Some Pix from Sue's Services

Greetings to Everyone-

I miss blogging about my wonderful sister so much and the updates and pics, and how all the comments made her feel so great. She could never believe how any people read, and visited the blog and cared and prayed. I am so thankful for all of you and the hope and prayers that kept her lifted up.I have gone back so many times just to look at it, I just haven't been able to bring myself to write in it and share pics. My dad, Ashlee& I made it back to MN in 23 hrs floating in his boat otherwise known as a Buick RoadMaster. There is a reasone they named it that...it really is the "master" of the road. I hope everyone is doing well and I have thought of everyone often and how much so many of you helped me and supported me while I was planning the services for Sue and in the midst of the horrible pain and realization that she was gone forever.

There is a permanent slide show set to music at http://www.mem.com/ for Sue that was playing during her visitation that you can go to and see. Just enter Her last and first name in the search and it pulls it up and then click on movie. It is really nice.

Here are the service pics:

Earthman Funeral Home Chapel- where her visitation was - thanks to all who sent beautiful flowers. You can see the two sceeens which played the slide show set to music continually throughout the visitation.

Sue's silver casket, Pallbearers are Mike Walstad, Eric Pickett, Alex Walstad, Reuben Arryoa (sorry I can't spell it!) , Steve Wilson, and Jessica Martinez, RAy's sister.

The gravesite, it is in a beautiful cemetary, WoodLawn, and she buried beneath a tree which was filled with wind chimes, which Sue loved and collected. Ray will bring one for Sue to hang in the tree. On the other side were huge blooming flowering bushes.


The chapel at 2nd Baptist where Sue's memorial service was held. It was filled with beautiful stained glass each depicting a scene from the bible. There was about 150-175 people in attendance.

Steve Wilson, Eric Pickett & me (I look horrible and at this point had been crying straight for 6 days.) The 11x14 framed photo of Sue was atthe front of the chapel and also at the visitation. Eric and I spoke at the memorial service about Sue's impact on our lives and the lives of so many others.

Ray gave my mom Sue's car, Greenie. I threw this in here as my mom hasn't driven since 2004 because she hates driving and always has and thought she could retire...but her two main drivers Sue and my dad are both gone, so she has decided she could drive Sue's car and she has been. She said she can feel Sue's presence when she drives. Keep my mom in your prayers....:)

I am also going to get Eric's speech and copy it here and also a copy of mine for all of you to read if you so desire. Please take care and i will post "stuff" here, I just don't want it to become Kaylee's Journey .....

XOXOX Kaylee

Thank You

Just a quick post to thank everyone who attended Sue's visitation, burial and/or funeral. Everyone of you helped so much to give us all the strength to get through these few tough days. All of your prayers, kind words, hugs and stories really did help lift the heavy sorrow. Thanks so much to Pastor Jeff Calhoun, for his amazing kindness and family visits and prayers and for going the extra mile and making Sue's memorial service so special and memorable. We will be eternally thankful for your presence.

It has been the hardest time in life so far, but I am going to start each day like Sue did, finding something to be thankful for and thanking the Lord. I am thankful to have had a sister as great as Sue, even though her loss right now is unbearable, it is true, it is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all.

SUsan's company, Thomas Properties was also out in great numbers to show their respect and freindship, and we are all so impressed by everyone. Thank you all for your support, food, kindness, stories...you were all amazing. Thanks for following the blog and for your prayers. I will never forget any of you.

The burial and service today went beautifully, and when it was all done I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I am sorry for the people I didn't get to talk to. Thanks again for coming and showing support for Susan and Ray.

Speaking of Ray, he was also amazing and courageous and strong. I am so proud of you Ray. FOr everything, for wanting to do the very best to memorialize Sue. Everything was perfect and you planned it from the start to finish. I felt really good about everything when it was all done, more than good-so so so happy by how nice it all was and how well it all went and how many people came to show their love. I was amazed by how many people Sue had touched in her time in Houston. It is going to be hard to go back to my life and not have Sue to talk to and laugh with...but I will see her again, I KNOW IT!

