[Gathnet] uncle eli

[stuart g gathman]

Dear Gathnetters,

I just got this message from Judy in Israel.  It looks pretty bad.
   Stu
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Dear Anne and Stu,
Hope all is well with you.
Eli is in the hospital.  He was in the hospital last
week because of some infection (not exctly clear what)
and was not able to swallow. He received antibiotics
etc. after which he was really alert and
communicative.  He came home after 5 days (which was
too soon) and after a couple of days had trouble
swallowing again and could not eat or take any of his
medications and complete the antibiotics.  Our house
doctor - who is American and I was told is very good -
turned our to be quite disappointing.  I won't go into
that now but he simply does not do enough...
Eli became very sleepy agian and hardly opened his
eyes.  I took him back to the hospital yesterday -
Sunday (should have taken him Friday....) after being
without any medication or food for three days...except
for fluids which he received under the skin - not
intravenously...and he was in a sleepy state but
responsive.
He does not have pneumonia but is now in some kind of
a coma state though not completely.  He hears me and
tries to respond with a 'yes' from under his oxygen
mask.  The doctors all tell me that this is not as a
result of some infection or because he did not eat or
take medication...if it was then he would come out of
it.  but more likely it is the tumor spreading in his
brain....
Still, I can't help thinking of all the 'shoulds" and
'what ifs'
The plan was to have a peg put in (tube to the
stomach) but we could not do this while he had an
infection.   This plan was against the advice of the
hospital he's in and we were going to do it elsewhere
but now I am afraid it's too late.
People from Netivya have been coming to visit and
pray.
Sorry for such sad news..
Judy