Randy Westfahl here. Troy is not doing well. I just left the hospital and it is not very good. There is really nothing that can be done right now and Cathy is so appreciative of everyones thoughts and calls. Now is just a waiting thing for them and they have many friends and family around him when I left the hospital this afternoon. I know so many of you count Troy as your friend and all of us know how much wrestling has meant to him. He has been so courages throughout all of this and it is tough to see him go through all of this. God picks the toughest of us for the tough matches though, and he has the right guy to fight for this one. There is not much of this fight left though and your thoughts and prayers on this night will hopefully be for his family as they go through this rough time. He is in no pain and is able to communicate with people by writing on a pad which he has been doing a lot today. I will come on here again tomorrow and let all of you know how things are going. I am going back to the hospital in a bit and will post more when I get home. Keep him in your thoughts as I know you will. Lukemia is just a very tough hombre. I will let all of you know more in a few hours.
Randy Westfahl

Any news this evening on how coach is doing?

Randy, thanks for keeping us updated. I'll check back in the morning.

I don't know you coach Hodges, but let's kick some cancer's rear right now. We can do it!

Westfahl here. No real changes. I was at the hospital last night until about midnight and he was the same. Lots of good friends dropped by to see him but he is really tired and in and out but I think he knows who is there and is glad to see them. I havent been down there as of yet as I am but plan on going over after work today and tonight so I will post more later. Cathy is doing well she is so tough and also so tired. His kids are there, Aaron and Nicole. They are so appreciative of the outpouring of support from everyone. We read Troy the article in the newspaper a few times and he liked that a lot. I will post tonight when I get home where things are at. Once again he is in no pain. He was still on the resirator as of last night and I havent heard anything different today about that. He had a choice of taking it out but he wrote on the pad that he wanted to fight it some more. That is Troy, ever the strategist. God bless him, he is such a good man and has meant so much to me over the years. More to you all later.

Ok, finally some good news. Whatever you guys are doing out there, keep doing it. Troy made some improvement today. His temp went down and stayed down, his white counts came up a bit, he has stabilized a bit, and he made a decision this morning to go on dyalisis which is a big decision. In short he got better when last night it looked like that was just not going to happen. I don't want to misslead anyone, he is still gravely ill and a myriad of things can go wrong but the doctors were cautiously optimistic of Troy making it out of this bout. Whether it was the antibotic, his own system fighting it, your thoughts and prayers, they just don't know but they are encouraged. Ain't he tough! So as we go into tonight, there is some reason for hope here and spirits at the hospital reflected that certainly. Will let you know tomorrow. Keep up whatever you are doing, just keep a good thought for Troy.

Thanks for the good news, Randy .... cautionary though it may be, it says hope. Hope everyone grabs some carpet and a few moments of solitude each day to help coach fight this thing ..... just gotta have faith.

Yep that is what you hang your hat on here. Troy has a tremendous heart. The people that he has helped in his lifetime including me is endless. I never met a person in my life that would unconditionally give you the shirt off his back in a second if you needed it like Troy. Through all of this we have talked on the phone and at his house about all kinds of things, but his convrsations always found their way to wrestlers and wrestling. Troy just loves everything about wrestling and the people who do it and coach it. I think conversin about it allows him to move to a more normal world for him and helps him a great deal. He is a wrestlers coach and person. I think the heart of that entity sustains him now in a way. All of your thoughts reinforce that idea. There is a lot of power in collective thoughts and prayers. Maybe that has caused this rebound who knows.

Its always sad to here about someone in the wrestling community that isnt doin well. I dont know Coach Hodges personally but I know of him. I know he is a big contribute to the metro classic which I had a wonderful time wrestling an attending this year. Mr.Westfahl I do know an he speaks very highly of Coach Hodges so he must be a real good guy an I hope he gets better an pulls throw. keep fightin the fight.

