Sorry for the delay on posting. The last couple of days have been up and down for Tamra and all of us here. As for Tamra's health. Nothing has really changed as far as her health is concerned. She has still not eaten or had much to drink at all since Friday afternoon when she had her fall at home. This is obviously not a great sign for her long term health.
We are currently respecting her wishes to keep her pain free as possible. This is our greatest concern. She has seemed close to passing on a couple of occasions but yet she is still with us and we are thankful for the time we have all spent with her over the last couple of days. Over this time we have been able to get her washed and had her bed cleaned so she is more comfortable.
She is still on a fair amount of morphine so she drifts in and out quite a bit. At time she seems quite lucid and others she just looks out into space. She has also been able to notice and acknowledge visitors and family and even smile at times which has been nice. Many times over the last couple of days she has told the ones around them that she loves them and has even been able to give out a few kisses.
We have been trying to read out your wishes whenever possible in hopes that she can hear them. I will tell you that Bart spent one afternoon just reading them to Jack and it really made him happy that so many also loved Tamra so very much. So thank you so much for leaving your messages!
This is the plan we have for Tamra tomorrow. We think getting a CT scan of her back would be just too painful for her. That being the case we are just going to try and manage that extra pain with her meds. She had a (picc) line that fed her morphine but it was pulled out when she had her fall at home. We are going to attempt to have a new one done tomorrow but if it causes any extra stress or pain for Tamra then we are just going to skip it. Her morphine can be delivered through her arm it just has to be re-done every 3 or 4 days.
If everything goes well tonight we are hoping to get her back home sometime tomorrow afternoon. We have contacted the wonderful people at Rocky Mountain Health Care and they are already making arrangements for this. I know she would be more comfortable there in her own surroundings and I know that Jack would like to have her home even if its just for a while. We are hoping that getting her home will set her mind at rest.
If she continues to not eat or drink her prognosis is obviously not good. We are just trying to make her final days as pleasant as we can. Honouring the final wishes of the most wonderful woman in many of our lives is the very least we can do!
Thanks again for all the love and prayers you have sent! It's just nice to know that we her family are not the only ones that see what a truly special person Tamra is.
Love you Mom...sparkle, sparkle, sparkle, meow, meow, meow.
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Tamra Juretich Tapp
Tamra Juretich Tapp
Our loving, wife, mother & grandmother age 67 passed away on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at home after a brief battle with Pancreatic Cancer.
She was born July 16th, 1941 in Murray Utah to Matt & Claudia Juretich and later married Jackie Thomas Tapp February 20th, 1960 in Coalville Utah.
Tamra began high school at West High and later graduated from Jordan High in 1959.
She started dancing at the age of 3, was a member of the Jordan High Dance Company with her best friend Penny Walker and later preformed on the Ted Mack show as a beautiful gifted young woman. As a young mother she taught ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance in the basement of her home on Coventry Lane and had a positive influence on the children she taught.
Tamra loved her time serving in the Young Women’s program of the Church. Her greatest joy was teaching and laughing with the Young Women she served. She especially had fond memories as Stake camp director while living in Silver Reef, Utah.
Tamra enjoyed working with her friends at Sunfirst Bank in Hurricane and St. George Utah, where she was always the life of the party. She especially enjoyed working alongside Mont Humphries who she considered one of her closest friends.
Most of all Tamra loved her children, grand children and her husband Jack of 48 years and will miss them dearly!
Tamra’s catch phrase throughout her life was “have a nice day and smile all the way” and loved anything that was bright and sparkly. She was always thinking of others and had the innate ability to make others feel comfortable around her.
Instead of flowers Tamra has requested that you provide an act of kindness for someone in need.
Thank you to the staff at Intermountain Healthcare and Rocky Mountain Healthcare who assisted with her care. Specifically we would like to thank her nurse Julie and CNA Sally who took such good care of her during the end of her earthly life.
Our loving, wife, mother & grandmother age 67 passed away on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at home after a brief battle with Pancreatic Cancer.
She was born July 16th, 1941 in Murray Utah to Matt & Claudia Juretich and later married Jackie Thomas Tapp February 20th, 1960 in Coalville Utah.
Tamra began high school at West High and later graduated from Jordan High in 1959.