Thank also to Deb for the beautiful songs and to Eric for his very funny and poignant eulogy today, let me know if the jury comes in on the ghost thing...!! Thanks to Steve & RUben for being pallbearers and for just being there to support our families. You guys were awesome!! Mary, Mo and the others who chipped in and brought us food, and then showed up for everything and stayed til the end to offer your support, you are awesome!! I know I am forgetting people, and I am sorry...I am a little brain dead from all this and Ashlee and I are leaving tomorrow with my dad to drive his car back to MN.

Oh...thank you for all the beautiful flowers, phone calls from my friends and family back home and for your breast cancer donations!!!!!!! The flowers were beautiful and there were so many!! I will add more, but I just want all of you to know how much each and everyone of your prayers and care meant to all of our family!! Take care and may God bless each and everyone of you.

XOXO Kaylee

Visitation, Burial & Memorial Service Information for Susan

Greetings-

Following is the burial and memorial service informationfor Susan. Everyone is invited and welcome, so if you can come we would LOVE it and welcome you to Houston.

Flowers may be sent to: or in lieu of flowers we will have Susan G. Klomen Breast cancer donation paperwork for you to donate in Susan's name.

Earthman Funeral Home
8303 Katy Freeway
Houston, TX 77024 (713)465-8900

Susan's Visitation will be Sunday, June 22nd from 5pm to 9pm at Earthman Funeral Home, flowers can begin to arrive on Saturday if you wish, they are located at:
8303 Katy Freeway; Houston (713)465-8900 for directions

Susan's Burial will be at 10:00 am at Woodlawn Cemetary on Monday June 23rd the address is:
1101 Antoine Drive; Houston (713)682-3663 for directions

Susan's Memorial Service and Luncheon following will be at Second Baptist Church at 11:00 am:
The church is located at Woodridge & Voss , right off of Woodway. We are hoping all of you can make it.

Thanks again for following Sue's progression through this horrible disease and for praying for her and for your care and concern. Thanks so much to her work here in Houston and in Philadelphia and LA for all you did to help her and care for her. You made her feel so special and so successful and all she wanted to do was "get back to work", she loved her job and the people she worked with. Thank you for making a difference in her life. You really did. Thanks to her manager and better yet, great friend Eric Pickett, for your hospital and home visits and for caring about her fully, she had the time of her life and thought herself to be luckiest person because she knew you. And there are so many of you out there. Too many to name, but you know who you are. Sue had a way of making you feel special and I just don't know how I will manage without my little angel sister. Thanks again for everything, we are all indebted to you. God Bless you and remember we are not angry at God for our loss as He has a plan for all of us, we do not understand why sometimes, but we need to trust Him and that is why it is called faith. I have faith to know Sue will have heaven figured out so when I get there she will greet me and show me the ropes and I can once again be with my beloved angel I called my sister.

XOXO Kaylee

Susan's Journey

Susan and Ray in January 2008


Beautiful Susan at Pappadeaux restaurant when she could finally go out to dinner with everyone!



Susan's Journey with cancer ended today at 7:50am this morning. Susan was surrounded by Ray, her parents Doug and Kay, Kari, Ray's parents Janie and Raymond Martinez and Ray's sister Jessica and family friend and adopted sister Gloria. I was praying to God she would be able to hang on until I got there at 10am, but sadly I missed saying goodbye to my beloved sister. Our family had Sue's body remain in the room and my parents and Kari and Ray took me to the hospital so I could say goodbye to her and hug and kiss her one more time.

Susan's system began to shutdown due to the excessive tumors and acidic fluid put out by them. Her journey ended quickly in a cardiac arrest. Ray, his mother and I are going to be meeting with the funeral home, church and cemetary tomorrow to set up all the details. We will be posting the funeral details and where to send flowers/memorials should you be interested. Thanks for all your prayers and care and concern. We are also looking for pics you may have of Sue to use in a memorial for her. Please email to either Kaylee : kayleewalstad@msn.com or Ray : dalquiel@hotmail.com . Thanks again for keeping Sue in your prayers. This has been absolutely devastating.