Thanks Cody but you do know him. He is that guy that sits right beside me at the Bobcat Classic and helps run the tourney for us. Do me a favor and let coach Neill and Mr. Keeler about this post because I know they are concerned and want to be kept up on how things are going. They ask me to let them know and I havent done as good a job of that as I should of so just tell them about it and they can check on here and see. They have known him for many many years. Thanks Cody.

Will do.

This is a email letter from Cathy this morning thzt tells all the details of Troy's condition. Many of you have called me this past twenty four hours and I have not been as good at remembering the details of it all like Cathy can. This is as of this morning.
Randy

From Cathy Hodges at St. Lukes Hospital

Good morning from St. Luke’s ICU. We had an amazing day yesterday! Troy’s medical problems did not significantly improve except that his temperature dropped throughout the day and was normal all night. He is still very, very ill. The term they are using now is sepsis. This is an infection that involves the organs. Heart, kidneys and to a lesser extent lungs are involved. The failure of his kidneys came to a critical point today. We needed to decide if we would start dialysis due to the kidney failure. Thankfully Troy was awake this morning rather than just responding to simulation as he was yesterday. He was able to participate in the discussion with the Dr. He heard the possibilities and Troy made the decision to begin dialysis. They will use a continuous type of dialysis that will reduce the amount of excess fluid gradually while it removes the toxins from his system. So, we are in a fighting mood here! Because he needs to concentrate on fighting he has been sedated even more today. We are not able to talk with him right now. Sedation is necessary due to the ventilator tube and now the dialysis. You are welcome to visit the family and to call us but will not be able to talk with Troy for the time being. You can call us in Troy’s room at 816 932 3268. Our faithful friend Larry Weis is staying at the house and can give updates on Troy’s condition. (913 362 2533)



I want to clarify one thing. The ventilator that Troy is on is set to assist his breathing. It is not breathing for him. Right now Troy is doing 60% of the work and the machine in doing 40%. Our nurse today kept pointing this out to me as a very positive sign. His

blood pressure is very good. His temp is normal. There has been a new concern in the last few hours. There has been some breathing in his stomach. Upper GI scope shows an irritation due to the feeding tube complicated by the low platelet count which allows bleeding. They will keep his platelet count higher by transfusion to allow healing and this should be a minor bump in the road. There was also a problem today with labored breathing. There turned out to be a blockage in the ventilator tube making it harder to breath. Problem has been solved and he is breathing easier.



We just had a conversation with the Dr. He is very encouraged with Troy’s progress.



We had an amazing day yesterday. More than 50 people came to see Troy. This highlight of the day was a period of about 30 minutes where Troy navigated a fantasy baseball trade with his friend Gary. He wrote out his players and Gary’s and knew both team rosters. It was amazing coming from someone who cannot talk and had barely been able to keep one eye open due to his level of sedation. We had a great day visiting and enjoying the company of your friends and family. I know that this meant a lot to me and no matter what happens the memory of that day will be important to us.



I send my apologies for not getting this e-mail out today. I started it before 8:00 this morning but every time I sat down there was a Dr or a visitor or a phone call to distract me. I appreciate your need to know. I guess I should resort to the one liners. I will try to do better.

There are so many personal e-mails that I have not read yet along with those I have read that I want to respond to. I hope that you will be patient with me. Thanks for your wonderful expressions of support and the outpouring of love and concern. We had a great party yesterday and are down to serious business now. Thanks for being there

Friday night here and Troy continues to make some small yet positive steps. He is doing most of his own breating now and although still sedated and unconscious, his vitals are holding up pretty well and they are thinking of shutting off the ventilator to see if he can handle all the breathing on his own. If that is a go then they will take that out. All of this is positive and a good sign. We are all optimistic about all of that. Keep up your good thoughts they are working.
Randy

I just found out about Troy's recent condition
and called Cathy for an update.
Please let me know if there is anything I
can do for Troy or his family. My thoughts
and prayers are with him.

