Quitter.

Dad up & left The Foundry yesterday.

I have nothing else to say about this.

This will most likely be my last Blog entry about him.

I would, however, like to take this moment to sincerely THANK each and every one of you for your continued love & support throughout the last 5 months. As you can imagine, it has been a rather emotional rollercoaster, and I absolutely couldn't have gotten through the ride without y'all! I will continue to keep my father in my thoughts & prayers, but each day forward is completely up to him now. We have done all that we can to make it easier for him to help himself...

I LOVE Y'ALL!!! Hallie

Food. Thieves. Work. John.

Dad finally gave me a call on Thursday morning for the first time since his incarceration (kidding!)... We chatted for about 45 minutes, which was great!  Overall, he was one big bag of complaints... But if you know Billy - They were "good" complaints, not bad ones.  All joking aside (for at least one sentence), he told me that this is the hardest thing he's ever had to do... That there are all walks of life, nothing is fancy and he is still struggling physically (although better than he was).  Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:

1.  He sleeps in a room "with about 5o-thousand other guys farting, snoring, burping and coughing all night long" and has contracted the "permanent plague" from this.  Hallie's translation - Hugh said there were 27 guys, and this is the temporary first step of housing... He will soon move into a room with about 6 men, then work his way down.

2.  He can only shower "every other day because there are 4 showers for all the men in his dorm."  Well Dad, you're not running marathons, so I'm sure that's sufficient!  

3.  "People steal stuff all the time" - He says since they're only given 3 meals a day and nothing else, you must provide your own coffee, coffee cup, creamer, sugar, snacks, etc - Said he finally got his hands on a coffee cup and it was gone about 5 minutes later (& a devotional prayer book only lasted 3 min).  Hallie's fix - Mailed him a hot pink coffee mug (along with some other yummy goodies)!

4.  "You should see the people here - They are covered from head to toe with tattoos!"  Hallie's response - "Dad, Hugh said you really liked the people there...?"  Dad - "Oh yeah man, they're all really nice & completely harmless!"  Point.

5.  Job - Hugh hooked him up with "the best job that anyone can get at The Foundry"!  He is working in the business office, making phone calls to corporations/businesses to acquire donations (monetary or stuff).  Anyone feel like donating??  After 3-4 months (I think), he'll start to make commission on the donations that he brings in.

6.  Esophagus - Well, it's either "the baby jesus" or the "eat or don't eat" working their magic, but his throat hasn't been giving him trouble lately!!  Yay!

7.  He told me that he "hasn't had the opportunity to dive into the religious aspect of the program yet, but he was starting towards that"... Hugh set him up, once again, with the best counselor on staff, who he has met with once and assigned him homework - To read the entire Book of John, and write a report.  Go Billy!  

That's about all I can recall for now!  He really sounded committed to the program, and even talked about what he was going to donate from his personal belongings... 

Try and update y'all again soon!  Love, Hallie

THE FOUNDRY!

Joanie Jesse Hallie Erin Tyler (Jesse's Brother)

Well folks... He finally did it!! He checked into The Foundry on Tuesday morning (Eddie & Tina drove him, thank you!), and has been there a whole 2 days now, and counting...

As you all know by now, Hugh Thomas is on staff at The Foundry and is being wonderfully accomodating to help Dad settle in as comfortably as possible. Dad no longer has his cell phone, nor does he have phone access right now... BUT I spoke with Hugh yesterday evening, and he actually told me that dad said that he “really liked the people that he’s met there so far” – which is a great admission at such an early stage in his recovery! Hugh has checked on him a bunch of times when he has been surrounded by a group of guys - chatting or helping him out! He did have to go to the ER the very first night (of course!) because of his heart (probably nerves), and then The Foundry doc saw him yesterday & tweaked some of his meds, so maybe that will help physically (who knows!). They are supposed to maybe call me today from Hugh’s cell phone – I’m keeping my eye out.

Before he checked in he told me that he was "convinced that the medical field could no longer help him, so he was turning things over to the Baby Jesus..." - Go for it, Dad! Per his G.I. doctor, he does need a full esophagial replacement... Ugh... But he's not interested in that right now, he's going to see what happens at The Foundry first - The surgery would first entail me applying for programs at UAB and/or Cooper Green hospitals, as the surgeon at SV unfortunately does not do that surgery.

I will keep y'all updated (yeah right, Hallie!) on how to reach him, but for now you are all more than welcome to send words of encouragement to the following address (and please refrain from sneaking pills or alcohol into your letters... kidding...):

Billy Pierce
c/o The Foundry
P.O. Box 824
Bessemer, AL 35021

And on a different note - Joanie Thomas (Hugh's daughter of course) came to visit me in LA last weekend and WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! I just LOVED having her out here, and we did all kinds of stuff... Hollywood, movie stars homes, shopped, fancy dinner, you name it...! I wish I could have just kept her out here in my pocket... :)

Love y'all! Hallie

Cancer - No | Hospital - Yes

Well... here we go again... Perhaps the 3rd time is a charm. Dad is just completely struggling with his blood pressure, and Eddie & Tina so kindly dropped him off at SV's ER a few minutes ago. It seems like his low blood pressure is uncontrollable right now. I honestly don't feel like he's doing anything to stop healthy progression, however his body is in this limbo... It seems like it's not unhealthy enough where it's immediately life-threatening, but it is too unhealthy to maintain daily activity. Although I am not there, I am confident that he is not drinking or smoking (and so those around him agree)... He is just trying to regain strength in his condo, but everytime he tries to walk to the kitchen or the front door he feels like he's going to collapse - And he did twice recently, gaining a skinned knee & bloody toes (...what's that song he always used to sing..."went down the road and the road was muddy, stubbed my toe and my toe was bloody"... ha, anywho...). We'll see what the doctors can do this time to level him out - I'm hoping that it's something that will last...

