After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

I have just heard the news from EAFB.
This is very sad indeed.

Bill, Donna and family, you are in my thoughts in this difficult time.

After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

Sorry to hear the news. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Cajun!!!!

We need his good humor back here as soon as he's feeling better.

After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

Our Prayers and wishes for a full and speedy recovery go out to Cajun "Bill".
Dennis & Christine

Here is the message I've received which was sent to a friend of Cajun during the night.

"(...) just spoke to Donna & Cajun is about the same , they were going to try to take him off assisted breathing tube but be is not quite ready & will try tommorrow Monday , other wise Donna appreciates all the support from his oversea friends (...) She received all the e-mails you send me & has not shown them to Canjun yet but as soon as he up to it she will. Donna appreciates all the prayers & hopes to can express her thanks to all...."

Fingers crossed!

After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

This scenario has happened to me several times since I restarted my collecting. It is a very sad moment when someone you have been conversing with, on whatever level, becomes incapacitated or passes away.

If not mistaken, there was a fellow in the U.K. who collected cinderellas and revenues, has passed away and his web site has been working since! There's nobody to upkeep the place, so the ISP must have not known he died.

I also had a transaction once where I sent a man some stamps for a trade, he passed on and his son sent them back with an explanation. We went back and forth a few times in condolences and whatnot.

Within a year, a good Internet friend had passed away. She was a wonderful person, had a big heart and I still have some of the stamps she sent to pass on to newbies. Eventually, I'll get batches of Denmark together specifically in her honor and send them out free as I do with US and WW now.

These are all people that I have never met face to face, but since the Internet is such a great tool, it has allowed me to connect with these people before we "move on" to the philatelic bourse in the sky.

I wish the Cajun the best of all care, support and spirit. He has written to me a few times here and although we weren't as close as some others, it still is very sad to see a fellow hobbyist in brutal pain and suffering. For that matter, anyone...

Get well, you old bayou swimmin', gator wrastlin' and gumbo chomping delcamper!

Here is a short update that I've received to day from a friend of Bill:

"Cajun Bill is still about the same , I will be talking to his wife tommorow Fri & will e-mail update . xxx."

Keep your fingers crossed...
EAFB.

Thanks for the update EAFB. I hope you get some news indicating an improvement, when you receive your next message.

Am looking forward to your email sometime soon.

Marianne

Here is the update received to day.

"I just spke to Donna Bill"s wife this morning (Sun ) I he's alert but condition about the same. He is off assisted breathing & is on his own which is good news. He still has problem with moving this arm but has movement in leg. He still has a mast on with 50% oxygen , but he is making slow progress .(...) He also is following commands form doctors so that is alos a good sign that he did not have any brain damage . Donna again thanks all of you for thinking about him . I will give another update middle of week. xxx."

Keep fingersXX
EAFB.

Thanks for the update.

It just occurred to me that all his listings might still be "live", so I went to his store.
Very pleased and impressed to see that Delcampe has closed them down and left a message, stating that he's in hospital. Thank you to the person who alerted Delcampe.

I'm not a religious person so I'm not going to pray.
Lighting a candle has never helped me, so I wont do that either.
I have had great successes with wishing on a falling star and a couple of days ago (I have seen a lot of falling stars in the last 2 weeks) I wished Bill "Cajun" would get back to his old self again.

Thanks for the updates and I'm sure he'll get through and before long he'll have me laughing again with his funny postings on the forum

Lily

Thanks for the update EAFB. I hope you get some news indicating an improvement, when you receive your next message.

Am looking forward to your email sometime soon.

Marianne

Hello Mainly and the others,

" I hope you get some news indicating an improvement, when you receive your next message."

Unfortunately the news received this evening do not indicate much improvement. I suppose we'll have to wait longer his return.

You have underneath the message of Sheldon:

Subject: Re: Bill
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2010 11:57:47 -0500

"...j-f ; I was on holiday & got back Mon afternoon. I spoke to Donna monday nite & he is about the same. VA was doing therpy with his arm & leg but had to stop since they discovered a small blood clot in leg & they had to take care of that but he is alert & still has pain he is very slowly improving. I will be going await again thur & will be back on mon & will e-mail with another update. Sheldon"

EAFB

After an untypical silence of several days I learned this morning that our good friend Cajun Bill suffered a serious stroke and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding

He is currently in hospital and came through surgery as well as expected

I am sure everyone who has had contact with him through the forum will want to join me in sending our good wishes and prayers to Bill and his family

I heard tonight - without verification, it has to be said - that the Cajun left hospital on 15th November to go into a rehabilitation centre: he has been transferred to the Sunset Point rehabilitation centre, about 15 miles from where he lives

It is hoped that 'rehabilitation' (physiotherapy?) may start as early as Friday; apparently, deprived of restaurants and Donna's good cooking, his weight has gone down from 278 to 243 lbs - a loss of 35lb which can only be a good thing under the circumstances

I will post further information as and when I receive it

Hello you all,
here is the message I received (CC) today:

"Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:31:26 -0500
... I spoke to donna yesterday & Bill is still determine to be at Stamp club Christmas Party Dec 13, he is slowly improving & if he is able to improve his shallowing he will be there. He was moved to another rehab center & she has him on list to get him back to VA rehab so he can be with other VA Vet's. He has more movement in his arm & Donna said that are trying to limit the amount of water they are giving him , so all signs are a slow but steady improvement.I will call Donna on Sun evening & e-mail... when I get update.I will be leaving for Thanksgiving Holiday with family & will return Sunday morning. Sheldon."

It seems that things are improving ...
EAFB.

Thanks EAFB.

Things seem to be improving very slowly. I'd love to hear that he's been able to make it to the "stamp club Xmas party".

Hello Mainly and the others,

A short update received during the night:

"Jf ; Just spoke to Donna & she but Bill on the phone & I spoke to him for little while . He still has some short-time memory lost but he sounds like the some Bill. He still gets dizzy when they sit him up for to long but they will contiue to increase him in time. I will call Donna next Sun since I will be going to Stamp convention in Orlando mid week & will return Sunday nite. I plan on visiting Bill next week in rehab center . That's all for now. Sheldon"

Short but rather full of hope

EAFB xx.

That sounds very positive.

Update received this evening

Subject: Re: Cajun
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 15:50:38 -0500

Hi J-f , I just came back from visiting Bill at nursing home & i say he is alert & has not lost his humor. There are getting him out of bed & into a wheel chair so he can sit up for awhile . They are still controling his water intake & he stillhas a feeding bag . He told me that he had suffered three other mild heart attacks since first one when he also had the stroke , but his spirts are high. I had a super stamp show in Orlando thank for asking. I will see Donna at christmas monday nite & hope to visit Bill next week. They have him on list to move to VA rehab in Tampa so it will be closer to home. Regards from Florida Sheldon

"...and has not lost his humor..."

It looks like it's getting really better...Good shot !!

EAFB.