Joe since you talked to Cathy you know what I know right now. I will run by the hospital again tomorrow and post another message tomorrow afternoon. They know you are with them and I know it comforts them greatly. We had quite a time with him on Weds afternoon. Gary Veenendall and Troy were making fantasy baseball trades via greaseboard and the sedatives made it tough for him to write but he did anyway and he knew exactly what he wanted. He is a tough trader and gamer no matter how he feels. At one point Bob Brown and I were with him and it got kind of quiet. Troy looked up at us and waved his finger in a circle and pointed at his mouth. Somebody wondered what he meant and I knew exactly what he meant, He meant start talking, telling stories, and laughing, he had had enough of all that doom and gloom. I said thats what I thought and he shook his head yes and rolled his eyes. He is some character and tough beyond imagination. I will let you know what I know as soon as I know.

Talked to Aaron just now (Saturday Morning). Troy continues to improve just a bit. His white cells are up a little bit as is his hemigloben. All of that is good. They were going to try to ween him off the resirator but they are going to wait until Monday to do that. He is still sedated and asleep as he has been since Thursday. Things continue to be guardedly better.

Coach Hodges still has some ties to the Osawatomie Wrestling Community. He was my first "official" Wrestling Coach when I was only in the 4th grade. My brother and brother in law both wrestled for Troy in HS at OZ. And now I teach and coach here. He started some clinics for kid wrestlers down at our City Auditorium and the HS boys helped out showing us the basics. This effort later became what is now the Osawatomie Kid's club. I remember being totally impressed when "that old fat guy" would throw those HS boys all over the mat like rag dolls when he demostrated moves! And I know that each and every boy that wrestled for Mr. Hodges had the utmost respect for him as well we should. He commanded the mat. There are some teachers still around here (and still teaching!) that taught with Troy in the 70's and they are thinking about him as we receive updates. We hope for the best and have good reason for hope considering how tough that guy is!

Coach Packard

Here is Cathy words as of yesterday ' Phase 2, Day 103, 5/4/04

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So far today Troy has had an adjustment made on his catheter port for the dialysis and a feeding tube inserted through his nose to his intestines directly. Several have asked how this would get him nutrition and I was wondering also. Stephanie, who is "nurse wonderful," reminded me that the stomach digests but the nutrition is actually absorbed into the body through the intestines. We are just cutting out the middle man. There will be another breathing trial and another dialysis later today. He is slowly waking up. It seems that one of the sedation meds that has a long lasting life in the body is also interacting with one of the other meds with the result being that it is staying around even longer. He is on no sedation now at all and we are having the extra dialysis treatment to try to clear some of this out of his system. Kidneys are trying to work but not up to speed yet. He is comfortable and beginning to open his eyes and move some. He is not often responding to stimulus but that is increasing. DR Abbott, my nominee for "optimist of the century," is still hopeful so I am trying to be also.

Thanks for everything, as your expressions of love continue to comfort and amaze me. Thanks for being there.

Love, Cathy

I talked to Cathy about five minutes ago. Sounds like the doc is a gung ho guy. She said she thought he would have made a good coach and she ought to know, she has put up with so many of us over the years. Cathy is my nominee for Saint of the year. As all of you pray, and I know you are, save a little one for her. God bless wives and coaches wives in particular. Many of you out there have your favorite stories about Coach Hodges, I know I have about a million of them. Feel free to share here as we wait, might make the time go faster. Troy has touched a lot of people and he has hundreds of friends out there from coaching, fishing, poker, you name it, he gets around. Feel free to share.

Good Morning Coach Hodges: I know you are improving cause Coach Westfhal has been able to keep us informed. I also just recently was able to master the computer and send this message. I know POWER of PRAYER is helping you and I would ask that all of us contiune to ask GOD to look over you. I know that PRAYER helped that man from Macon Georgia, get home safe from IRAQ. You have given so much to us in the teaching and coaching field and have been one of the finest role models we coaches could emulate. As Cathy reads this to you GET WELL MY FRIEND. RMG