The Robert Cudd Family Site

My Dad's Obituary

Sydney — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:21:00 GMT

The preacher read this at my dad's funeral.

Robert's Biography

Kim — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:06:00 GMT

Biography

Robert Craig Cudd, Jr., 37, of Midland, died peacefully on Friday, February 6, 2009 at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. He was surrounded by his wife, mother & sister. Visitation with the family will be from 6:00P.M. to 8:00P.M. Wednesday, February 11th, at Ellis Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held 1:00 P.M. Thursday, February 12th at Stonegate Fellowship with Jay Mayo officiating. Pallbearers will be Lance Wood, Bruce Ingram, John Ironside, Michael Hughes, Robbie Plummer, Joseph Payne, Jeff Oneal, and Mark Terry. Honorary pallbearers are Lance Ingram, Greg Galvan, Paul Edwards, Ed Delgado, Ken Livingston, Gary Johnson, Jesse Arenivas, Roman Duran, Mundy Hernandez, Joel Sharp, Roger Cudd, George Kiker, Chris Jauz, Jeff Ryan, Gabe Salazar and Randy Watson. Interment will follow at Resthaven Memorial Park. Robert was born January 16, 1972 in Farmington, NM. to Robert and Linda Cudd. He graduated from Midland High School and attended West Texas State in Snyder and Midland College. Robert was employed at Wood Group, ESP as a regional sales manager for the past 13 years. He worked his way from shop hand to sales manager with an amazing group of people that stayed by his side throughout this journey. Robert married Kimberly Hughes on October 4, 1997 in Las Vegas, NV with numerous friends and family in attendance. On March 23, 2001 his "little sunshine" Sydney Danielle was born. Robert's life was never the same after that day. She had her daddy wrapped around her finger from the moment she entered this world. Robert was an avid golfer and enjoyed day games at Ranchland Hills and Odessa Country Club.

He also played with the Knights of Columbus and developed lifelong golfing buddies. When it came to sports, Robert couldn't get enough of the Oklahoma Sooners. During football season, activities evolved around game time. The Red River Shoot Out was his highlight of the entire season and made several trips to Dallas for that. Although the last shoot out was not his most favorite, the trip was more special because it was Sydney's first college game to attend. Robert was also involved in the Indian Princess organization with Sydney and couldn't wait for the camping trips and Valentine's Day dances. He was so excited to buy his suit for that 1st dance! This was their special daddy-daughter time together. He helped coach Sydney's soccer team, The Mighty Tigers, for the last 4 years and cheered her on during softball and basketball games. She was his little athlete. One of Robert's favorite pastimes during the summer was the lake trips with family and friends. He made sure that the campsite was set up to perfection and that when he was ready for bed everyone knew it! In Robert's words "SHUT THE DOOR!" His latest hobby was NASCAR and was able to enjoy several races at Texas Motor Speedway with his friends. Robert was preceded in death by his grandparents, Luis & Leonard Upham and J.D. & Francis Cudd. He is survived by his wife Kim; his daughter, Sydney; parents, Robert and Linda Cudd; sister, Debbie Cudd; and his faithful companions, Paris and Scooby. Also honoring his memory and missing him dearly are numerous uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. The family would like to express their deep gratitude to Dr’s. Ganesh Rao & Agop Bedekian and their nursing staff at MD Anderson; Dr’s. David Watkins & James Corwin and their nurses at Allison Cancer Center; Dr. Kris Howard; Dr. Robert Vogel; Dr. Stephen Rea, and all other health care providers that helped during this difficult time. Memorials can be made to Livestrong.com, MD Anderson Cancer Research, or the charity of one’s choice. Arrangements are under the direction of Ellis Funeral Home. To place on-line condolences please visit www.mem.com.

Robert's Services

Kim — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:54:00 GMT

Robert's viewing will be at Ellis Funeral Home on Wed at 6:00 pm.

The funeral services will be held at Stonegate Church on Thursday at 1:00 pm followed by a short graveside service at Resthaven Memorial Park in Midland.

Love,

Kim

Robert

Kim — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:47:00 GMT

It is with great regret I must inform you of Robert's passing. We were in to Houston earlier in the week for tests but Robert experienced complications with one of the inoperable tumors. One of the tumors deep within the brain began to hemorrhage, building up fluid and there was little we could do. We fought it all day and night, we tried everything. Robert got rid of this awful disease @ 3:15pm Feb 6th. He is himself again, somewhere else right now. Light as a feather, moving around without wires and the side effects of the meds. He is NED (no evidence of disease).

Sydney is w/ my parents and is unaware of the sudden developments. I am not really sure how I am going to approach the situation yet so please, if you see her, act like everything is normal.