Throat: The results of the biopsy were negative, which is great. However, the G.I. Dr. Coleman is "completely confused" about dad's situation... yay. He says that he has a long stricture, along with a yeast infection in his throat that is causing his swallowing troubles. He is used to seeing strictures, however most are short - But not dad's of course! Which means that the surgery that is up for discussion may be more difficult since there is a large area of his esophagus that needs to be replaced... Ugh. He has an appointment tomorrow morning at 7:30am with this doctor, so maybe we'll know more...

The Foundry: He has been meeting with Hugh Thomas lately to tour The Foundry & talk about admission dates, acceptance based on his health, etc. I do believe that dad's intention is to go to there sooner rather than later, but some health issues are slowing that process down right now. Hugh says that they can work around certain health problems (i.e. getting dad a "desk job", etc), but if he can't eat and can't walk 10 feet without almost passing out, those things are an issue. He promised me that he was going to check in out there on Monday, but now he's back in the hospital, soooooooooooooo.... who knows. My amazing boyfriend bought him an iPod yesterday, and his mom helped load a bunch of great music & audiobooks (some great self-improvements ones that he REALLY needs to listen too)... We thought it would be a great thing for him to have at The Foundry, especially in the dorm setting for comfort...

And on a brighter note, I'm VERY excited because Joanie Thomas (Hugh & Ann's daughter) is coming all the way out to LA to visit me in April!!!! YAY! :D

Back on the Streets Again...

Dad was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon! He is back at his condo & seems to be in good spirits. He had lunch with Hugh yesterday, and appears to be "on board" with going to The Foundry, however he needs to figure out this "throat thing" first...

He is still having problems with his esophagus, and went in for another stretch this morning. His regular doctor was out, so he didn't get quite as much information from the "substitute stretcher" as I had hoped. But basically, he got it stretched again, so he's feeling fine right now - But we just need it to stay open - Otherwise we'll have to talk about that surgery option... They actually cut out a piece of your esophagus and replace it with a piece of your intestine... Ewwww, talk about bad breath... Kidding (that's what Jesse said, ha)! :) But that sounds way better than having a feeding tube permanently placed into his stomach. Also... on a little scarier note (but Dad told me to not get my panties in a bunch)... They are doing a biopsy on his espophagus - He says there is lots of scar tissue (& other stuff?) down there that they scraped and sent off for labs to test whether it was cancerous. He didn't seemed concerned at all... Maybe it's just routine!?

So now... Throat. Then Foundry.

XOXO Hallie

Hospital Update

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday!!

Talked to Dad yesterday & this morning... He's hanging in there. Says they are holding him hostage until they get rid of the Pnuemonia... Which I think is a great thing! He has been coughing a lot, and is on breathing treatments & antibiotics. It sounds as those his blood pressure is maintaining.

The only other not-so-positive news is with regards to his esophagus - The doctor who stretched it on Tuesday, says that this is one of the worst cases he has seen... That basically Dad's esophagus keeps shrinking after each time it has been stretched. They can only stretch it once more because each time you risk a tear (which would be no bueno). And if it ends up shrinking again, then he either has to have surgery to repair it, or they would have to put in a permanent (I think) feeding tube into his stomach (no thanks!).

That's about it for now! Kate is so generously taking care of Hattie - THANK YOU KATE!

Jesse & I are off to Mammoth this weekend to ski with our friends, Erica & Matt!! :D

XOXO Hallie

Dad Missed St. Vincent's...

... So he went back yesterday. Ugh.

Eddie & Tina brought over some groceries from Sam's Club (thank you!!), and found Dad in his bed without the strength to get himself up (although concious, thank goodness)... He was so weak, and short of breath. Nurse Tina took his blood pressure, and found that it was about 60/32 - SO low! They immediately knew they needed to get him back to the hospital, so Eddie called Steve Davis to come over and help him get Dad down his condo stairs. They brought him to the ER and he was immediately admitted with that low of blood pressure. The docs hooked him up to an IV immediately to get some fluid back into his body - They "think" that since his esophagus is still super skinny, that he wasn't getting the proper nutrition.

I spoke to Dad this morning, and he reported the following: The hospital was "full" last night, so he thought he was going to have to spend the night in the ER, but they moved him to "the Ritz Carlton of hospital rooms" yesterday evening (4th floor South, I think) - He said he could host a party of about 15-20 in his huge room... He has a couch & 2 chairs, a "wet bar" (better not be stocked, ha) and a flat screen TV... Says if he has to be there, he doesn't mind that room! The results of his CT scan last night showed that he is still suffering from Pnuemonia, bummer - therefore, they now have him on IV antibiotics. He is supposed to be having his esophagus stretched again as we speak (10:30am CST), so hopefully that will help him to feel better. Other than that, he hadn't seen a doctor yet when I spoke to him to get any sort of timeline as to how long he'll be there this time...

He was planning on having lunch with Hugh Thomas tomorrow at The Foundry. He was looking like he was strong enough to go over the weekend, but we'll see where we stand after this hospital visit...

Love you all! Keep praying - Mostly for an attitude adjustment for the old man!!!

XOXO Hallie