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Here is the finalized info, thank you all for your patience. All of the family welcome your presence and support at any or all of the occasions below, and we thank you for your love. Wednesday April 26, 2006 at 10:00 am : A memorial celebration of Tom's life will be held at Allen's Funeral Home 1130 S Horne Mesa AZ 85204 Telephone number: (480) 833-1716 Wednesday April 26, 2006 at 1:00 pm Funeral service including full Military Honors will be held at 1:00 pm at: National Memorial Cemetery for Veterans, Phoenix AZ Pinnacle Peak Road, just east of Cave Creek Road (exit 28 on Loop 101, take Cave Creek Rd north to Pinnacle Peak, turn right) Telephone number: (480) 513-3600 Thursday , April 27, 2006: Friends and family are invited to visit the family at Tom and Emily's home on Thursday to commiserate and share memories: 1607 N Avoca Mesa, AZ 85207 Please call (480) 981-3081 Cards or flowers may be sent to Allen's Funeral Home or to Emily's home address.

My family, I cannot tell you all how sorry I am to learn of Uncle Tommy's passing. I have so many fond memories of him and all of you. My heart and prayers are with you. Hold on to each other and Aunt Emily, there is nothing more important than family. I love you all and hold you all so dear to my heart. Love, Rick

I am not sure how to even articulate our gratitude to everyone for all your love and support during the past month, and especially now during this most difficult time. Your telephone calls, emails, blog comments… you’ve let us as a family know that we are not alone; we have the love and support of sooo many to help us through this. We are very grateful to you all. Please continue to post your comments on the blog; I print and read them to Mom each day, and it is a comfort to her… to us all. Daddy requested to be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix, and this will be done with full Military Honors including a three gun salute and Taps. We do not yet know the exact time but expect it will be sometime on Wednesday morning or early afternoon. We will find out for sure tomorrow and I will post it here. Immediately prior to the funeral service at the Cemetery there will be a gathering at Allen’s Funeral Home in Mesa for a celebration of Dad’s life. We hope you will be able to...

This is to inform everyone of the funeral arrangements. Friends and family are welcome to join us at either or both of the following locations: Wednesday morning (tentative, TBD) viewing/gathering at Allen's Funeral Home, 1130 S Horne, Mesa AZ 85204 Telephone number: (480) 833-1716 Funeral service including Military honors will be held immediately after at the National Memorial Cemetary at: 23029 N Cave CreekRd, Phoenix, AZ 85024. Telephone number is (480) 513-3600. Please watch for updates as we have no times scheduled yet. Cards or flowers can currently be sent to: Emily Tate 1607 N Avoca, Mesa AZ 85207 (480) 981-3081.

Thomas Marion Tate passed away peacefully in his sleep at 02:06 a.m. Saturday, April 22, 2006.

The doctor disconnected Tom's ventilator this afternoon. It was a very peaceful and easy disconnect, and there was no gasping for breath on Dad's part. They are continuing to oxygenate the air surrounding his trachaeotomy but that is all; outside of the trache itself there are no more tubes attached to him. Mom had feared that he would not live more than a few minutes after being disconnected, but he has been breathing on his own all day and so far all evening. His respirations vary between 19 and 22 per minute, and his pulse has been about 78 beats per minute, according to our measurements. Of course, we have no way to measure the quality, depth, or volume of the breaths he is taking. We have not been able to rouse him all day today, but he is still in there fighting, as evidenced by his independently initiated breaths and now-strong heartbeat. He is till bleeding, and of course has all the other maladies, but it is pervertedly ironic that his heart which was so faint now ...

Rick reports that his mom had been overdosed on Coumidin - an extremely dangerous anticoagulant drug - and also had an infection going on. Long story short, she is no longer at the physical rehab facility. She has been admitted again back into the hospital where both situations are hopefully being remedied, and she has the love and support of us all. Auntie Edith, hang in there, we all love you!!

Aunt Edith Hern (as you probably know) has been in a physical rehab facility after her heart bypass surgery, and until just a day or two ago had been doing quite well. Just now I received a telephone call from Rick, however, and they are transporting her back to the hospital Emergency Room via ambulance, her vitals are dropping rapidly. All our prayers go with you, Auntie, and with you, Rick. Our tears mingle across cyberspace. Family does not know mileage; the heart and soul reach out over continents. We will be praying for the best and will wait to hear from you again.

