My life since metastatic osteosarcoma diagnosis October 2002. I am Audra, a 34 yr old female. My husband is Glen and our 6+ year old daughter is Angela.
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Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Audra F. Lloyd
Mont. Couinty Intelligencer & Bucks County Courier Times
Audra F. (Fario) Lloyd of Langhorne, passed away on Sunday, July 11, 2004, comfortably at home surrounded by her family. She was 34.
Audra was born in Philadelphia and lived in Langhorne for most of her life. She attended Neshaminy School District and graduated from Neshaminy High School as class president in 1988.
Audra worked for Fleet Bank for more than 10 years at its Buckingham and Trevose offices. She volunteered at Ronald McDonald Camp in the Pocono mountains for a number of years and for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
She enjoyed many things in life, such as cooking and hosting parties for family and friends. She especially enjoyed attending her daughter's school events.
All of Audra's family and friends were surprised by her diagnosis and referred to her as the healthiest sick person they had ever seen. She never let her disease hinder her love for life.
Audra is survived by her loving husband, Glen, and her daughter, Angela. She also is survived by her parents, Grace and Angelo Fario; her sister, Angela Fario; her brothers, Thomas, Stephen (Dot) and Paul (Nicole); her father-in-law, James Lloyd; her sisters-in-law, Cynthia Ashwell (Irv) and Karen Scott (Dave); and her aunts, uncles, cousins and numerous nieces and nephews.
Family and friends are invited to attend Audra's life celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and again from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at Dunn-Givnish of Langhorne, 378 S. Bellevue Ave., Langhorne. Her funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Penndel. Interment will follow in Our Lady of Grace Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Audra's memory may be made to St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center, c/o Dr. Rosen, 325 W. 15th St., New York City, NY 10011, Attn: Karen Plummer.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Audra passed away today at approximately 11:15am. Her entire family, including Angela, were at her side. Audra is at peace. She was ready.
Arrangements pending.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Quick update:
We returned from NYC Friday afternoon in what ended up being the worst drive home from the city in our history. What normally takes between 1.5 or 2 hours took nearly 3 hours.
Audra seemed to be coming around before we left the city but by the time we got home she had regressed quite a bit. We spent most of Friday evening and Saturday trying to make Audra comfortable and minimize her overriding pain, burning in her belly.
After a few hours with our tenacious hospice nurse on Saturday afternoon, Audra had all of her medications be Saturday evening.
Audra had been spitting up frequently, expending a lot of energy in the process and interrupting her sleep. The spitting up seems to have subsided and the pain medications are fully in force. Now we're waiting for a hospital bed so she can be raised and lowered with minimal effort. We're expecting the bed any minute.
Audra is quickly approaching her final hour. She is well medicated and is not often awake or completely coherent. When she does have the energy, she still manages a few zingers usually directed at on of us helping but most often she just rests.
Unless some completely unforeseen medical miracle, my next post will probably be the last.
BTW, Angela is doing quite well. She understands everything that is going on and most importantly understands that death is final. Apparently Angela has put two and two together and believes we'll be eating out a lot because daddy can't cook. She also told Audra yesterday that she knows she's going to die but is would not be today (yesterday), and she wouldn't cry until she dies. My tears, she said, weren't real. I was faking it. My laughing at her accusation didn't help convince her that I was sad. So I wonder, just how big do my tears have to be to be convincing enough?
And what about me? I cry a little bit every day just like I have the past year or so. I cry when I have to talk to someone who I haven't spoken to in the previous 24 hours. My greatest anxiety now is conveying the next "good news" which will be that Audra's struggle is over. Expect it sooner than later.
Pass the tissues please.
...gjl
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Audra started her new chemotherapy regimen two weeks ago. Audra faired well after the first treatment but the slope has been slippery since her second treatment. The combination of partial paralysis of her face and the side effects of her medications are making it difficult for Audra to eat. Add to that, the fact that the chemotherapy is causing diarrhea and it’s trouble all around. Audra has experienced some unhealthy weight loss that is hindering her from receiving additional treatments. With some encouragement, she’s beginning to come around but we’re still hoping she picks up the pace a bit. We need to fatten her up.
Audra was feeling so weak on July 4th that she insisted on going to the hospital in NYC, believing that she needed a blood transfusion. Angle and mom Fario packed for a day in the city and first thing Monday morning they were off to NY. Once there they ran tests only to find that she was a bit dehydrated. Her blood counts were fine. They did discover that she lost about 8 lbs in the past two weeks. Being that she’s not feeling well and her weight loss, they postponed this week’s treatment. Before leaving, Audra was hooked to an IV for hydration for a few hours and eventually sent home.
That’s the latest news. I wish it could be better.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
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