I love you all and will be communicating with you shortly. If you will allow me a little time to gather my thoughts, I would appreciate it.

We will all miss him.

Love,

Kim

PS: Nothing is in stone yet but we are tentatively looking at Thursday for the services. I will keep you updated.

Radio-Surgery Update

Robert — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:28:00 GMT

Hello All,

We got back from Houston Saturday night about 6:30 completely wiped out from the trip. Sorry to everyone that tried to call and text but we got home and settled in then went to bed. Sunday was rough for me I slept all day but today seems to be starting good.

Back to the radio-surgery. We went to Houston Wednesday and just messed around the hotel for a while then went to bed. Thursday we went in and spent all day doing the MRI's and the rest of the test. We got there about 7:30 and left about 4:00. The nurse told us to make sure we went to do whatever we wanted to do that night because i wouldn't feel like doing anything Friday night. She was right. So we went out to the Galleria and walked around a little and ate dinner at the Fox Sports Grill then went back to the hotel and met my mother.

We got to MD Anderson Friday about 6:30 and checked in to put the "Halo" on. Here's a pic of the halo.

They put it on and sat us in a holding area for almost 9 hours. I can tell you that when you have 4 screws and pins in your scull it starts to hurt and puts you in a sour mood. Finally about 4:30 they took us to the radiation area. They started with the Gamma Knife and did 4 tumors. It took about 2.5 hours to do the procedure so by the time we left the radiation area it was about 7 Friday night. We then waited in recovery for about 45 minutes then went back to the hotel. We were back at the hotel by about 8:30. 14 hours at that place is a nightmare but worth it.

Everything went as good or better than expected. The last couple of visits to Houston have been very productive and good. Thanks to everyone for their support during this fight.

Much Love and Merry Christmas,
Robert

Update 12/10/08

Robert — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:52:00 GMT

All,
Well I'm having the radio surgery Friday December 19th in Houston. The procedure will only take about 1.5 hours but they have to do the CT's and other test on the same day so we will be at the hospital from early morning on. We will go down Thursday night and should be coming home Saturday sometime. It's an out patient procedure so I barring any complications I should be able to go back to the hotel Friday night and spend one night and come home. Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers.

Much Love,

Robert

December Update

Robert — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:40:00 GMT

Sunday I started having severe headaches seizures again so Kim drove me to the hospital to get checked out. Luckily one of my favorite docs was there so we got in quickly. They found that my brain had some extra swelling and that one of the tumors above my right eye had grown a little and the swelling from that caused me to have seizures. I got out of the hospital Monday afternoon after they stabilized me.

We went and got ready to go to an already scheduled trip to Houston. I thought we were leaving Tuesday but we didn't leave till Wednesday. We got to Houston and went over to the Galleria and did a little Christmas shopping. I lost Kim for about an hour so there's no telling what she bought or how much she spent. I guess I'll find out the next credit card statements come in.

Anyway back to the topic at hand. I talked to Dr. Rao and he mentioned using a form of Radiosurgery on several of the larger tumors on my brain. They called it a Gamma Knife but that's actually a brand of machine. I can't remember the brand name they use at MD Anderson but here is some more information on it Radiosurgery. They are going to let me know Monday if I qualify for it. Dr. Rao told us that he didn't see a problem with getting qualified though. We could do this in as little as 2 weeks.

As far as the lesions on my lung and abdomen they have shrunk a little bit. Dr. Bedikian told Kim and I both that evev if they were twice the size that they are now they would no be life threatening. That's why we are concentrating on the brain

All in all the trip was good. We had a little regrowth, some tumors stayed the same and several shrunk.

I will let you all know when/if I do the Radiosurgery.

Much Love,

Robert

November Update

Robert — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:51:00 GMT

Hello All,
I don't have allot to tell you right now other than I just finished another round of chemo. It pretty much wiped me out for a about a week so I kind of have been laying low. I feel much better today though. I go back to Houston (12-2) to get my scans done to see how I'm reacting to the chemo. Hopefully I'll get more good news and the tumors will continue to shrink. I will let you know if something changes in the next couple of weeks.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week with their family.

God Bless and Much Love to you,

Robert

October Update

Robert — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:12:00 GMT

Well I'll start off with the OU-Texas game. Several friends of mine got together and sprung to send Kim, Sydney and I to the game. Robby Plummer went with us so he could drive us there. He didn't complain to much about it though because he got to go to the game. The outcome was kind of crappy but oh well. Like I told a couple of other people in the last 6 months I've had a sudden change in priorities. It bothered me for about as long as it took to get out of the Cotton Bowl. I was a little worn out after the game so i went and rented one of those little scooters that you see people using at the mall. It was funny to look at people as I was cruising that thing around the State Fair. I think they thought I was just being lazy. It was the best 45 bucks I've ever spent because let me follow Sydney around at the fair. Just watching her ride the roller coasters and the other rides made it worth the trip.

