Esta la vista mis amigas!

Ruth, at the front and Anne in the middle are both leaving the clinic I work at. Both are amazing sweet spirits.

Ruth, a RN, is one of the first people I met when I started at the clinic and was so overwhelmed. She is now going to work at a clinic 10 minutes from her house instead of an hour and 15 minutes away from her house. Good for her! More time for her family AND less money in the gas tank!

Anne, an ARNP, is down for the winter from New Hampshire. She is a very caring and loving individual and it shows in her gentle frustrations in trying to get the people we treat, who are poorer than you could ever imagine, the medical treatment they desperately need.

You will both be missed.

Tio Dodie 2 weeks before he passed over

This was my 2nd trip to the hospital. I knew he would never look better than this again and asked him to smile for me and my camera. "Leecha, I don't know if I can." he said. But he put a lot of effort into it and this is what I managed to get.

Dear Tio Dodie, thank you for being such a special part of my life. You are one special person and I will miss you dearly.

Love and peace,
Leecha

Tio Dodie -- up to his old tricks!

My dear uncle will always be with me--in my heart. He passed over this past Monday, March 13th from lung cancer. He had one lung removed and then immediately started chemotherapy. He'd just started radiation (only 4 treatments) when he collapsed from weakness and was taken to the hospital. After numerous tests the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

But I knew. My trained eyes told me everything. He was dying and wasn't going to beat the lung cancer. I called and told my family back in Michigan, our dear Dodie wouldn't be with us for long and yet I wished the doctors were correct in their assumption that he'd be going home soon. The icing on the cake was the nosocomial infection he contracted while in the hospital. As compromised as he was he didn't have a chance to fight that off regardless of what the doctors ordered.

For those that don't know what a nosocomial infection is, it's an infection that is in the hospital and is resistant to antibiotics. Better known in the media now as a super bug.

The above picture is from Christmas of 2004. Tio Dodie, a master at card tricks, was playing my daughter, Katie, for all it was worth. And he enjoyed every minute of it too, as was Katie who dearly loved him.