New Update

Susan has taken a turn for the worse this late afternoon, she began having difficulties breathing and had alot of mucous and fluid, so they brought in a bunch of specialists for her lungs, they used something to take try to take the fluid out and had a portable chest xray to see what was going on, they moved her to the Intensive Care Unit where she is currently and said they thought she either had a very bad infection or a pulmonary clot/tumor. They are giving her meds for both and told my family she could pass away. She is currently on a ventilator with Ray and his family and my family all there at the hospital. This is a very scary situation and I am asking you to please pray for my sister. I am expecting a miracle because Sue is a MAJOR LEAGUE fighter. I am getting ready to leave on the first flight out and that is at 7am tomorrow, so I will update this blog to let everyone know how the situation is. Thank you so so so much for your love, care and prayers. (this is Kaylee from Mn interpretting all the family phone calls, so if I am a little off, Ray will correct it later)

XOXOXO Kaylee

This Past Weekend

Much has happened since the last blog entry; and since the dust from the mental maelstrom has settled at least to knee-levels, I feel this makes a good opportunity to speak as to what is happening so far.

For starters, Susan is back at the hospital. Saturday evening, Susan had a lot of difficulty getting up from the couch, standing and walking. We had an ambulance deliver her to the Hermann Memorial hospital because it would have been too difficult to transport her by car. Plus, we thought if she went by ambulance it would be like going through the express lane of hospital processes. To say the least, we were wrong about that. Over all she’s been at the hospital ever since, going through a battery of tests and examinations.

She’s received very little sleep since this all started. And it’s very difficult to communicate with her because she lost her voice. The doctor’s can’t really explain the reason for her loss. There’s been a lot of speculation, but so far nobody with white coats and stethoscopes has come with a definite answer yet. Hopefully they will soon.

More importantly I hope they can tell me if she can stand up on her own and walk soon, if not today then when. Because she’s been in bed practically 24/7, and I would like them to do physical therapy on her before her legs get too weak from lying down too long.

Monday they inserted a catheter in her back to help drain future fluid build-up that could develop in her chest cavity.

This morning – way early this morning – they gave her a new chemo to deal with the spreading of the tumors on her arm. As I’m writing this, they are either giving her a third attempt at an MRI, or she’s sleeping. She’s gotten very little of the latter, so I hope she’s getting sleep before they put her through that ordeal of the former.

Susan has endured so much this weekend that I pray and hope she gets a quick relief from it all. Strength in her legs, confidence to walk steady again, and the return of her voice would be good starters. I want her home and better again, and back on the road to recovery as she was before.

Please pray for her that she receives just that. Susan’s strong and resilient. The monster in her wants to be, too. But it won’t get that chance. Susan’s tenacity, the love everybody has for her, and prayers from friends and family will see to it that the monster doesn’t win.

Ray

Biopsy Results are in

Ray received the news regarding Sue's biopsy and chest x-ray yesterday. The biopsy showed the rash on Sue's arm, shoulder and breast was cancer and her xray showed some fluid building up (but not nearly what was there before), so a new direction will be taken with Sue's chemo and treatment.

Sue will be put on a different chemo and she will have the fluid taken out of her chest cavity again. It was a VERY painful procedure so we are hoping it will go better this time as it is not as much fluid.

Monday Sue and Ray will be meeting with Dr Nguyen, Sue's oncologist to go over everything and discuss a new course of attack against this beast. SO I know they have a list of questions and things to discuss and we'll keep you updated with what is going on with Sue's treatments.

Sue has been tired, but is staying positive and strong within! We Frangos' are fighters and our family has really pulled together with Ray and everyone is doing everything they can to support her and surround her with everything they have to give.

Please pray for wisdom for Sue's Dr.s and for this cancer to get under control. To be stopped in it's tracks and for Sue's levels to remain good and stable. Thank you for checking on Sue and caring enough to include her in your prayers. God Bless You this weekend and don't forget to tell your dad Happy Father's Day tomorrow!! :)

XOXOXOXO Kaylee

I am taking Over....!!

Okay, I can't let this blog sit untouched another day!! I love reading this and getting the updates, so here goes!!

