appreciate all the love, care and prayers of everyone. Mom loves all the cards that she has received. Those are a great encouragement to her.

A Change of Pace

Today was a nice 90 degree day so we actually got to go enjoy the pool at Karen's best friend's house. Mom came with us to the house and enjoyed sitting in a lounge chair by the pool watching the rest of us play. It was a nice break for everyone. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the water.

The last couple of days mom has been really tired still. We were fortunate that she wanted to go sit by the pool today. I think she was ready for a change of scenery too, but it wore her out. She didn't have a great night this evening. She threw up before bed. I know that she feels bad and doesn't like feeling so dependent on us. She kept saying how sorry she was that she was so sick. We all felt really bad for her and tried to help her not feel guilty. She is definitely physically not herself.

Please continue to pray for healing and for some good days. Also continue to pray for dad's thumb to heal so that he will be able to help even more.

I'm usually writing these post so late that they sometimes might not make sense. I do apologize for that. The last couple days have gone pretty well as we refine the routine and get everything figured out. Even Jewels, my 2 1/2 yr. old is starting to get the routine down. She knows that Grandma has to drink a juice just about every hour.

Today was a rougher day for mom in that she didn't wake up with as much energy as she usually does. She just seemed more exhausted. She still has some pain sometimes, but today she got a really bad cramp type pain in her side. It was pretty excruciating for her. She put a hot pack on it and that seemed to help ease the pain.

It was a rough day for dad too, as he managed to slice a good chunk of his thumb open. He now will have to keep it wrapped up for a long while for it to heal. Needless to say, it will be harder for him to help me with the washing, cutting and juicing of everything.

I think we are all exhausted at this point and just trying to find the strength to get through the day and possibly sneak in a nap. It hasn't really happened yet, but there is always that hope for one in the future. :)

Still trying to figure out new ways to present the food to mom so that she doesn't get too bored with it. Today I scorched the batch of potatoes. She really didn't like that way too much. I usually am a good cook. With everything going on at the same time, I have turned into not such a great cook. I told mom I think that she'll probably want to fire me as her chef.

Please keep the prayers coming our way. It would be so easy to get run down with how physically and mentally draining everything has been. We greatly appreciate all the love, cards, prayers and encouragement that everyone has given.

Taking One Day at a Time

I have to keep telling myself to just take one day at a time or things will get too overwhelming. It's my third day here and things have been none stop since we got here. Yesterday was suppose to be our last fun family day with Matt, but he came down with an awful headache. He didn't feel like doing anything except resting and that's all I wanted him to do to get better. My dad and I ended up taking the kids to the park instead of going to the beach. That was after we had finished all the juicing for the day of course.

Here is a glimpse of our day. Dad makes mom's breakfast of orange juice and oatmeal in the morning. Then after we all eat breakfast, we start on the juicing for the day. There are nine juices that mom drinks throughout the day and we try to make all that we can in the morning. Three of the nine have to be made fresh and drank within 15 minutes of making. Those are the green juices that consist of romaine lettuce, tender beet tops, green pepper and a green apple. The other juices that we make in the morning are her carrot/apple juices. She drinks two carrot juices and then four carrot/apple. Yum! Yum! I haven't actually tried any of these yet. She basically drinks a juice every hour. They make her very full so she hardly has an appetite when she does eat. Each carrot juice has four carrots in it. She feels the best and has the most energy in the morning and eats the best then too.

For lunch mom gets hippocrate soup, a potato and a salad if she wants. She can always eat fruit too, but she usually doesn't want fruit or the salad for lunch. She eats very small portions these days. Then for dinner mom eats the same thing. Karen and I try to come up with different exciting ways to make her potato and salad with the things she is allowed to have on it.

So it seems like we are constantly doing something, shopping, washing vegetables, juicing, making a meal, cleaning, etc. Karen is back to work now (night shift) so dad and I are trying to get the swing of things and figure out the best schedule to do things the most effective way possible. All the while of course with Jewels and Myah running around and meeting their needs.

