hello all, this is Ed Ruppel one of Russ' boys. i have been posting semi regular updates on dad's condition over at redpowermagazine.com's forum since some of you may know that dad's other great love was big tractors! as pipeliner mentioned he will be in hospice care here at home in a few days. knowing how much dad has affected so many people far and wide really touches all of us and makes us proud to have had such a cool guy for a father. we will keep you posted as thins continue.

this is what i posted over on redpower

"super bad news.

r-cubed is coming home this week to hospice care. he was told wednesday that on top of all the crap he has been dealing with that he also has bone cancer( not sure what type). the number 32% was tossed out there by one of the doc's on wedensday and i'm not for certain what it pertains to. unfortunately the doc's have been doing all their talking to my mom who in her current mind frame is in no way able to let us know what was said exactly and dad who can't talk. her terrible grasp of the english language ( transplanted from mexico thanks to r-cubed ) isn't helping matters either . she's fluent but her way of retelling that type of information would be pretty bad. when we tried to talk to the doc yesterday he was being an A-hole. he kept saying he had already explained everything to my mom and dad.

regardless, that particular doc has given pop's about a week. he feels that since dad wants to be freed of any tube feedings and anti-biotics and blood transfusions that he doesn't have long. we ( the four local sons) convinced dad to stay on the tube feeding until he is discharged from the hospital so that his chances of having a few good days at home increase. it took another call to A-hole Doctor to reverse dad's hasty decision which dad agreed to on his own. he'd already had that stuff pulled when we got there in the afternoon to talk to the hospice lady. so as of right now they are testing him all weekend to see if he can handle breathing with nothing more than a CPAP. if he requires a ventilator to go home, the home will have to be inspected to meet criteria required for such a device, #1 being a back up generator. which he already has.

this same type of cancer took dad's mom 3 years ago and it did her in pretty fast. about 2 1/2 months and it was ****. it looks like dad won't have to suffer for long from the bone cancer once he gets to the comforts of home which i guess at this point is good since he suffered for the last months already with mind intact. he was waving good-bye to us all and it got us all choked up. he gave youngest son Bob now 32 the 'ol pistol finger. is was a tear jerker. it's hard to even type this.

so this is what it has come down to.

i know that dad has appreciated hearing all of your words of encouragement as he tried to battle through this illness and as an individual i have come to really respect the old man for being such a hoot to have around and see the friends he made everywhere ...even on the internet.

i'll also be poking my head in here on occasion as now we sons will have to be the ones to fix dad's big yellow elephant and carry on the yellow tradition and build the pond he always wanted to out at our farm.

thanks so much for all your prayers and your concern through this difficult time.


Ed"

thanks for taking the time to read this and for all your prayers
Ed