Monday, March 3, 2008

Greetings...

I was asked a question the other day. My aunt asked how long it took me to recover from my surgery. My grandpa is having bypass surgery this week, and seeing that he'll have his chest cracked, my aunt thought to ask. The age difference alone i told her...I said that from time to time, when i cough it hurts. Sometimes my chest will crack like a knuckle.

Its still something i have to come to terms with. Its not something that i can hide, or something that i dont have to see. Its something i have to explain every time i lay down with a girl, or i have my shirt off. Its not that im shy about it...i talk about my surgery when asked. It was...something that i dont think about that much anymore. I dont know why this is bugging me so much...if bugging is the right word to use. It been on my mind since the other day.

Each time someone or something forces me to think about cancer...im not sure it gets easier...it gets harder. The more i want to let it go, more its there. I know the irony in that...

George asked me why i stop writing...im not sure i gave him a straight answer, but a tangent about corporate greed or some other life rambling. There is no good answer why. I guess the easiest...ive had some sort of writers block going on for a long time. I have some bright spots of creativity, but mostly i draw a blank. More along the truth, i often dont want to talk about...

Seems ive been working on this blog for months. The good news, the surgery went well. Though, there was a point that...my grandpa could die on that table. What was i going to say at the funeral. Someone shouldn't be thinking that...but it was sobering. I started to scribble something down. When he came out ok, I knew one day i'll have to dig up that napkin. It was hard to go to the hospital. I knew the pain he was feeling, with all the tubes, the background noise from the machines that seems be drowned out the deafen silence of the hospital. When i sat with for awhile, the oxygen tube in his noise...i looked. He started to clean his noise. I said "its a pain in the ass huh? I could never breath with that damn thing..." He laughed and agreed. He look disheveled...sort of the way i did. Though i had short hair and a watch cap on after. It such a helpless feeling to put your hands into someone you dont know, dont trust, but you have to trust them to the most basic of stuff...help you up, clean your ass if need be, change you...its...well you can image. Its strange, thought not directly, ive relived my ordeal though him. Probrobly why ive stayed away from the hospital...I think he knows why.


The good news, as of this afternoon, he was doing well. Though no news on when he'll be coming home. I've sent my suit to be clean. I started to polish my shoes...much like my grandpa taught me as a kid. Ive tucked that napkin away...just in case you know.


Cheers

3 comments:

....J.Michael Robertson said...

Sometimes your chest will still "crack like a knuckle." That's good writing. Hell of a thing to go through to get a good comparison. Tell your granpa a stranger says hello and for him to listen to you.

Stephanie said...

I actually thought about him the other day when someone brought out some tequila liqueur and I remembered the face he made one time when your mom scolded him while he was pulling the almond tequila out of the cupboard before we went ahead and had some anyway. Sorry to hear he’s been ill. I can’t say I know what it’s like to be the one in the hospital bed, but I know it’s rough as it is to watch people you love go through it and wanting/trying to be positive but at the same time prepared just in case. I hope he continues to do well...and the rest of your family, too.

Emma said...

Your blog really touched me. I have been battling with a severe case of Crohn's Disease for the past two years and my father walked a 19 mile manda in the freezing cold this past December at the Chimayo Sanctuary in New Mexico. I have been unable to remain in remission without the use of high doses of prednisone, but have faith that I one day will be healed. Thank you for sharing your story! I will keep you in prayer! It is really touching when somebody pledges a manda for healing. I will also keep your grandfather and your family in my prayers!