In the evenings we make the hippocrate soup every other night which consist of celery, leeks, onions, parsley, parsnip, tomatoes and potatoes. It gets simmered for two hours and then blended. It taste kind of like baby food, but not too bad. Then on the other night we make the coffee enemas which just consist of organic coffee and water. It just gets boiled and simmered.

I'm finding it's hard to keep this updated every day so I'm trying to give all the information now of what our days will be filled with for what I'm sure will be a long time right now. I think we are all exhausted and tired so we definitely need the power of prayer for our strength to be renewed every day and have the endurance to make it through this season of life.

Mom at this point is about the same. Her skin does look more yellow to me then the first day I saw her, but she does seem to have more energy then the first day as well. Since she does feel best in the morning she does try to take a short walk and sit in the sun for a few minutes a day. Then the rest of the time she mostly spends on the couch resting or in her bed. She still seems to be getting the indigestion and nausea later in the day so I know she'd appreciate prayer for that to subside. She would love to have more strength and not be so tired too.

Here are some verses that mom has said have helped her get through.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

John 14:1-4 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

2Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Psalm 23 and 27

We've Arrived!

Let the craziness begin!! Matt, the girls and I arrived safely to my sister Karen's house in CA today. The girls did really well on the flight and were excited to see their Uncle Thomas, Aunt Karen and Grandpa and Grandma Lewis.

My first impression of my mom is that she has lost some weight since I saw her last June, but she looks pretty good. She is just really tired all the time. She has to just rest sitting down a lot.

This evening my sister went over mom's schedule with me so that I can start getting an idea of everything we have to do. We made coffee enemas tonight. Fun! Fun! Tomorrow she will show me how to do all the juicing, etc.

Matt, my dad and I are going to take the girls to the beach tomorrow to enjoy our last day with Matt. It's supposed to be 80 degrees so hopefully it will make for a fun day. Unfortunately, mom can't come with us to even sit and enjoy the beach. Any type of outing these days exhaust her.

September 13th & 14th Update

September 13th
Well, my mom has almost been in treatment for a week now and I think over all things are going pretty well. Her energy level still seems improved and her body seems to be handling the new diet pretty well. The one thing that she does ask prayer for is the indigestion and slight nausea she gets in the late morning that will last until evening. The doctor said this is part of the detox process. Hopefully this will subside soon.

Matt and I are making preparations to fly down to CA with the kids this Friday. He will stay there with me for the weekend and then head back home on Sunday. I will stay there with the girls to help take care of my mom. The girls and I have one way tickets and will stay there indefinitely at this point. Please pray that this will be a smooth transition for all of us and that the kids will do well in their new environment. Matt will try to come to visit every few weeks on the weekends. We sure are going to miss him. At this point, I think he's afraid that Myah is going to start walking when he's not there. I'll try to convince her to save it until he visits. :)

I was just talking to Karen today and it sounds like we'll sure have our work cut out for us. My mom's juicing and food preparation process sound like it's going to be a full time job. Everything that she eats must be organic and some of the juicing has to be made right away and drank within 15 minutes of making it. She's suppose to drink 13 juices a day plus eat three meals that all have to be made fresh daily. There are just fews things can be made a couple days in advance. We also have to home-make the coffee enemas and other natural pain medicine type things. I'm sure I'll get all the details once I get there and get started on everything.

September 14
I never got around to posting this yesterday and now today I have something else to add before I post. Kristi told me that she talked to mom today and yesterday was mom's worst day so far. Around dinner time she started getting very sick and was vomiting along with diarrhea. She apparently didn't have a great night last night. Today though, she said she is doing a lot better. The doctor again told her that this is a normal detox process and she will have her good days and bad days. They have given her natural methods for upset stomach and pain and they have seemed to help some. Please pray that this detox period will end quickly. I'm not sure how long it's suppose to take.

The Story from my End

I am new to this whole blogging thing, but the goal of this blog is to keep friends and family updated with the most current information on my mother, Carol Lewis. I will try to post things as soon as I am able to try to keep everyone in the loop on the progress of how my mother is doing.