Now for the Houston trip. I was real nervous about this trip because it was the first trip back to Houston to get scanned and I didn't know what to expect. We spent the Thursday there doing the scans and such. We got done with those about 1PM then had the wait until 3PM Friday to see the Doc. We got really good news. Although they found what appeared to be 2 new small tumors they also found that the rest of the tumors were either shrinking or maintaining their size. This is excellent news because the goal of chemo was to just maintaining the size of the tumors. They did not expect any shrinkage at all so they were as surprised and pleased as we were about the outcome of the scans. So I start another round of chemo next week just like I've been doing. You're prayers are working so keep em' coming.

Much Love,
Robert

A Little Update

Robert — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:21:00 GMT

I've been feeling really good the last several days I've been able to help get Sydney ready for school and go eat lunch with her. I even got to old Trans Am out and started messing around with it a few days ago. I have not felt this good in a while so it feels really good to get some things done around the house. I figure I better get it done while I'm feeling good. I'm hoping the docs will release me to go back to work at least for half days after I finish my next round of chemo on October 10th. Sitting around this house the last few months is about to drive me nuts.

Anyway. I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement during this process. I will talk to you soon.

Much Love,
Robert

VERY SCARY PAST FEW DAYS

Robert — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:55:00 GMT

Well last Thursday I woke up at around 7:00 feeling very good. I guess you could call it the calm before the storm. i was sitting on the couch about noon watching sportscenter when all the sudden it felt like I had 1000 pounds dropped on my chest and just sat there. I called Kimberly at work and she rushed towards Midland. Not all of you know she works in Odessa so by the time she got home it was at least 20 minutes. She called my sister Debbie who lives right around the corner. By the time my sister got to my house I was completely unable to get off the ground. I had to crawl to the door to open it for her. Debbie called 911 and we were off to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital I was in pretty bad shape my blood pressure was 60/40. I'm no doctor but I didn't think that was good. They rushed me in to look at my chest and found several clots in my lungs. At that point we had to make a decision in about 2 minutes. You see the cancer I have is what they like to call a "bleeding tumor cancer". The best way to help with a blood clot is to hit it with a high dose of blood thinner. There's the problem with this. If I take any blood thinners the I run the risk of the tumors starting to bleed and if they bleed to much it probably would have been fatal.

Our 2 options were to do nothing and see if the clots would naturally break up which the ER doc did not think they would do. Had we done this I might have never made it out of the ER. The other option was to give the blood thinner and hope that the tumors didn't bleed. Luckily for us they was no bleeding.

I'm at home now but I've go to go back to the doctor every day to get my blood levels checked but it's better than being in that hospital bed.

I will let you know if there are any changes.

Much Love,

Robert

Summer Update

Kim — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:37:00 GMT

Hi everyone!!!! Sorry for the span between updates but it has been a roller coaster ride for us. I will start off with the fun stuff first. We had two fun-filled weekends at Lake Nasworthy in San Angelo just enjoying jet skiing, boating, and time with our friends. Everything went well except for someone sucking up a nylon rope in the jet ski and I won't say any names to protect, shall I say, a very responsible fun-loving person.

Next, was a short visit in Houston with a follow-up appt. with the infection control doctors. Good news there with a release from their care. We took Sydney with us this time and treated her to the zoo, the Aquarium, and swimming at the hotel. Although it wasn't much of a vacation, she loved every minute of it.

Robert then decided to take a trip to Vegas before starting chemo and off we went. We check into our hotel and couldn't believe our room when we opened the door-- someone had the hotel upgrade our room to a suite. It was great and we love them for it!!! So we spent four days gambling, shopping, good food and cocktails, more gambling, and just enjoying life. We saw Penn and Teller one night and that responsible, fun-loving person dropped her camera into her margarita.. That called for more cocktails!!!! I want to thank Lance, Lori, Jeff, Claudia, Jared, and Mike for a great weekend. That meant the world to us for joining us on such short notice.