She started dancing at the age of 3, was a member of the Jordan High Dance Company with her best friend Penny Walker and later preformed on the Ted Mack show as a beautiful gifted young woman. As a young mother she taught ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance in the basement of her home on Coventry Lane and had a positive influence on the children she taught.
Tamra loved her time serving in the Young Women’s program of the Church. Her greatest joy was teaching and laughing with the Young Women she served. She especially had fond memories as Stake camp director while living in Silver Reef, Utah.
Tamra enjoyed working with her friends at Sunfirst Bank in Hurricane and St. George Utah, where she was always the life of the party. She especially enjoyed working alongside Mont Humphries who she considered one of her closest friends.
Most of all Tamra loved her children, grand children and her husband Jack of 48 years and will miss them dearly!
Tamra’s catch phrase throughout her life was “have a nice day and smile all the way” and loved anything that was bright and sparkly. She was always thinking of others and had the innate ability to make others feel comfortable around her.
Instead of flowers Tamra has requested that you provide an act of kindness for someone in need.
Thank you to the staff at Intermountain Healthcare and Rocky Mountain Healthcare who assisted with her care. Specifically we would like to thank her nurse Julie and CNA Sally who took such good care of her during the end of her earthly life.
Up to date information for friends and family of Tamra Tapp
1/12/09
About a month ago Tamra had a recurrence of some back pain which she has had on and off for years. She had some physical therapy done but it had little effect. Over the following weeks she was very tired and sleepy. The pain had progressed over time and so she had Misty take her into the St George hospital on December 31 to get at CT scan to see if the liver was the issue of her pain. The nurses at the hospital sent her home and said they would send the scans to the doctors for review.
The doctors called on the January 5th to check on here pain and suggested that she come in for a biopsy her liver on the January 6th. She had this done and had to wait until January 8th for the results. Upon receiving the results of the biopsy the family doctor suggested we meet a hospital oncologist because he had concerns about what he was seeing on the CT scan and what showed up in the biopsy results.
An appointment was set up with the Oncologist today at the Huntsman Cancer wing here in St George. Without knowing fully all the medical lingo here is what we learned today. Apparently as some point (nobody knows exactly when) a cancer started at the bottom head of her pancreas. It has traveled from it starting point to just outside the pancreas and has since spread to the liver. Unfortunately there is not a specific treatment for where this cancer started. This is not to say that there are not treatments that can be done because there are but there is no chance of a complete cure.
Tamra has decided on a course of treatment as suggested by the oncologist. Her pain is being managed at the moment and will be modified as needed. It is her and our wish that she be kept pain free even at the cost maybe losing a few months of her life. We will be exploring all treatments as some may work and others may not. We all have agreed on this course and just want what is best for Tamra.
As her treatments and her condition changes I hope either myself, Bart, Misty or Shane will update you all with any new information. Jack is obviously very distressed by this news and I would hope you would all keep him in your prayers as well as he loves Tamra dearly!
On a personal note I would like to ask one favor of all of you. We are creating this blog mainly for Tamra to be able to log in and read messages from her loved ones and be able to send her feelings back to them when she is feeling up to it. So if you could, please do not use this board to leave messages for other family members. Misty and I have found many of our relatives on Face book and love catching up with them there. And just so you know this is also one of Tamra’s biggest wishes as she expressed to us today. She has always wanted the family to stay together and to keep in touch!
Finally, my thanks to all my family for making a bad situation bearable. To my older brother Bart and his wife Pennie. Thank you for being the strong ones and helping organize all that you have. To my little brother Shane and his wife Jamie. Thank you for taking such good care of both Tamra and Jack now and for being there for them over the years while Bart and I have been in Salt Lake. Also thank you to my little sister Misty and her husband Doug for always doing what you can to do help and helping Tamra and Jack whenever they needed you. I love you all!
Chet
1 comment:
Hi - This is Jackie (tapp) Beck - I felt i needed to send a message of Love from all of us. Mom (nina) calls me for updates regularly and we want you to know that Tamra and Jack are on our minds every day and we have offered many prayers on theirs (and the families) behalf. Would also like to say how wonderful it is that they have such a great family to be there and care for them.
With all of our love
Steve, Nina, and Family
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