By now, most of you have received the news that our fearless mentor, Katherine has passed away. I feel certain this news has rocked the world of many of you; as it did mine. Some people have private messaged me wondering if she had succmbed finally to her bronchicstasis or MAC or pseudomonas. NO, she did not. Our condition is manageable. She contracted two more particularly nasty bugs of which were resistant to all antibiotics. I have been in touch with her son, Scott. He and I both believe she picked those bugs up when she was spending nights in the ICU with her husband and on many other trips with him in the hospital. These two particular ones are mostly acquired from hospital settings. They are super-bugs. When you hear of hospitalized people dying from pneumonia; this is what this super-bug is. I will give you the names of the bacteria for those of you that want to look it up. They are: Klebsiella pneumonia and Serratia Marcescens. These two are especially dangerous to people like us that are immunocompromised and have weakened or damaged lungs. We are the types that it likes to attack. People like us rarely survive this kind of infection. For the most part, they are antibiotic resistant. I am sharing this with you so that you know to avoid hospitals and convalescent homes whenever possible. Those can be dangerous places for us. I have a rule: I do not visit people in the hospital. I politely explain to them why I can't. We all thought the world of Katherine and prayed that she went peacefully. Her son confirmed that she did, she went in her sleep. Her interment and ceremony to celebrate her life will be on Sept. 2 at 2:00. If you can, I'd like for all of us to take pause at that time and honor her. I will post a reminder as that date gets closer. Hugs to all of you, Terri M.