Nate sees Santa

This was really the best picture we've been able to get with Nate and Santa. He's been pretty scared of him in year's past, but we were able to catch Santa with nobody in line, and nobody waiting so he was able to take some time and get Nate to warm up to him.

nate's a photographer now too!

wouldn't you buy honey from this face?

here's one with nate and his first jack-o-latern

we still carved a pumkin today.....

Elizabeth A. Backus

Employed at ConMed in Utica


ILION - Elizabeth A. Backus, 58, of 519 Doty Drive, Ilion, passed away on Friday, Oct. 26, 2007 at the Abraham House in Utica.

She was born March 12, 1949 in Herkimer, N.Y., the daughter of the late Alton and Inita (Sexton) Pelletier, and received her education in the Ilion Central School system.

Elizabeth was employed as a customer service representative with ConMed in Utica and also was employed at Weiser's Jewelers in Herkimer.
Elizabeth was a member of the Red Hat Society and enjoyed spending time with her family and friends.

Elizabeth is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Craig and Gail Backus of Redford, Mich., one daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Conrad Bottorff of Ilion; two brothers, William Pelletier of Brewster, N.Y. and Robert Pelletier of Naugatuck, Conn.; and two grandchildren, Timothy Eric Farmer, Jr. and Nathaniel Craig Backus, as well as several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. at the Ilion Presbyterian Church, with Rev. Victor McKusick officiating. Interment to follow at the Fort Plain Cemetery.

Friends may call on Sunday, Oct. 28 from 4-7 p.m. at the Whiter-Hendrix Funeral Home, Inc., 100 Otsego St., Ilion.

Friends are asked to consider memorials in Elizabeth's memory to the Abraham House. Envelopes are available at the funeral home.

Online condolences may be left by goig to http://www.whiter-hendrix.com/.

The Evening Telegram, Oct. 27, 2007
Observer-Dispatch, Oct. 27, 2007

Funeral Arrangements

Arrangements are set. I wasn't sure how quickly things would come together, but they have. The visitation will be on Sunday from 4 until 7 at the funeral home, and the funeral itself will be on Monday at 11a at the First Presbyterian Church in Ilion. After the service, those who want can come to the burial in Ft. Plain, and then we'll return for a luncheon at the Elks Club in Ilion.

I asked about visitation at the church, but the church will not allow it, so the only visitation will be Sunday evening.

Visitation, Sunday, October 28 4p to 7p

Whiter-Hendrix Funeral Home, Inc.
100 Otsego St
Ilion, NY 13357
315.894.3781


Funeral Service, Monday, October 29, 11a

First Presbyterian Church of Ilion
90 Morgan St
Ilion, NY 13357
315.894.2070

Internment, Monday, October 29, immediately following funeral

Ft. Plain Cemetery

Luncheon, Monday, October 29, 2p

Elks BPOE
8 West St
Ilion, NY 13357
315.894.1444


If you're so inclined, Donations can be sent in care of Elizabeth Backus to

Abraham House
1203 KEMBLE ST
UTICA, NY 13501

she's gone. i loved her

she's gone. i loved her so much.

Mom's at Abraham House

I exchanged some text messages with Jen, and she's been with Mom at Abraham House. She said it's very nice, and comfortable. The last report was from about 30 minutes ago, and she said that Mom was sleeping, but woke up for a minute to see Jen, and then went back to sleep. I'm really glad things worked out for Mom to be there.

Visitors Today

As noted in previous posts, Mom's moving to the Abraham post after tomorrow. The address there is:

1203 KEMBLE ST.
UTICA, NY 13501



Exchanged some more text messages with Jennifer today. She told Mom about the transfer tomorrow, but she's still pretty confused overall. However, Mom had some visitors from her workplace, Conmed, and Victor, her pastor from the Ilion Presbyterian Church. She did recognize them and had a fairly coherent conversation, so at least she knows there are lots of people who care about her and have come to visit.

Not sure what the number is there, and I'm not sure if Mom is going to be up for talking on the phone anyway. I'm going to be there this weekend, so if anyone wants a direct update, call me on my cell phone: 313.300.8452.

Abraham House is a go!

Jennifer got to the hospital a little while ago and just sent me a text that the Abraham House is all set! She's going to be transferred tomorrow at 11a.

Mom is doing better than yesterday, but is still confused. She's at least communicative with Mom, but was wanting to get up to go to the bathroom and that's no longer necessary as she's been outfitted with a catheter. She was also trying to unscrew her IV. Perhaps the fentynol has lingering effects and it may not have completely warn off yet.

On another note, I got an e-mail from NWA that there's a fare sale to select cities, and I can use 15,000 frequent flyer miles instead of the usual 25,000. I started reserving something for next weekend, and I thought, well maybe something could work out for this weekend. It did! I'm able to fly in and out of Syracuse for the 15,000 miles arriving late on Friday, and leaving first thing Monday morning again. I'm a big believer in coincidences that happen for a reason, so at least if God isn't going to wash away Mom's cancer, perhaps he's at least pushing some other buttons for once!

Abraham House

I spoke to Martha tonight, one of the nurses at the hospital and she said that Mom was more responsive this evening, still confused, but at least communicative, so that's a good sign. She even said that had her up out of bed walking around! I didn't see that happen during the weekend, but I think there's a lot more that goes on there during the week. (She might also count moving from the bed to the commode "moving around" so who knows.)

I did some more googling about the Abraham House tonight, and it seems like a good thing. It's supported by a number of charities in the area including the First Presbyterian Church of Utica, and Hamilton College. There were many positive references to it, and I didn't see anything that jumped out as "don't bring a loved one here."

Jennifer said that the Case Manager was still working with the insurance company to get the transfer and on-going doctor visits approved, but I have to believe that it's meant to be. Think about it, a place with only two beds has one open at the exact time that Mom needs it? I really can't imagine anything going wrong at this point. Just trying to think positive didn't cure Mom's cancer, but hopefully positive thinking can at least get this one victory for her!

Hmmm I'm not sure what to think!

Well, Jennifer got feedback from the nurse that the Abraham House has an opening. They only take 2 patients at a time, so it sounds like timing worked in our favor.

However, Jennifer said that Mom was sleeping, and that Hunsicker reported that Mom was delirious earlier today. The last note I received from Jen was that she would open her eyes but otherwise completely unresponsive to Jennifer. However, if she was delirious earlier today, they may have given her a sedative or something.

St. Luke's Home

Jen talked to the Case Manager today, and it sounds like St. Luke's Home behind the hospital is the way to go. They're trying to get approval from the insurance company now. The other facilities in the area accept medicare or cash. It may be possible for Mom to get some kind of early acceptance into the Medicare program, but I'm not sure how that would work. She was fairly confident before that she would be able to get that once the COBRA coverage ran out. We'll wait and see what we hear tomorrow, and then let everybody know when and where she's being transferred.

This is the same facility that Anne Tanguay was in last year and it seemed pretty nice the couple of times I visited her there. There were a couple of cats that wandered around, but hopefully they won't jump into bed with Mom!

Next Steps

I'm back in Michigan. Mom's in the know about what's next now, so now we hope that things can work out. The case manager assigned to her is off today, so I'm not sure what progress they'll make, but it's likely we'll be hearing more from them later today or tomorrow about what insurance will cover. I just want her to be comfortable.