Sue had a lymphedema clinic appointment on Monday, however Fri day she developed a rash on her "tick" arm, so when she went in on Monday they said they couldn't wra or treat her arm til her Dr looked at it to discern if it was an infection (which is not uncommon with lymphedema) and is treated by a 10 day course of antibiotics or if it was something else. So my mom and dad took Sue in to see Dr Nguyen and waited for awhile to see him. He looked at it and said it was either an infection or the cancer has spread to that area, so he decided to biopsy it, which was a little painful for Sue. We are currently waiting for results on that and don't expect them quickly! Even though we all want to know right away! Dr Nguyen put Sue ont he antibiotic right away and she is taking it just in case itis an infection-pray that it is!! Secondarily, Sue had her chemo early as well that day while she was there. Then when she was done with that, my dad took her to get a chest xray, because her voice has been hoarse and they just want to make certain her chest cavity isn't refilling back up. SO we are also waiting on the results of that. On a SUPER DUPER good note, Sue's blood levels were the best they have ever been so that is going well! So Sue has been doing good, her breathing and getting around are good, just this extra stuff!

Sue has been eating ok, and resting and nothing major to report!! I just wanted to ask you if you could really continue to pray that the Lord would take this cancer away, keep Sue strong, keep her levels great and for this chemo to work and that her chest cavity would not refill and that she just has an infection which clears up quickly! Thanks for all your prayers and support! I am sorry nothing has been on here on a regular basis, but Ray got busy and I am here in MN, so I will start reporting again from MN!!! :)

We hope you are all doing great! My dad is flying home next Wed to see his sister who is very ill with cancer and in home hospice. He will be home for 2 weeks and I am sure Sue and Ray will really miss him! Take care and please keep praying for Sue!! Thanks to all of Sue's co-workers for checking the blog and for caring, she really misses work and talks about everyone often!

XOXOXO Kaylee

Captain Susan & Family

Helllo and a hearty yo ho ho to you all!
What a great week we've had! Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. To make up for it a bit here is a little sumary and some photos from today.

Starting last Saturday we are attending the little farmer's market that I used to visit all the time. Its been fun to be back! We took photo's the first time but, we didn't know that the memory card was not in the camera so we can't get them to upload onto here. We went again today but, forgot the camera! BUMMER! We will try to remember next week!

We went to a fundraiser for Captain Lily's Pirate Team for the three day walk coming up in November. Deb donated her expertise and time by running a karaoke show and my sis Kari bought food, auction items and spent hours decoraing the bar tonight. It was such a fun time!! THanks to everyone who showed up sag and donated. This was my first big social outing since I became sick. I surprised even myself that I was able to stay as long as I did!

Captain Susan at home before the event

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! A toast to everyone!

Pirate Mom!

Dad makes a cool pirate too!



Having fun at the fundraiser!!!

Koo-Koo in her awesome Captain Susan t-shirt created by Deb

Also, on Thursday my old lunch buddies Eric & Steve picked up lunch and came over it was AWESOME to see them and chat. They rock!!!

I hope everyone is having a relaxing and fun weekend. As always thanks for all prayers, positive thoughts love and care. I pray that the Lord would bless you all with whatever you need the most.

Lots of love,

Susan

An Update From Doug!

Greetings Everyone!!

Here is a little update from my dad! Sue has been doing well since they drained the 2 liters of fluid from her chest cavity. So nothing health-wise new to report!! She goes to the oncologist tomorrow, but not for chemo, this is her week off!! YEAH! SO here is my dad's evening update! Thanks to those of you who care enough to call to check to see how Sue is doing when a few days go by with no report!! We appreciate everyone's love, support and prayers more than you can know!!

Here it is only 9:20 and I am pooped out whats up with that? I bought us Pot pies from central market for dinner and a fresh salad. It was delicious and Kookkoo (Kari) joined us as I bought one for her also, so we had a nice dinner together. Mom came from work and gabbed a litlle and away the gals went, Sue and I watch Hells Kitchen, it is fun to watch. Sue is feeling good, she has a good appetite if the food is something she can eat. We go to Dr Nguyen's office tomorrow at 1 p.m. and after we are going to a wig shop over by the clinic where they sell the head scarf that Sue loves(The Red One) so that will be fun for Sue. Nothing else going on so I will close for now and wish you a lovely evening. I am so sorry for forgetting to tell you the results of her heart test were excellent no damage to her heart. Gods blessings to you all. Doug

For our faithful prayer warriors we have a few prayer requests; can you please continue to pray for Sue's lung and that her chest cavity will remain clear, and also for her levels (you know the ones!!) and for her continued improvement on this journey!! Thanks again for your love, may God bless you this week!! XOXO Kaylee