Messages & Announcements

"Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson...you find the present tense and the past perfect."

10. Date: July 2, 2000
Subject: Tommy Moon
Services for Thomas Wade Moon Sr., 61, of Hoover, formerly of Calhoun County, will be Monday at 11 a.m. at Ridout’s Elmwood Chapel in Birmingham with Rev. David King officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper. The family will receive friends Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Mr. Moon died Friday.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Ray Moon of Hoover; a daughter, Cheryl Moon Kittrell of Fairhope; and a son, Thomas Wade Moon Jr. of Hoover.
Mr. Moon was a member of Green Valley Baptist Church and was a member of the Alabama Blue Grass Music Association. He was a graduate of Anniston High School, had attended Jacksonville State University, and was a graduate of Huntington College in Montgomery. He was employed with Clarklift of Alabama.

9. Date: June 25, 2000
Subject: Robert Sikorski
Bob Sikorski had a stroke on Father's Day. He is OK in relative terms. His left side was affected, he can move but has very little feeling in that side. Lamar Gilbert talked with him and he seems to be in pretty good spirits. The stroke affected his voice and he joked about sounding like a cross between the Godfather and Muhammed Ali. In the next few days he will be going into a rehab hospital for extensive therapy. They do incredible things with stroke patients these days and , with rehab, most of his symptoms are either reversible or at least improvable. He probably won't be home for at least a couple of weeks, so at this point E Mail would be pointless. Lamar will let us know when he goes home and I feel sure he would like to hear from everyone then. Say one for Bob!

8. Date: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 9:30 PM
Subject: Mother
Sorry for not keeping most of you posted on Mother's situation but things have been changing so much it's hard to deal with just that and nothing else.
Mother has been in the hospital for a week and was discharged today. She was having trouble breathing and as it turned out she had fluid in her lungs. They did not extract it as it is what they call a small amount and that increases the chance of puncturing a lung. They will continue to watch though. The Doctor told us last Friday that Mother's cancer is in the last stages and gave her anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. Roger, Mother and I decided with Hospice to admit her to a nursing home, which is where she went today. It is not an ideal situation but we can only expect things to worsen and get harder for Roger or me to care for her. You can continue to send emails here and I will take them to her or you can call her or write directly to her room/nursing home. The address is Muscogee Manor, 3800 Schatulga Road, Columbus, Ga. 31907. Her room # is 114 and her telephone is (706)256-2493. She is in a semi-private room, but we have her on a waiting list for a private room. Fortunately she doesn't have a room mate at the moment. I will try to keep everyone updated more often. Thanks for the continued interest and support.
Love, Viki

7. Date: Saturday, May 06, 2000 10:32 AM Subject: Frances
Mother and I made it home last night about 10:00 after much aggravation. No matter how well you plan and how far in advance you still have to deal with incompetency and rude, ignorant people. With that said............Mother is doing OK. The Doctors don't expect much improvement over what she is now. She is in denial of that and I just let it be. She can barely walk with a walker and has to have assistance doing everything. She is to never be left alone and I am looking for a sitter to give me relief every day. We will continue physical and occupational therapy three times a week. She is on MAJOR pain killers. She will attempt a shot at chemotherapy in about 5-6 weeks, in order for the surgeries to fully heal and build up some strength to try to endure the chemo. She can elect to continue or discontinue after the first treatment depending on her reaction to it. The chemo is merely to shrink the tumor to help in the pain control. It will not cure the cancer. They did not and would not really put her situation into a given time frame,but from what was said with chemo continuously probably a couple of years, without chemo maybe a year. She doesn't talk much on the phone (or so it seemed in Texas) which is a huge malfunction for her!!!!!!! Maybe now that she is here she will more often. Please come visit when possible, but I would advise to call first so we can plan PT and chemo accordingly. Keep praying for all of us. Our primary goal is to control the pain and still have quality life. She does read emails that I print out, so keep them coming. Thanks for all your concerns. Love, Viki

6. Mother is doing much better than last week >after having surgery on Monday the 17th. She was really disoriented, >confused and very down. After speaking with the main neurological nurse, I >realized most of the change was due to the pain medicine which they quickly >changed and within 24 hours she was feeling much better. She did have some >fluid in the lungs which they drained off and have sent for review. They >think it is fine. Today they did another chest xray and her lungs were >clear. Roger and Aggie are with her now. Roger returns tomorrow and Aggie >on Wednesday. I was going out Weds., but the PT group says they will not >release her until early next week, so I will go Mon and hopefully return with >her in tow on Friday. From what Roger says, she will have some treatments >here and go there once a month to once every 6 weeks for treatments, >check-ups, etc. for a 1-2 day trip. I will find out more next week when I'm >there. She celebrated her 61st birthday Easter Sunday with Aggie and Roger. >They really surprised her and she seemed happy. Thanks for everyone's >concern and prayers and I will continue to update as I learn more info. Love Viki

