Information

We are going to have a viewing -- although it's not really a viewing because its closed casket -- will be Tuesday evening between 5:00 - 8:00pm at Carmichael's Funeral Home in Smyrna. The address is:

2950 King Street
Smyrna, GA 30080
Phone:770-435-4467

The funeral service will be at 1:00pm on Wednesday at Smyrna Presbyterian Church. The address to the church is:

3130 Atlanta Rd Se
Smyrna, GA 30080
(770) 435-2251

If you want to get directions online, use googlemaps instead of mapquest...it's more reliable and accurate (fyi!).

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Smyrna Presbyterian Church in Memory of Krista Cadenhead.

April 29th, 2007

Mom passed away earlier tonight a little after 8:00pm at Tranquilty. She was surrounded by her whole family, including her pastor. She struggled all day to breathe and it was hard for me to be in the room with her struggling so bad. We gathered around her and prayed so hard for her to go and she wouldn't give up. she kept fighting. After dinner, her breathing improved somewhat and I was able to be with her. Everyone had been telling her all day that it was ok for her to go and I realized that I hadn't talked to her yet so I got right down in her ear and told her that it was me and I was ready for her to go. I told her that I was going to take care of my brother and dad and my husband Stu was going to take care of me. Then I prayed for her and sat down in the chair next to her bed and prayed again and minutes later she took her last breath. It was like she had been waiting all day to hear from me. And once she had, she was ready and she left. And that is the most precious moment of my life and I will cherish it always.

For those of you who are sad, we all are. But please know that mom has been struggling these past few days and this is such a blessing to have her finally at peace and with the Lord. She was the toughest cookie. She has been through so much in her life. From car accidents to surgeries, burns, operations, MRI's, chemo, radiation, countless tests, rehab, divorce, and through it all she was the greatest witness to the Lord and her faith only grew stronger. She is my hero! And I'm comforted tonight to know that she is with Him and free from pain and worry and anxiety.

We are currently making arrangements and are meeting with the funeral home tomorrow to plan everything. There will be a viewing Tuesday evening at Carmichaels Funeral home in Smyrna off of Church Street, which is right off of South Cobb Drive. Mom's service will be at her church, Smyrna Presbyterian on Wednesday, which is also in Smyrna. I will post final details and times tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for loving my mother and caring about her. She was the most beautiful person inside and out and I want to be just like her. :) God bless.

~Lindsey

April 28th

Mom had some pain today but we managed to get it under control. I had the nurses at Tranquility call mom's doctor and he increased her continuous pain medicine dosage from .05mg to 2mg and they also upped her Ativan from every 2 hours to every hour. My aunt Lisa is a chemo nurse and she says that as they give her more and more Ativan, it will bring her closer to a coma. And we're ok with that at this point after seeing her hurt for so long today. Continue to pray for mom because it is getting very painful for her at this stage and she sometimes has a grimace on her face. I think it is also frustrating for her at this point because she can no longer communicate. We don't want to see her in pain anymore but she is still battling.

She was finally peaceful and comfortable later in the afternoon after I left. And my grandfather reported that when he left at around 6:30pm, she was still sleeping and at ease.

Please also pray for my family and for the Lord to grant us the comfort only He can provide during this time. I know he has a plan and reason for all of this, even though we cannot understand it now, we will all see it someday.

April 27th

Mom slept alot today. She doesn't speak very much at all anymore. But we know that she can because when Roberta came in today she opened her eyes and smiled and said, "Oh my gosh, hi!" to her. It was unreal. Of course, I didn't get that response :) I guess thats because she sees me everyday!

They are keeping her comfortable. She is still hooked up to a Dilaudid drip that administers medicine every 10 minutes and there is a button that we can push to give her more if she looks uncomfortable or restless.

We have a guest book in her room so please sign it if you come by. Thanks for checking in.

~Lindsey

Pictures

I have updated the slide a show I have been working on with a few new pics. Please continue to send them to me. They are very special. Thanks!