At about 4pm today, Dad was transferred to Odyssey Hospice. Robin rode with him in the ambulance, and the rest of us followed. His bleeding continues, but the caring and compassionate staff at Odyssey gently cleanse him and change the bandages. He was transported with a ventilator, and then changed over to a smaller, portable unit in his room at Odyssey. That unit failed and for an hour or so he was respirated manually by an aide with an ambu-bag until a new unit was obtained and installed. He was conscious for a little while but in so much pain that the staff immediately gave him medication to ease his suffering, and he fell into a merciful sleep. If any family or friends wish to visit the family or Tom at Odyssey Hospice (he's in Room #4), the address is: Odyssey HealthCare (click for a map) Mesa In-Patient Unit 6215 East Arbor Avenue Mesa, AZ 85206 Telephone: 480-218-9000 Since the hospice is an end-of-life care facility, the ventilator will be discontinued tomorrow, probably in...

The news is not hopeful. Last night Daddy began bleeding externally. They gave him blood platelets throughout the night, but the bleeding is not under control. We are in the process of seeing if he can be transported to a hospice now. Please pray for a peaceful transition for him.

Had a bit of a scare with Aunt Edith's recovery yesterday. In short, she was quite pale and it seemed her pacemaker was not functioning correctly. She felt strange, very weak, no appetite and didn't want to move, felt her heart was not doing something right. The pacemaker manufacturer insisted it was working right, but the nurse on site said that Auntie's pulse belied that statement. After a day of tests and travelling across town for encounters with uncaring on-call physicians, Rick finally was able to get some resolution for his mom. The latest blood test results should come in sometime this afternoon. In the meantime, Auntie is starting to feel a bit better this morning, and was actually able to eat a bit of lunch. We're keeping our fingers crossed and prayers pointed skyward.

Robin and Jerry's daughter Lindsay created this for our family... to lift our spirits. Click the image to see it larger. Lindsay wrote, "Because I love you and want to give something to you... Robin, this is for you, for your parents, for your sisters and brothers. I love you guys."

The docs are asking us to consider hospice care now for Dad's last remaining days. The insurance will no longer cover care in the ICU since he is not improving. Besides, it will be much more comfortable for him than the sterility of an ICU ward, connected to countless machines. JuliAnne Nuttall, wonderful nurse practitioner and friend that she is, broke the news to Mom today ever so compassionately and with such love and care that Mom was finally able to accept that Daddy will not be coming home, ever. Her tears were of grief and pain; then she gathered herself and held herself with such composure the rest of the day it was amazing. Jimmy and I checked out a very nice hospice not too far from the hospital where Dad is located now; the staff are very caring and the place is clean and home-like. The out of state siblings and spouses are coming in tomorrow for a conference with the doctors. Everyone has tears in their eyes and hearts.

Another roller coaster ride today. Up, down, hope, despair, and hope again. Where will it end? How much more of this can his poor body take? The levels for his liver should be below 1.5; at 5.0 they are considered lethal... Dad's are at 37.0. How he continues to hang on by such a thread is amazing to all. His blood pressure took another nose dive today and his heart went into atrial fibrillations again, but finally settled out with a medical cocktail his expert nurse Samantha administered. I don't even know how to pray at this point, whether to hope for a miracle or pray that God takes him out of this horror. At least he is resting "comfortably" now, late at night, and on enough pain medication to keep the demons of pain away. Sherry checked out a couple of acute care specialty hospitals today, but since the roller coaster ride's dip today it looks doubtful he can be discharged from the ICU for some time yet, if ever.

Dad is resting comfortably tonight. Yesterday Robin returned to her family in Virginia, so today it was David, Sherry, and I sharing the day with Mom in the ICU waiting room. (Miss you, Robin, but I know your family must be thrilled to have you back!!) Dad had a pretty good day today. They started feeding him through the port to his stomach, and that seems to be working well. The therapist spent time with him after his dialysis session, and he is beginning to show a bit of use of his arms again, hooray! His billirubin (I've no idea if that's spelled correctly!) is still high and so he appears jaundiced but the dialysis today was so successful in taking off excess fluid, his hands and arms are beginning to look normal, as well as his face. The docs say we now need to just wait and let his liver continue to heal and lower the billirubin levels... and this will take some time. The heart functions are all as they should be now, though, so we are very encouraged by this. This evenin...