Back to Houston for CAT scans, MRI's, and consults with the doctors next. Dr. Bedikian, the oncologist, gave us three options of the type of chemo to go through. We chose the moderate level because the side effects aren't as severe as the aggressive and could possibly achieve the same results. However, we could change to the aggressive pending its effectiveness. Also, the moderate chemo can be done here in Midland with no hospital stay. So, we are waiting for the call to get it started. The appt. with Dr. Rao ,the neurosurgeon, could have been better. He stated that everything looks good considering, but there are three new, very small brain tumors that have developed. Dr. Rao still has confidence in starting with the chemo as planned and that is all we needed to hear. So, we are asking everyone to continue with prayers and support as we get ready to start our next journey.

We love you all and want to thank everyone for taking care of us. It is greatly appreciated and stay tuned!!!

Update 8/2/08

Robert — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Well I had an appointment with the infection control doc yesterday. She said everything looked very good with the incision on my noggin looked good and it looked like the infection was gone. She wants me to stay on the antibiotics until August 15th though. She told me that unless there was a problem she released me and didn't need to see me any more.

We come back to Houston on the 13th for a whole bunch of test to see what the next course of treatment is. I'm guessing they are going to want to hit me fairly hard with chemo but we'll see. I'll keep you updated when I know something.

Thanks,
Robert

Just a little update

Robert — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:46:00 GMT

Sorry I haven't updated the blog recently. There has not been much to tell you. I'm feeling good other than I'm still a little tired at times. They are tapering off on the medications right now so that seems to be helping. As soon as I get completely off the steroids and antibiotics I'm going to start chemo. That should be somewhere around August 15th.

I have to go back to Houston August 1st for a follow up visit with the infection control doctor. It should be a quick Friday trip so we are going to take Sydney with us so we can take her to the Houston Zoo Saturday then come back Sunday.

I'll let you know if/when something changes.

Much love,
Robert

Quick trip to Houston

Lance — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:38:00 GMT

Just got off the phone with Robert

He was just walking into MD Anderson. They are about to remove the stitches from his most recent surgery on the 26th and they should be returning late this afternoon. He says he is still tired all the time but I have noticed he continues to be positive during this entire ordeal. Lori and I went to see R+K on Wed night and I can honestly say it was like talking to someone that has never been sick at all, he looked great and was cracking one-liners with the same wit and humor as always.

I talked to Ed Delgado this morning as well and he told me to relay to Robert that he would remove the stitches for $20. Ed, if you are readng this, Robert said he was going to have to pass......

Back in Houston

Robert — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:21:00 GMT

Well we are back in Houston but thankfully it was a scheduled trip. We saw Dr. Bedikian today at 4:30 and he basically wants to wait until Dr. Rao (The Neurosurgeon) is done with everything he's doing before he gets started on the stuff he's going to do. I have an appointment with Dr. Rao at 1:30 tomorrow so hopefully I'll have a better idea after that where are at.

As far as how I'm feeling it's OK. I'm tired ALL the time so it's hard to tell. Other than that I generally feel good. I can tell you the I'm tired of being tired all the damn time. Hopefully they will start tapering me off some of these drugs I'm on soon so I can get to feeling better. Believe it or not but I really want to get back to work. I'm going to ask Dr. Rao tomorrow if I can go back for at least for half a day. That may be exactly what i need to get me going.

I will update the blog tomorrow after we see Dr. Rao.

Much Love,

Robert

Going Home

Robert — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:50:00 GMT

Hello from Houston. It looks like we are headed home tomorrow. I'm out of the hospital and at the Holiday Inn. There was some swelling on my brain that kept me from going home yesterday. They fixed that by upping the steroids that I'm taking. I should be home around 3PM tomorrow.

Thanks for the support from everyone.

Much love,
Robert

Hopeful to come home

Hyla — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:03:00 GMT

Okay. As of Thursday afternoon Robert is doing pretty good. He is sitting outside with Kim right now. The cat scan showed swelling of the brain so they did a higher dosage of the steroids, and it is working. They are hoping he will be discharged tomorrow and to catch the last flight out of Houston tomorrow night! Pray for Robert's discharge and for continued strength for the air flight home.

Changes in Houston

Hyla — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:08:00 GMT

Looks like they have some changes in Houston. Robert was up most of the night with a headache. He was nauseous this morning and vomiting some. He is having a Cat Scan done this afternoon to see what may be going on. We will update after the results to let you know. So the Wednesday discharge is now put on hold. Kim wants me to let you know she is having to get certified in administering antibiotics through the IV so wish her luck! We will keep you posted.

Coming Home

Lance — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:40:00 GMT

I talked to Robert and Kim last night just after they finished dinner. They were outside enjoying the evening. Everything seems to be going well and they are expecting to be released today, stay one night in the hotel and then head for Midland on Thursday. The medication Robert is on does make him tired and he really hates that part of it. If it were not for that I can promise you he would be posting this himself.