April 26th

Well Mom was awake a little today but she cannot speak or communicate. But I know she can hear and understand because I leaned over to her today and asked her to give me a kiss and she did. They are keeping her comfortable and thats all we can ask of them at this point.

~Lindsey

April 24th **updated**

They moved mom over to Tranquility today and she is in room 18. Tranquility is located behind Wellstar Cobb General. If you turn like you are going to the hospital on Hospital South Drive, that road curves around the hospital and dead ends into Hospital West. Go left at the dead end and Tranquiltiy is right there. there are signs also to help guide you to the right spot.

This place is really great. She has a porch right off of her room overlooking a fountain and she can go right outside and have a nice view. It truly is a beautiful place and I'm sure she will love it. Her room is big with a recliner and love seat that folds out into a bed. She has a DVD/VCR and a CD player in her room, so that's nice. They sedated her a good bit for the transfer so she was sleeping when I left her today.

Her insurance is going to cover 60% of her stay here too which is helpful. For those of you who have asked to help, we still have her special account at Regions under my name for the benefit of Krista Cadenhead. I know many of you have gone to try and make deposits and haven't been able to find her account but the official name of it is Lindsey C Kirk or Patricia Henderson for the benefit of Krista Cadenhead. If you use my name to look it up, it should come up that way.

For those of you who plan to visit, mom does not know that she is terminal. She has asked us not to give up on her and we feel as a family that telling her will take away her hope and we do not want to do that. So try and be cheerful and pleasant when you visit her. Do not be alarmed if she doesn't always respond or doesn't seem to know you. That is just the nature of her disease. She does not know that she is in a hospice. We just told her that we have tranferred her to a facility that is closer to Memaw and Papa and alot nicer than Kennestone (which it is). So keep that in mind when you visit. Also, please limit your visits to about 30-45 minutes. There will be many people coming to see her and she gets tired very easily. Please email me with any questions or concerns regarding this.

lindseyckirk@gmail.com

Thanks everyone.

~Lindsey

April 24th

If you have any pictures of my mom please mail me copies to:

Lindsey Kirk
504 Georgia Way
Woodstock, GA 30188

or you can email me copies at lindseyckirk@gmail.com

Dig around everyone! I know I asked for these before and didn't really get a good resonse so I am trying again. :) I want to make a slideshow of mom and I only have a few pics so far. Thanks!

Also, a bed opened up at Tranquility today so that is where she will be going. They said she can move over there after 4:00pm so I will keep you posted on more info as it becomes available. Thanks everyone.

~Lindsey

April 23rd

The hospice that we really want to place mom with doesn't have an opening right now. We have placed mom on the waiting list, but mom's insurance wil not pay for her to stay in the hospital and wait for a bed to open so we must place her somewhere else (at another hospice facility) until a room becomes available at Tranquility.

She seemed to be coherent for the most part today, but sometimes I would ask her something and she would not respond. But she would smile. Her pain creeps up every once in awhile and they give her Dilaudid and it subsides. She doesn't remember much from the past few days and she struggles with names and things like that. But she is able to talk and I cherish everyday that I can go in and hear her say "I love you too."

~Lindsey

April 22nd

Mom showed much improvement with her mind and clarity today. She was able to even call my grandparents on the phone and speak with them. She is talking more and is able to recall things. She was very sharp today and it was good to really be able to talk to her and have her respond. She hasn't been this clear since last week. So Iguess that these quick little radiation treatments her doctor has arranged for her is helping with that. I do want to be clear for some of you who have been confised about this radiation, it is not meant to cure her but simply to help with her confusion. And based on today, it's doing it's job.

We are currently working out arrangements for mom's next step and will keep you posted. Thanks.

~Lindsey

April 21st

The MRI came back Thursday revealing multiple masses on mom's brain. These have surfaced since the end of February because when she had her CT Scan back then, it was clear. It is too dangerous to operate on these because of their locations and how many there are. Also, she has already received radiation in these areas so they cannot fully radiate her brain again. This is terminal and the doctors have given us a timeframe of about 2-6 weeks.