His eyes are clouded over, an almost opaque white, like someone who needs corneal transplants. They say it is a side effect of the morphine. I thought he was blind but he nods his head when I ask if he can see me. It was very frightening at first, and really scared mother, but she was reassured when he nodded that he can see her. He cannot speak yet, we are told a therapist will teach him how to speak around the trache. It will not be normal speech, more like a whisper, but it will be more than the communication we have now. We have three signals: he can nod yes, shake his head no, and he raises his right shoulder in a sort of a shrug when he has a question. Then we guess as to what the question is till we get a nod instead of a shake of the head. It is wonderful to see him without all the tubes in his mouth, and it has got to be a relief for him. The tubes had worn sores on the sides and edges of his mouth, and his lips are swollen from the irritation. I can only imagine what his thro...

Dad did finally receive a tracheostomy yesterday, so that tube is gone out of his mouth and now sprouts from his chest. They tried to put the feeding tube down his nose but it keeps clogging up so today [or tomorrow] they will insert a port into his stomach... Later today or tomorrow we will start a search of local specialty hospitals that might have the criteria to care for Dad after his discharge from the ICU. I am headed for the hospital now, so please forgive the brevity of this post. Hugs to all, and thank you again for all your prayers. Susan P.S. I am printing out all the wonderful comments to the blog and also the emails I've received from so many, and taking them to Mom to read. It's so encouraging to her to see all the support and love Dad has. God bless you all.

The docs seem to think Dad is slowly moving out of sepsis, and we are so grateful to hear that. The best news of today is that for over 4 hours Dad has been *almost* breathing on his own. (The machine is dialed down to the lowest level, meaning he initiates the breaths but then the machine helps him with the depth and level of the breath because his breaths are still too ragged.) His kidneys and liver are still failing. For the kidneys, they have him on daily dialysis, and will be putting a permanent dialysis port in his arm soon. They can't do anything about the liver failure apparently, at least not anything we know of yet. The tracheotomy still has to be done but the physical therapist is working with Dad to be able to move his arms and legs. At this point, all he can do is flex his knees and shrug his shoulder. When they do the trache they will also put the feeding tube directly into his stomach rather than his mouth. Without the breathing tube down his throat he will be able t...

The docs didn't get the trachaeotomy done today, so Dad still has the breathing tube in his mouth... but hopefully that will happen in the next few days. He was awake for some time today, and really liked the lemon water Robin applied to his lips with a Qtip; I cannot imagine how wonderful it will be for him without the breathing tube in his mouth. His feet are still in pretty bad condition from the lack of circulation, but now that his blood pressure is coming up we are hoping for the best. The physical therapist can't work with him too much till the trache is done, and he is so weak he cannot move any of his limbs on his own. She tried to work some with him today but he was too swollen; after his dialysis session she will try again. But in the meantime he has managed to do a shoulder shrug and we are finding ways to communicate with him - he is definitely in there and fighting with all he has got! We're taking it day by day.

Dad (Tom) opened his eyes today and recognized people. He nodded answers to yes or no questions. He even managed to move his foot a few millimeters and blinked his eyes. So while he is far from out of the woods, we at least know that his brain and soul are intact. The docs will be doing a tracheotomy tomorrow so they can remove the breathing tube from his mouth where it is now, and hopefully that will be a little more comfortable for him till he can breathe on his own. ~~ So many people have called, emailed, or come to sit with us in the ICU waiting room; we cannot thank you all enough for your love and prayers. It IS making a difference. Aunt Edith also continues to improve; she is awed by how much better she feels already. For years she has not even wanted to talk to folks because it tired her so; now she has the energy of a Chatty Cathy. And she's still in rehab! Wait till she comes home, Woo Hoo!! Again, thanks and blessings to everyone who has been praying for her ...

10:00 p.m. Today Dad opened his eyes. Although we could not tell if he recognized us, he seemed to look at us as we spoke to him, and he appeared to be attempting to move his head. We were cautioned that these are baby steps and that we have a long way to go before getting out of the woods. That's okay, we'll take baby steps. We celebrated by all getting together and eating a most wonderful evening meal prepared by Robin. It was replete with family favorites; an awesome garden salad, artichokes, baked ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and a wonderful strawberry shortcake. Everyone relaxed into the love that was so abundant in the house, and it was beautiful when our brother Tom took out Dad's trumpet and began to softly play a few tunes. We pray it is a good omen.

Good News: Aunt Edith has been discharged from the hospital and is now in a very nice rehab facility. It's just a 10 minute drive from Rick's house so that will be his 'second home' for a while... then Edith will come to live with Rick and Anthony after she is discharged from there. Rick and Anthony had some major battles with the physician, hospital, and the people at Humana Gold before this great victory was won. The hospital just wanted to dump her on the street, they didn't care; Humana wasn't going to pay them any more so they just wanted her out. The physician wanted her to be put in an awful place that was not a rehab facility at all, but a place where he earned a fee for placements. Besides that, it was filthy and the patient care was very obviously lacking. Rick and Anthony found a place that has a brand new rehab area; it's clean and well kept, and the patients there are obviously cared for with compassion and professionalism. She says she slept w...

