Merry Christmas
My brother Bruce had a close call this past couple of weeks. He went in for a biopsy on his prostrate and ended up in the hospital with sepsis. After reading Phil's letter, I decided I liked the way he summarized and got the whole story told, so, I'm going to quote Phil, quoting Bruce:
"I wrote last week that my brother Bruce was battling sepsis, but writing that doesn't really convey how scary it really is or how close he was to leaving us all behind. Bruce sent his siblings a summary of his experience. I’m going to quote just a few excerpts. (The bold type is his – I suppose for
emphasis.)
“Today is Sunday, December 15, 2019. I am 72 years old, fast approaching 73. Today, I feel
very lucky to be alive.”
He goes on to describe recent cataract surgery, a prostate cancer scare (the procedure for which led to
the sepsis, but there is no cancer), and then weakness, fever, chills, etc., that ultimately led to a
physical collapse and his inability to stand up. He had this dialogue with a nurse and doctor in the
emergency room.
The nurse said,
“We are working hard so that your vital organs don’t shut down.” And then she went on
about my vital organs shutting down. I go “What?,” and look[ed] at the doctor. The doctor
said, “Well, I don’t think I would say it like that.” Then, after a pause, he said, “Though what
she said is not inaccurate.” I said, “Well, are my vital organs shutting down.” The doctor said
“The fact we are having this conversation means that your vital organs have not shut down,
and we are going to make sure that doesn’t happen. And maybe this conversation has worked
to get your blood pressure up, which is not a bad thing.”
It is also a tender mercy that all six of his siblings responded with love and concern to his current
challenge."
We are VERY grateful that Bruce is still with us and on the road to getting better.
There were no Christmas programs, parties or activities this week. Sadly, our tradition of taking the family to the train store has ended. The little train that the kids could ride was shut down to due the new fire marshal's instructions to put sprinklers all through the area where the train is. The cost--$250,000. Needless to say, it would take a very long time to recoup those kind of expenses.
Effie had a doctor's appointment. Sara sent a picture and said, "apparently this is what you wear to the doctor's.
I especially love the frog on her shoulder.
I said we had no parties, but Roy did have one with his Young Men. It was at our home. Roy had Jennie set up the game systems, but they had so much fun visiting, they never went downstairs.
Roy invited himself to join Dan, Jieun, Nick and Sarah at a Korean restaurant for dinner Thursday night--"Cou" It was Korean barbeque. The Koreans must eat a lot of meat. It was very good, especially since I could choose which items I wanted to eat. There are still some Korean foods I have not become accustomed to--mostly those with hot sauce. Roy took the pictures so he's not pictured.
We had a nice afternoon watching the Rasband kids (Dan's) while Jieun had a procedure on her back which will hopefully cure her of the pain she's been having.
We're looking forward to enjoying a wonderful Christmas Eve with everyone, but we will miss Elise and Andy and their kids this Christmas. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas.