They are doing some type of radiation right now just to help with her brain function to try and give her a better quality of life these next few weeks. It's just 3 treatments so they aren't really administering a full cycle, which we were told they cannot do again. But hopefully, these 3 treatments will help to clear her mind so we can all say goodbye.

Please allow just the family to be with mom right now while she is in the hospital. Once we move her to a hospice, I will let everyone know where she will be. I know many people would like to see her and we will try to arrange that.

To everyone who has asked for me to repost mom's Regions account information here it is: It is under my name so ask for them to pull up accounts for Lindsey C Kirk and the last 4 digits of the account are 7812. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. (And a special thank you to mom's church, Smyrna Presbyterian, who has been like a family member to us in this time of need). This account for mom has helped pay all of mom's medical bills and also now it will continue to help by assisting us with hospice bills and her final arrangements.

Thanks everyone.

~Lindsey

April 19th **Updated**

They were able to do an MRI after all today. They had to sedate her like they did last week so now she is pumped full of even more medication. But the good news is they were able to get the MRI done this time so hopefully we can see what is going on where the primary tumor started. She is sleeping now in her room at Kennestone.

Thanks for checking in.

~Lindsey

April 19th

Well Mom is going back into the hospital afterall. She is now almost non-respondant when we try to talk to her and is almost in a zombie-like state and we don't know why. She had an MRI scheduled for this morning but when she got to the doctor's office, he wanted to admit her due to the state she is currently in.

Please pray for mom. She is not herself right now and it is very odd. Please no visitors while she is in the hospital right now.

I hope to have more information later.

~Lindsey

April 17th

We thought we were going to put mom back in the hospital, but Dr. Mccune is going to try and manage it out of the hospital. He has given her muscle relaxers and some liquid pain medicine that should work right away to help alleviate her pain. Jason is going to spend the night with her tonight to see how it goes. We will probably put her in the hospital tomorrow if this doesn't work.

~Lindsey

April 15th, 2007

Well mom is home and recovering from all the pain meds she has been on over the week. Papa reports that she didn't require too much pain medicine today and she was feeling better, which is great. Memaw and Papa have hired someone new to come in and help take care of mom during the day (keep in mind that Papa is recovering from heart surgery and Memaw goes in to the doctor this Friday to see if she is ready to put a little weight on her ankle - she spends most of her day in a wheelchair). Papa also is having a CT Scan tomorrow as he has been having some problems of his own lately.

Mom is slowing getting back to herself. We are going to talk with her doctor to see if she is ready to come off of some of her current medications...she's on 9 different ones right now so we are hoping we can get rid of some but it depends on what he says. He is also going to give her a nice long break from all chemo to see if we can get her life back to normal. This past week in the hospital set her back in progress from a PT and OT standpoint so we need to get back on track there.

That's about it for now. Thanks for checking in...

~Lindsey

April 10th

Mom is going back in the hospital because she is having that pain in her shoulder again. They don't know what it is but her doctor says that this isn't something that lymphoma patients get. So he is going to run some tests and they are going to do an MRI. But she is back at Kennestone for the time being. Pat is checking her in at this time. We will hoplefully know more later in the week. Thanks!

~Lindsey

April 1, 2007

Well I'm sure most of you have heard by now, but Memaw fell and broker her ankle last week and had to have surgery. And no, this is not an April Fool's joke, though I wish it was. So now Papa is tending to Memaw AND Mom, while recovering from heart surgery himself! So they are pretty busy over there. Papa's really being put to work. If you can and would like to help out, please let them know. I'm sure Papa would welcome the extra help! I was going to start a blog for Memaw, too, but that's be too much. I ahev enough trouble updating this one as it is!

Mom goes to get the Depocyte chemo this Thursday. That's all for now. Thanks!

Lindsey