They did a CT scan today to see if there was any bleeding in the brain and it came back negative. Then they started another dialysis session but all of Dad's lines were clotted up so they had to re-do all the lines first. This is strange because his platelet count is so low, how is the blood able to clot the lines?! We're hoping that the reason he was unable to be roused was because of the heavy medication for pain. The pain meds have been stopped for over twelve hours now and the hope is that the dialysis will 'rinse' his system enough that he will be able to wake up soon. Till now, nothing. Please, God, one way or the other, don't let him continue in this purgatory. So many wonderful people have been writing or calling with messages of love and strength; thank you all from everyone in the family. It's been most difficult on Mom (Emily). She sits there at the hospital every day from morning till night, with a quiet dignity and amazing strength of character, ...

The ride continues. Dad's fever is higher (103) and now there's a question about his gall bladder. They tried to rouse him from his medically-induced coma but he was unresponsive. They are taking a CT scan now to see if there is hemorrhaging in his brain. I don't know how much more of this he can take. He has an incredibly strong spirit but there is a limit for everyone. Mom is frightened, as are we all.

Don't ever use a Medicare HMO if you have any type of choice. The insurance (Humana Gold) has decreed that Aunt Edith should be discharged to home tomorrow. She still has pneumonia, she is just one week post op from open heart surgery, she still has blood clots in her legs, she cannot possibly care for herself... but they don't want to pay for her to stay in the hospital. They might agree to send her to a nursing home of their choice for her to recuperate. So... since the nursing homes that the insurance will work with are urine-smelling death traps, Rick has prepared a bedroom in his home for his mom and is currently trying to arrange for a home healthcare nurse to come to his house to care for his mom while he is at work, and then he will care for her when he gets home each night. Incredible. Makes you shake your head in disbelief. Don't ever sign up with Humana Gold.

4/5/06 11 pm -- Dad is still hanging in there. Not much progress today, but he hasn't gotten much worse either. The plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) procedure didn't work, but he did have another successful dialysis session today. The big news is that they were able to take him off the external pacemaker that was regulating his heartbeat. His heart is again beating on its own, albeit with an abnormal sinus rhythm. His oxygen assistance is still at only 50% so that is good too. A new cardiologist has been called in to join the cadre of physicians on his case, and hopefully tomorrow we will get to meet with him and hear his assessment. His specialty is the electric workings of the heart and hopefully he will be able to help to get Dad's heart beating in a better sinus rhythm. We remain hopeful.

More wonderful news received today. Aunt Edith has been moved from the ICU to the regular telemetry ward. That is fabulous because it means she is no longer on the 'critical' list. She still has pneumonia and is post-open-heart-surgery with a long recovery, and she still has the blood clots in her leg that need to be taken care of, but the good news is that she is ON HER WAY to recovery. I am so thankful. God bless each and every one of you who have been praying so diligently for her; thank you, thank you from Rick, Susan, and the whole Gang - there are too many who love this great lady to list them all here... we are all sooo happy.

Good news - Lori was discharged from the hospital this afternoon and is back home. We are all overjoyed at this... Lori most of all! Here's a note received from RickeyLynn: Lori is home! She was released this afternoon and is doing the happy dance now that she is out of the hospital. Our deepest thanks to all of you who wrote or called with your wishes and prayers for her safe recovery. As most of you know, it is harder and harder for her to recover from this each time it happens, so we are especially greatful this time. We are in your debt. Rickey Lynn and the girls

Lori seems to be doing better. She is aware of her surroundings, can carry on a conversation, and in general, is recovering. The hospital will not release her until her ammonia levels drop to a safe level, so she may be in for a few days yet. Thanks to all for your well wishes and prayers. They are so appreciated. Rickey Lynn and the girls

It still looks grim but there is a tiny ray of light at the end of the tunnel, a long way off. His oxygen assist is at 50% now versus 100% so that is hopeful. He is slowly responding to the treatment for the pneumonia and staph infection, also good. He is still on the pacemaker and still on the respirator/ventilator, not so good. And his body is not making the platelets he needs, and destroying those given to him during dialysis. The docs pulled out the biggest gun in their arsenal tonight and are doing a procedure which basically will give him a sort of transfusion of platelets. The hope is that his body will at least stop destroying the platelets, and then we can sit tight and wait for his body to start to heal in its own time and ryhthm. He remains in a medically induced deep sleep. The docs rouse him twice a day to assess his mental state. It's very painful for him, but necessary for them to make sure he is still "there." Last evening after going through the commands ...

