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Post by SFX on Mar 20, 2012 16:38:08 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Jan 18, 2012 13:55:11 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Nov 8, 2011 11:43:10 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Nov 8, 2011 11:30:09 GMT -4
From: Paul Dudley [mailto:redfox@mfx.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 8:07 AM Subject: Vet Day's parade-20th Me participation canceled
Due to lack of numbers, we won’t be in the Veteran’s day parade this Friday in Bangor.
If anyone has anything they’d like to have me try to get in g-burg let me know ASAP!>redfox@mfx.net
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Post by SFX on Nov 6, 2011 13:51:11 GMT -4
- Dedicated to "Frank Cassidy", from The 20th Maine Company B Volunteer Reenactors - [/color] Frank's Journey>www.caringbridge.org/visit/frankcassidy/journal[/size][/center]
From: Katherine Cassidy [mailto: katherine.cassidy@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 5:32 PM Subject: Cassidy's: Looking toward Thanksgiving
Friday, November 4, 2011 Dear Frank's Friends, Just another chance to catch up with Frank's news. It seems like so much has happened in the last two weeks or so, which contrasts considerably with days like today ... when the late-afternoon hours can't pass quickly enough and the day just drags, for both of us. Frank is doing well, considering that it's been a year exactly since Nov 3, when a local doctor told us Frank's blood counts looked amiss. Once a CT scan at Downeast Community Hospital revealed a tumor on his pancreas on Nov 16, our lives just turned upside down. What a year it has been, since. None of us thought he'd still be with us, and Frank didn't even think he'd see his 61st birthday last June. But, by the grace of God, we made it. Still, today doesn't feel like a celebration. Frank is tired, and I also am tired. Maybe it's just today ... tomorrow, and the coming week, will likely be more festive. For Saturday, we look forward to seeing friends at the Veterans' Day Dinner at the Elm Street School (at 5pm) put on by the East Machias River Day committee members. Next Monday or Tuesday, we turn in our absentee ballots (Frank never misses a vote). And next Friday, we hope to make it to UMM's breakfast for veterans on Veterans Day. We went to both events last year, knowing nothing about the challenges that lay just ahead. Today, now that we have received so much medical care and good from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, we are ever grateful the VA, and for veterans and the service they gave to our country. I know Frank is very proud he was in the Navy from 1968-72. Every time we drive to Togus for his chemo -- he wears his Seabees ("Can Do") cap. Even better, we await -- probably on the afternoon of Fri, Nov 18 -- what I'm calling "The Anniversary Concert." Gene Nichols and the UMM Ukuleles have offered to come play for us in our living room. How wonderful is that!!! Then comes Thanksgiving week. Frank can't stop talking about our plans to spend time with both his family (in New York) and mine (in Connecticut) over several days. Even though Frank has his weak and tired days and nights, he is so positive about making it to Thanksgiving and beyond. I love his plans and determination. As for bringing in the hospital bed that I mentioned in our last note -- Frank flat out rejected it, so the order was canceled. We were sad last week during chemo when the doctor said his bilerubin levels had risen (indicating unwelcome impacts on his liver), and a bit of jaundice appears to have set in. But yesterday's better news is that the liver-levels seem to have held steady and not worsened. Oh, this living day-to-day and week-to-week sure has its moments. Clearly, no two days are the same. On our (fairly) good days, we will fly Frank's American flag at our front door. And on the less-than-wonderful days, we won't put the flag out. It's how we can share our ups and downs with our friends and community. Frank received more than 60 postcards, notecards and letters from you, after I asked in the last email. He LOVED them - and truly appreciated all the phenomenal caring. Your notes, humor and letting him know of **your** days are going, were just tremendous. Thank you, each of you. (We are still at the same address, if you still wish to write him). We had another wonderful highlight, too, last week. Frank's son George and his family, including a 2-year-old and 2-month old -- also named Francis -- drove in from Iowa. We had dinner one evening with George, Charlie (of Bangor) and their wives -- and Frank was with his two sons for the first time in a dozen years. It was beautiful - an absolute high point of our upside-down 2011. with love and gratitude, Frank and Katherine> katherine.cassidy@gmail.com[/b]
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Post by SFX on Nov 6, 2011 13:30:01 GMT -4
The parade will be next Friday in Bangor... I need to know ASAP if we will be able to have enough soldiers to participate in this parade. I need to know no later than Tuesday, if you are willing to march.