Date: Friday, April 07, 2000 9:59 PM Subject: Doodle-Day 4!! 5. Well- not good news today! Frances is in emergency surgery as I write this e-mail. She went in about 1hour 30 minutes ago. Viki said it will be a few hours before she gets out. As I indicated last night the tumor is back on her spine and her spine is collapsing. The neorosurgeon indicated that it needed to be removed and her spine supported or she would be paralyzed. The reason she has lost her legs the last few days is because her spine is collapsing and they needed to do surgery to fix. She still may not regain use of her legs fully. They were not able to do the CT Scan today because they have spent all afternoon getting ready for surgery. She has lost some control of her bowel/kydney functions but the doctor said the pressure on the spine could be the reason. Viki is to call me when she gets out of surgery. They say Doodle will be in ICU until Sunday and then rehab will begin Monday so it looks like they will be in Texas awhile. Roger did not come back, he stayed when they said they were going to do surgery. Please pray for them.

1.HEY GERALD, THIS IS SOMETHING THE CLASSMATES NEED TO KNOW: I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL TODAY FROM JO ANNE DULANEY AND SHE ASKED ME TO RELAY A MESSAGE TO YOU AND ASK YOU TO PUT IT ON THE AHS CLASS OF 58 WEBSITE AND SEND IT TO OTHER CLASSMATES IN THE CLASS OF '57'. FRANCES PORTER ("DOODLE" ZELENSKI ) HAS HAD MAJOR SURGERY AND IS NOT DOING VERY WELL. SHE WOULD APPRECIATE HEARING FROM OLD FRIENDS. FRANCES WAS MARRIED TO JOANNE'S BROTHER AT ONE TIME. THE ADDRESS IS :
FRANCES PORTER
% VICKY GILMORE
707 DOULBLE CHURCHES ROAD
COLUMBUS,GA. 31904

THANK YOU, EDDIE O.

2.This is an excerpt from an E-mail from JoAnne concerning Doodle Porter's status: Hi...first let me tell you how thrilled she has been that so many people have taken the time to e mail or send a card.. She had been down and depressed for a long time..I don't think Doodle has had much happiness in her life...It is sad to think she is 60 and has no one and very little material things. At this point because she is having to use military Dr's it takes forever..They are still waiting on test results.......She is having therapy and has been told there will be no more surgery but does not know what treatment will be next..Viki told me all she does is sleep all day and all night...She is having to use a walker and needs assistance with personal hygiene.

3.This is an update from JoAnne Dulaney concerning Doodle Porter's status: Hi Gerald......I just talked to Viki I told her I needed to know what to tell "everyone" about her condition....She said wellllll it's not good...The Dr's in Columbus have told her there is nothing else they can do ,,,,,,,No treatment or surgery.............They are trying to get her in U B A or a hospital in Texas .. Only 4 people in one millon get the type of cancer Doodle has,,,so there is not alot known about it ,,......Only 2 hospitals ,,,one in New York and one in Texas do treatment and I beleive it is experimental. I just wanted everyone to know about this and to PLEASE continue to pray that God will have his way with this very serious and grave situation . Thanks, JoAnne

4. An update on Francis Zelinski from JoAnne Dulaney. Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 9:25 AM Subject: up date on Doodle Hi, I don't beleive you received my e mail about Doodle about a week ago. I was having problems with my e mail....Any way that infor needs to be up dated. Yesterday Viki , Doodle& Roger left for Houston Texas..Doodle has an appointment at M D Anderson hospital Wed AM. There are only 2 hospitals that know anything about the rare type of cancer Doodle has. There are only 1600 cases known in the United States. The other hospital is in N Y and they would not accept her. The Dr's in Columbus have told them there is nothing else they can do........SO if they can't do SOMETHING in Texas there is almost no hope....very very sad....Viki's Husband will keep me up dated on what is happening but it does not look good I hate to say this but I don't think Doodle has very much time left Please ask every one to pray for Doodle & her children..Viki is having a very hard time with this!!!!!!!!!!! I love Viki just like one of my children....I feel so bad that I can not be there with her but I have my Mother soooooooo I can not do what I would like to do to help Viki,,,,,, I know you think I never e mail you unless it is BAD news,,,,,,,,,,,,,But it helps to vent and know others are thinking about the situation..... Hope to see you in Anniston in a few weeks,,,,,If I can get a sitter It is just like when my children were small and I had to get a sitter to be able to DO anything. Thanks for being there!!!!!!!!!! JoAnne