It's Not All Doom and Gloom
I'm sure after the most recent blogs our lives sound horrible and painful. While going through Joe's first experience with cancer was definitely not a day in the park - there were several episodes that would have ended up on American's funniest videos. Let me share a couple.
Joe had to have a feeding tube inserted so that he would be able to get nourishment when his throat became too burnt to swallow. And it did. He fought it for a few days until he lost so much weight between doctor visits that a threat from Dr. W. of being put in the hospital convinced him he needed to embrace the tube. I would prepare this concoction (about 3,000 calories 3 X a day) of Carnation instant breakfast, ensure, muscle builder, powdered milk, morphine (great shake addition) and ground up other pills and medications. It would make a liquid a little thinner than pancake batter and I would use a large syringe and push it into the feeding tube. This first tube actually went into his stomach so I couldn't go very fast. One day we were chatting about something and I was in the middle of pushing a third syringe and Joe burped. He burped so hard that he pushed the syringe out and the contents of the first two blew out all over me, him, the chair, the floor, well you get the idea. We took about 5 seconds and just looked at each other and then (after I put the cover on the tube) just started laughing and laughing. We talked about that and laughed for several years later. We had several episodes of learning techniques with that thing.
When Joe was in the hospital in January and February of 2007 he developed pneumonia (as we read in yesterday's email recap) and needed to be moved to the ICU from the cancer wing. The doctor wanted him moved quickly because he was still neutropenic and there are sick people in hospitals. They picked 10am on Sunday - little traffic from the room to the elevator. There was probably 5 "things" on the bed besides Joe and as we had our little parade down the hall, all was good until we turned to enter the elevator. At the exact moment the back wheel hit the gap between the elevator floor and the hall floor it turned sideways, fell and wedged in that gap! They tried to lift - the bed itself ways 200 or so pounds. Joe weighed about 140 at that time and another 100 pounds of machinery on the bed. Let me tell you, that tire was wedged. At that moment I was a little less than amused because I was so worried about him being exposed to the sick people. They tried to lift. They tried to rock it. They tried to scoot it. Nothing. That wheel was wedged. Half of us were in the elevator and half were outside watching. I mean - what are the odds??? Needless to say, they found a couple more people and finally got it lifted and off we went to ICU.
Even in the bad times Joe never lost his bigger than life presence. I used to get so aggravated that when there were people around he would "be on" and felt he needed to be funny and "up" and entertaining. He treated everyone who came into his room and actually into his life like they were the most important person he had seen that day. He was friendly with doctors, nurses, friends, family - not so much the people who drew blood. He never complained except the few times that he was actually very sick and then it was more how bad he felt as a fact - not a complaint. After everyone was done they would leave and I would get left overs. The tired, the worn out, the Joe the public never saw. Sometimes I complained but mostly I kept it to myself. I understand - he never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him or think less of him. A lot of things that happened he had no memory of thanks in part to the drugs but also I think God protects us from those memories because they are so painful. I know from personal experience that is true - more about that later.
Joe had to have a feeding tube inserted so that he would be able to get nourishment when his throat became too burnt to swallow. And it did. He fought it for a few days until he lost so much weight between doctor visits that a threat from Dr. W. of being put in the hospital convinced him he needed to embrace the tube. I would prepare this concoction (about 3,000 calories 3 X a day) of Carnation instant breakfast, ensure, muscle builder, powdered milk, morphine (great shake addition) and ground up other pills and medications. It would make a liquid a little thinner than pancake batter and I would use a large syringe and push it into the feeding tube. This first tube actually went into his stomach so I couldn't go very fast. One day we were chatting about something and I was in the middle of pushing a third syringe and Joe burped. He burped so hard that he pushed the syringe out and the contents of the first two blew out all over me, him, the chair, the floor, well you get the idea. We took about 5 seconds and just looked at each other and then (after I put the cover on the tube) just started laughing and laughing. We talked about that and laughed for several years later. We had several episodes of learning techniques with that thing.
When Joe was in the hospital in January and February of 2007 he developed pneumonia (as we read in yesterday's email recap) and needed to be moved to the ICU from the cancer wing. The doctor wanted him moved quickly because he was still neutropenic and there are sick people in hospitals. They picked 10am on Sunday - little traffic from the room to the elevator. There was probably 5 "things" on the bed besides Joe and as we had our little parade down the hall, all was good until we turned to enter the elevator. At the exact moment the back wheel hit the gap between the elevator floor and the hall floor it turned sideways, fell and wedged in that gap! They tried to lift - the bed itself ways 200 or so pounds. Joe weighed about 140 at that time and another 100 pounds of machinery on the bed. Let me tell you, that tire was wedged. At that moment I was a little less than amused because I was so worried about him being exposed to the sick people. They tried to lift. They tried to rock it. They tried to scoot it. Nothing. That wheel was wedged. Half of us were in the elevator and half were outside watching. I mean - what are the odds??? Needless to say, they found a couple more people and finally got it lifted and off we went to ICU. Even in the bad times Joe never lost his bigger than life presence. I used to get so aggravated that when there were people around he would "be on" and felt he needed to be funny and "up" and entertaining. He treated everyone who came into his room and actually into his life like they were the most important person he had seen that day. He was friendly with doctors, nurses, friends, family - not so much the people who drew blood. He never complained except the few times that he was actually very sick and then it was more how bad he felt as a fact - not a complaint. After everyone was done they would leave and I would get left overs. The tired, the worn out, the Joe the public never saw. Sometimes I complained but mostly I kept it to myself. I understand - he never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him or think less of him. A lot of things that happened he had no memory of thanks in part to the drugs but also I think God protects us from those memories because they are so painful. I know from personal experience that is true - more about that later.
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