Some of you will remember my occasional posts on this forum and also some reports of trips my wife and I have taken. I am sad to report that Sally passed away on September 6, a victim of metastatic colon cancer.
Compared with many on this forum, we were latecomers to rail travel. Our introduction to long distance trains was in the summer of 1986. Since then we have traveled all the major routes (except the auto train), some of them many times. We have crossed Canada from Halifax to Vancouver. All together we have logged to date over 278,000 miles by train!
Most of out journeys have begun out of Worcester on the westbound Lake Shore Limited. I plan to continue traveling by rail, mainly to visit family in California, Minnesota and Alabama. Of course, it won't be quite the same. In fact I will be boarding #449 at the end of the month, my 40th departure on that train.
It may be of interest to some that I called Guest Rewards to see what would happen to my wife's accumulated points. I thought maybe they would just disappear. I was told that in the case of death of a spouse, I should send in a copy of the death certificate and the points would be transferred to my account. I thought this was nice of them and I have now done so. We'll see if that actually happens. It always annoyed me that you couldn't combine points for a trip even though both persons were traveling.
Finally, I strongly urge everyone to schedule a colonoscopy if you are over 50 (earlier if there is a family history). Colon cancer is treatable if it has not spread.
Posted by RR4me (Member # 6052) on :
Sorry for your loss. I hope I can travel as much with my wife in the future as you were able to do. Good Luck and God Bless.
Posted by MDRR (Member # 2992) on :
Bob, My condolences to you and your family. May you relish the time you spent together.
Tom
Posted by City of Miami (Member # 2922) on :
Dear Bob - I am very sorry to hear of your loss. And thanks for the positive note of the last sentence.
John Grimes PS: I lost my oldest brother to the same disease last year.
Posted by cubzo (Member # 4700) on :
My condolences as well.
Posted by TBlack (Member # 181) on :
Bob, Sorry to hear the news. I had noticed that you've been gone from this place for most of this year. Stay with us; your comments are always informed and welcome. As I recall, it was your wife's nervousness of flying that got you to AMTRAK in the first place. As I also recall, you've a son in San Diego...might be a nice place to spend part of the New England winter this year. Nothing like a train trip to distract you.
Posted by train lady (Member # 3920) on :
I am so sorry to hear the sad news. My condolences to you and your family. Take some comfort from knowing you have a number of friends here who are thinking about you.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
Bob, sorry to hear your loss, but one hopes your wife is free of pain and is happier now. I do remember your posts - only the good or the bad stick in my mind, and you're the former.
Geoff M.
Posted by AHALL (Member # 3515) on :
I my sincere thoughts are with you. I had no family history of colon cancer and they found a Stage 2 tumor in September 2007. I was hospitalized for 2 weeks for surgery and recovery, followed by chemotherapy through the winter, and reversal of the surgery in May 2008. All is well, and I am fully recovered, and my wife and I are taking a "Good Health" train trip in three weeks to California!
I think a colonoscopy should be allowed at age 40 regardless of your family history. My doctor says that we come from smaller family units today, and family history can't detect a trend as well as in the past. And, it is an easy procedure, I have had three in the past year; it is not as disgusting as everyone assumes.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
Bob, my condolences as well. I am sorry for your loss.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
"The most I can do for my friend, is simply be his friend"
---Thoreau
GBN
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Bob -- so sorry to hear of your loss. My condolences also. You will surely have a lot of nice memories of trips taken by you and Sally. Keep in touch with us, and stay positive........
Rich K
Posted by 20th Century (Member # 2196) on :
Bob, very sorry for your loss. God Bless.
Posted by Jerome Nicholson (Member # 3116) on :
My condolences to you also. Try to be thankful for the time you had together.
Posted by chrisg (Member # 2488) on :
Bob,
I am very sorry you lost that love of your life. My prayers are with you and take good care of yourself!
Chris
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
quote:Originally posted by AHALL: I think a colonoscopy should be allowed at age 40 regardless of your family history. My doctor says that we come from smaller family units today, and family history can't detect a trend as well as in the past. And, it is an easy procedure, I have had three in the past year; it is not as disgusting as everyone assumes.
My mom had colon cancer, and I'm told that I should have a colonoscopy since I'm over 40 now. But I've been too afraid to have one done. Maybe I should rethink that. But I REALLY don't want to do it.
Bob, I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. That's nice that you made a post about it here.
Posted by railrev (Member # 2640) on :
Sorry I don't have a link for this, but Dave Barry has written a very good column for those of us who have waited well past 50 for a colonoscopy.
I managed to put it off for over 10 years and was fortunate that there were no negative results.
Smitty, they put you out and you feel nothing, remember nothing.
Thank you, Bob, for thinking of us in the midst of your own sorrow.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
Bob, I am so very sorry to hear about your loss. My deepest condolences to you and your family.
I recently rode the LSL from Boston just to Albany and thought about your excellent, helpful posts as I did. I hope that when you take the LSL later this fall, it eases your pain a little bit to recall the wonderful times you and your wife had together. She is never really gone because she will always be in your thoughts.
Posted by Bob from MA (Member # 4686) on :
Thanks to everyone for your kind messages. I had forgotten to mention that we had been married for 53 years. Fortunately, we have 5 children and they have been calling and coming by the house quite a bit, Three live in Massachusetts (Arlington, Belmont and Dudley), one is in the Minneapolis area and one in San Diego. Unfortunately the distant ones are the only ones with children, so our grandchildren are far away.
If anyone cares to read the obituary, it is still available at the funeral parlor website. It does mention our love of trains, by the way. I have shown the link, below. Just put in the name Lingner where it asks. www.milesfuneralhome.com Posted by gp35 (Member # 3971) on :
My condolences to you and your family....
Posted by Mike Smith (Member # 447) on :
quote:Originally posted by railrev: Smitty, they put you out and you feel nothing, remember nothing.
Not exactly true. My first one, I woke up in the middle of the procedure. The doctor & nurses were watching th TV as the scope traversed my colon. I asked them what they were watching and the doctor told me it was my colon and watch that little pollup he was fixing to "retrieve". It was interesting, and I had absolutely NO pain as I watched him snip the pollup off. They must have given me some more Demerol because I went back to sleep shortly after the snip.
The worst part of the entire colonoscopy was the prep the night before. That's no fun! The colonoscopy was easy.
Posted by Ham Radio (Member # 6587) on :
Bob,
We are so sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
I got screened last year, thanks for reminding our other memebers how important the procedure really is.
Posted by railrev (Member # 2640) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mike Smith:
The worst part of the entire colonoscopy was the prep the night before. That's no fun! The colonoscopy was easy. [/QB]