Paul Dudley>redfox@mfx.net
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Post by SFX on Oct 31, 2011 21:16:38 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Oct 29, 2011 13:03:22 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Oct 28, 2011 21:08:14 GMT -4
From: Paul Dudley>[mailto:redfox@mfx.net] Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 6:30 PM Subject: MEETING CANCELATION-THERE WILL BE SNOW MEETING!
Due to the upcoming storm, please stay home. No meeting. We’ll see about another time later.
Again, NO MEETING!
Paul>redfox@mfx.net
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Post by SFX on Oct 28, 2011 16:12:49 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Oct 27, 2011 18:43:51 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Oct 24, 2011 23:17:01 GMT -4
- Dedicated to "Frank Cassidy", from The 20th Maine Company B Volunteer Reenactors - [/color] Frank's Journey>www.caringbridge.org/visit/frankcassidy/journal[/size][/center]
From: Katherine Cassidy [mailto: katherine.cassidy@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011 12:11 PM Subject: Your notes and postcards, please!
Dear Frank's Friends - I learned a new level of 'scary' last night. It's being on the phone with a triage nurse at 12:30am, getting talked through how to give morphine to my husband, if he needed it. Astonishingly, Frank's pain eased just five minutes from when that would happen, and we settled into sleep. These are becoming the difficult days - and nights - that we knew were ahead. We had wanted to accompany the UMM Ukuleles to the ceilidh in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, this weekend, but we cancelled with huge regrets. Because we were with them there in 2009 and 2007, we knew the place and the plans, and imagined all they were enjoying, as the hours passed. We look forward to hearing all the new stories. I am figuring out now how to make Frank's days the best they can be, from our living room. We will have a hospital bed delivered on Monday, for downstairs. We have the fabulous Hope Pratt as our hospice volunteer, and also visits from Community Health and Counseling Services nurses. It's all a learning experience for both of us -- and I have to say, it's the best learning experience I've ever known. I wish we had a daily routine, as we've had for years, but we don't anymore. Frank continues his knitting, and we continue to watch "West Wing" DVDs (though we're in the last, seventh season now). Frank has kept his humor, and his kindness, and his appreciation for all the little things. Here's my newest thought. Given that Frank isn't even reading his email anymore -- can some of you please send him postcards and hand-written notes? Just something so he knows our friends are hanging in with him. For his 61st birthday last June, I asked you to send him birthday cards while we were on the road, in Eugene and Chicago. You sent more than 150 of them, for his most incredible birthday ever. Now, please consider dropping a line of greetings, support, humor and strength to Frank -- from wherever you are, to our house. I know that hearing from so many of you would brighten his days again. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, Frank has been knitting hedgehogs -- a pattern he picked up last month in Scotland. with love and gratitude, Frank and Katherine[/b]
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Post by SFX on Oct 24, 2011 22:37:54 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Oct 24, 2011 21:56:42 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Oct 5, 2011 9:09:07 GMT -4
From: Katherine Cassidy Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 11:00 AM Dear Frank's Friends, near and far -
We haven't sent an update in a month, and friends have been asking about Frank recently. Each day is a challenge now -- but that comes after yet another series of trips and travel in September to see more friends and family. September for both of us was even better than August was, but the balance of October may shape up differently.
We did a Labor Day trip, gone for a week, down to Virginia and Delaware, to see family, including Frank's younger brother John. That was incredibly good. We also saw the rest of Frank's family at his niece's wedding at Bear Mountain State Park, New York, on Sept. 23.
And although we didn't talk about it at the time, we also traveled to Glasgow, Scotland from Sept 13-21. Frank wanted to see our friends Vevanne and Paul one more time. She had been our matron of honor at our wedding in 2003, and we spent Christmas with them in both 2005 and 2007. Frank was adamant that we schedule our trip around Sept. 17, the date of Paul's investiture as rector of St. Ninian's Episcopal Church in Glasgow. The Scots sure know how to do things right. It was wonderfully formal, complete with a packed church anxious to meet their new priest. We are so glad we got to spend that special occasion with them. Our Scottish trip also included an incredible day trip to the Isle of Cumbrae, where we discovered a tiny Episcopal cathedral. We just felt so right being back in Scotland, which we have come to know and love together. The photo below is of Frank at the very special Cathedral of the Isles at Millport.
