*tears*

July 23:

this pic was taken July 23; Uncle Thomas was still moving around, still out in the yard. his face and arms had began to wither, and he was a few days away from a treatment to remove the water off his stomach.

July 27:
I posted on my blog this:

i've been recieving a daily update from my mom about my uncle - this is the excerpt from today:

"I assume Thomas asked approximately how much time he had. The answer from Faulkner was around 6 weeks. I hope he doesn’t just give up. That would be the worst."

August 13:
blog entry:

uncle thomas is accepting the fact that he's dieing. he needed to get the water drained off of his stomach, but he said that it didn't matter, because he could feel his body shutting down... he did go, and then slept the rest of the day (the water getting drained off drains him of energy for a day or 2)

he also needs blood, but he can't get both water drained off and blood in the same day, so any day now he should be able to go back and get blood.

friday evening both his daughters were by his side... today i have to go see him :( it looks like any day now. when i read that mom said she can't stay together after seeing him, i felt down. when i heard dad can't keep it together after seeing his brother and best friend, i lost it.

August 20:
blog entry:

the end is near..

i was asked if i could be a pallbearer..

this is the least i can do...

*tear* this is one of the strongest men i have ever met. i can only hope to have a heart half as big as his *tear*

August 23:
they gave him days to live. looks like they were wrong...

Sept 28:
blog entry:

oh wow! mom said my uncle thomas is doing so much better this morn! he drank some more fluids, recieved an IV and now he's sitting up on his own and he might even come home again today!

Oct 20:
the nurse said his kidneys had finally shut down. estimated time was 1 hour to 24 hours. i went and saw him, he moaned about 5 words the whole time i was there. otherwise he slept. he had turned into skin and bones.

Oct 21:
I get the call while at my boss's house getting ready to run cables. he had passed earlier (this was approx 6 p.m.) i go home to my folks' and see the family. saw something that really hit hard: his tools: sockets, wrenches, hammers, etc; they were rusty. he's never taken care of his tools because they were used everyday... they got grease on them daily. they didn't need taking care of. but tonight was a different story. at least 1/3 of the tools were rusty... just... made me think...

Thomas C. Kimble, i can't say you will be missed - because you already are being missed... *tears* :'(