Lori Gans was taken to Desert Banner Hospital in Mesa during the night (02:00 am this morning more precisely). Her ammonia levels had been surrepticiously building and during the night they hit her with full force. Once again, the nice fire fighters of the Tempe Fire Department came to the rescue and managed to get her tied to a gurney. They took her to Desert Banner Hospital where she was later admitted to room 207A. This afternoon RickeyLynn reports that they are trying to get her levels under control and keep her from slipping into a coma as she has done in the past. Please keep her in your prayers as well.

GO AUNTIE, GO! Edith is a fighter, and a winner. She has made it successfully through the open heart surgery and is now up and around, walking the halls three times daily as part of her rehab treatment. She is still battling the pneumonia and the blood clots in her legs, but she has made it through one major battle successfully. From Rick and all of us who love her dearly, a hearty THANK YOU to everyone for your prayers and love sent her way. It's a tough uphill climb and she has a long way to go, so keep praying and sending her all the support you can, and I know she will make it.

Susan, Thanks for all the updates on Dad Tate’s progress. I understand that June has been doing a lot of the actual copy. Thanks to all. I had an Idea which may help, and I would like to share it with all of you. Naturally we are all concerned for Dad Tate’s health. In line with this, I would like to ask anyone who has some pictures of Dad Tate in daily life maybe with family or trimming the roses or such to post them on the web. Jimmy maybe you have some Pic’s, as you are always up to date on these things. I have read that as we are all so concerned, that it would be easy out of FEAR of the possible outcome, to portray to the mind of GOD a negative image of what we really desire. If for example, (and please don’t be offended by the example) when the American Indians used to have a rain dance, we'd say that they were praying “for rain”, but I am told that they were “praying rain”. The subtle difference is that instead of thinking that their crops were drying up in the field and the...

I am numb. It's been such a roller coaster ride. Last night we ate Jimmy's spaghetti and meatballs and sausage at Mom and Dad's house. Besides the siblings, we were joined by June and Jonathan Tate, and Lori and Rickey Lynn Gans, and Loni and of course Jimmy. During dinner we received a telephone call from Dad's surgeon. He felt upbeat and we all went to bed with hope in our hearts. ~~ This morning we were shot down from that high by a cannon. They were getting Dad ready for his now-daily dialysis session, and the nurse said she expected him to go into cardiac arrest within the first 15 minutes. Basically, she told us to go in and say goodbye. But Dad rallied and not only survived the procedure but improved incrementally to the point that they did another dialysis procedure later in the day, removing a total of three liters of fluid in a little over 4 hours. He still has a huge battle to fight, but he is surprising the doctors by rallying every time they expect him to g...

God has blessed us. We have some wonderful news to report on Aunt Edith. Rick called me, his voice choked with grateful tears. Yesterday the doctors were able to remove the pump from her heart, so it is now beating on its own again. And then this morning they were able to actually remove the respirator, and she is breathing on her own!! Of course, her breaths are very labored and she is in extreme pain because of the pneumonia, but she is doing it. And get this: the first words out of her mouth were, "How is Tommy?" God bless her, she is incredible. Of course, Rick told her his uncle is doing great, and said he will punch anyone in the mouth who tells her otherwise! I will help him.

Robin and Sherry and David and Loni and Mom are all down at the hospital now; I am doing a bit of work and then will join them. Jimmy is making spaghetti and meatballs for everyone for dinner at mom's house. The news on Dad is not good but it could be worse, so we'll take what we can get. He is still on the respirator and is in total renal failure; will be on dialysis the rest of his life, however long that is. Yesterday his heart started fibrillating again and the p-rate went to 150 beats per minute, very dangerous. They tried doing shock treatments and he finally responded after the second try, and his heart began beating at a normal sinus rhythm again of 80 beats per minute. It has started creeping up again and is now averaging 110, but they are watching it closely. The good news is that they've been able to dial down the respirator so now it is assisting with only 12 of his breaths per minute. He is taking about 20 breaths per minute total, so that means that at least...

It's April Fool's Day and I wish someone would tell me this is all just a big joke, I've been asleep or something, and that Dad and Aunt Edith are not truly in the hospital. Please, somebody wake me up. Susan