Frank is such a great traveler. He really thrives when we are on the road, wherever we are. I love that in him. We spent tons of time seeing the streets of Glasgow and its fabulous buildings by foot, bus, train and subway. Great city, it is. I am so proud that Frank could make this trip, and that he made the most of it, too.
But, he hasn't bounced back well. We had a positive CT scan on Sept 7, which showed that the chemo of June-July-August had kept his cancer from progressing too much. But we take that news as bittersweet, because our chemo regimen is merely about buying time, at this point. We are simply astonished at his longevity, since we learned the news of his tumor last Nov. 16. Hard to believe that it's been 10 months. We have said to each other that it's been an astonishing 10 months, full of love, living and learning. It's certainly been the best 10 months ever, of our nearly 10 years together.
Now, however, it's time to call on Down East Hospice. We meet with the coordinator today, and will also talk about getting a skilled visiting nurse involved. Frank hasn't wanted Hospice care until this point, and I argue that perhaps I need it more than him. Whatever. We have agreed to take this step together. His need for pain management is simply beyond anything I can do for him at home.
Meanwhile, I got him to the emergency room at Down East Community Hospital yesterday for five hours of fluid replacement. We cannot say enough good about the wonderful care there. The nurses and doctors are tremendous. Frank went in as a hurting pup, and by the time we left, he was revived and telling Navy stories from 40 years ago to the Navy-guy in the next bed.
Several of you have suggested we make use of the Caring Bridge website as a way of communicating. We have a page, www.caringbridge.org/visit/frankcassidy. But don't sign up to be notified of new entries just yet (or else you will receive 100 separate messages). I am back-filling it with the 188 near-daily emails that we have used to inform our families of Frank's journey from the start. It's not all there yet, but I'm adding them as fast as I can. Do know that I'll start putting in our updates daily and regularly, so it's there if you wish to know more, as we go along, in between these community emails.
On Friday at 10:30am, I will be part of a panel of caregivers at the fourth cancer conference - "There is Hope for Cancer in Washington County" - in Machias, at the Pellon Center. Believe me, I will have plenty to say. Most of all, we appreciate everything that our friends have done for us, along the way. We could not have gotten this far without you.
with love and gratitude,
Frank and Katherine
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Post by SFX on Sept 30, 2011 0:38:01 GMT -4
From: Paul Dudley>redfox@mfx.net Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:44 PM Subject: flasks
I have the flasks that everyone ordered. I’ll bring them this weekend. It’ll be $15.50 per flask.
Art, I owe you the difference from what you gave me. Let me know if/when you receive it>I’ve contacted them about it but haven’t heard back yet.
They look good, exactly like the picture I sent.
Paul
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Post by SFX on Sept 28, 2011 21:57:49 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 23, 2011 18:13:54 GMT -4
If you have any questions, let us know by 'clicking' on the "reply" word in the "greenish bar" above or below this message... (After Logging-In)
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Post by SFX on Sept 23, 2011 17:45:54 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 23, 2011 17:42:37 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 23, 2011 14:37:14 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 21, 2011 15:14:34 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 21, 2011 15:12:14 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 19, 2011 17:06:17 GMT -4
Due to the small attendance, we did not hold any meeting.
A reminder that nominations for the Board and one military position are open.I’ll take nominations by email/or at Leonard’s Mills( 2 weeks), or as a write in at the Oct meeting at the Fort. (Or you can send them in "On-Line"!>endued.tripod.com/20thmecobmembers/id38.html<~SFX)
A big reminder about the Battle of South Mt/Antietam- this is a very limited event so if we wish to go as a unit we need to register very early.The registrations begin in Nov., and is limited to 4000!
Co E also mentioned 2nd Bull run as a choice also.end of August as I recall, still would be hot probably.
Next event will be Leonard’s Mills- last encampment of the year.. great site.. gorgeous if the leaves are right – two day event so a good showing would be appreciated.
Paul Dudley>redfox@mfx.net<
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Post by SFX on Sept 18, 2011 22:41:31 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 15, 2011 22:53:13 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 12, 2011 20:23:07 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 12, 2011 20:12:04 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Sept 12, 2011 20:04:36 GMT -4
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Post by SFX on Mar 15, 2011 17:59:35 GMT -4
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