On the morning of August 14th my mom went to the ER after the advise from all of her children. For three weeks prior she had been complaining of stomach pain and pain in her back and ribs. She thought it was probably her gallbladder acting up. The pain was getting bad enough that she started not sleeping well and was not able to eat much. All of us children were concerned and wanted her to get it checked out just to make sure it wasn't something too serious.


When my mom arrived at the ER in Tallahassee, FL, the doctors immediately started running various tests. I called my dad that Saturday morning to find out if in fact he had taken mom to the ER. At that time he said they were there and they were running all the tests, but no results had come back yet. The doctor did say in his professional opinion that she probably does have gallstones that will need to be removed along with the gallbladder. My dad told me he would call me back when the results had come back. At this point I was relieved that she had finally gone in to find out what was wrong and fix the problem so that she wouldn't be in pain anymore.


A couple hours later I received the phone call from my dad. He told me the results just came back. His words "they aren't good". As I take a deep breath and brace myself, I ask what are they. He said mom does have gallstones, but also she has massive cancerous tumors everywhere on the pancreas and liver. Once tumors are found on the pancreas, it is assumed that it is cancer. I am overwhelmed with emotion and shock. I don't even know what to say even if I could speak. He said mom would be going in for surgery to remove the gallstones, gallbladder and to take a biopsy of the tumor on the liver to find out if it had metastasized from the pancreas. The biopsy would also give us the stage of the cancer.

During the wait time our family tried not to do too much research on pancreatic cancer, but it was hard not to. None of the outcomes were what we would hope for. At best she would have five years. Trying not to focus on the negative, we filled our hearts and minds with encouraging Scripture such as Psalm 145:18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him.
Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength.
Rom. 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.
Job 22:27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee.
Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.
Psalm 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. What shall we then say to these things?
Romans 8:31 If God be for us, who can be against us?

On Tuesday, August 17th I went to my sister Kristi's house so that the kids could all play together. While I was there, my dad called me and told me that the test results had come back. I again brace myself. He said that the biopsy they took from the liver had metastasized from the pancreas and the cancer was at stage four and they are only giving her four to six months. Once more, I am overwhelmed with emotion and shock. I can't believe what I just heard. How can it be that my mother of whom I just saw two months prior and was healthy as a horse has now been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It can't be only four to six months that I have left to spend with my mother who is always there for me for advise, who has loved me unconditionally from the day I was born, who I look forward to her visit and what we will laugh about next. There are so many things running through my mind. Then when I talk to my mother she is as calm and positive as ever. She tells me not to be sad, for she is not sad. If it is the Lord's will to take her, then she knows she is going to heaven and there is nothing sad about that. The doctors had told her that basically there is no point in proceeding with chemo or radiation, but this news did not make her give up. She told me she was interested in trying some natural treatment methods that she had heard work for some people.


Over the next couple weeks, we found a natural treatment center (The Longevity Center) in CA that uses the Gerson therapy method of natural treatment that uses organic foods, juicing, coffee enemas, detoxification and natural supplements to activate the body’s ability to heal itself. This center is close to my sister Karen. We wanted to move my parents closer to us kids anyway so this seamed like the perfect option. On August 31st my mom flew to Phoenix and my dad and brother Kevin drove from FL to AZ. My parents were able to spend some time with my three brothers and their families who live there. Then on September 5th my mom flew to CA and my dad drove their car there. My mom during this time has been extremely tired and in some pain so we thought it best that she fly rather then make the drive with my dad.


My mom's 10 day treatment started on September 7th. The first couple days went pretty good. The doctor gave her a lot more to eat then what she had been eating herself. She seemed to have a little more energy and her natural skin coloring started to come back after the first couple of days. The center also told her that they have treated patients that have been worse off then my mom and the patients that stick with the program have survived their cancer. The treatment time starts her on eating healthy and juicing, etc and basically gives her all the information on how to continue to live this lifestyle on her own. This will be a new way of life for my mom. We are all hopeful that God will use this method to heal her in a miraculous way.

~Kim E.