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Rockrip
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Name: Danny
Birthday: 12/6/1967
Gender: Male
Interests: Music, Movies, Books
Expertise: Putting my foot in my mouth
Occupation: Account Executive
Industry: www.mrturfinc.com
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/14/2004
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| Wow, it's been almost a year. I still read the 'scripts I get in my inbox, but haven't actually gone to xangaville in forever. Not really feeling a years recap right now, but I might do something soon. Just wanted to see if it was still here. | | |
| More bad news. My Grandma died Thursday afternoon. She had a pretty bad case of pneumonia around Christmas, but got over it. Then she got pneumonia again, but not too serious. She was getting better quicker than she did before. But I think they released her too soon. She got back to the nursing home & after a few days was getting sick again. Not exactly sick, but they were giving her oxygen some days, & was sleeping a lot more than she usually did. In the last couple of weeks, sometimes you'd go in to see her & she wasn't very talkative. If you asked her a question, you'd get yes or no, but nothing further. And she wasn't eating as much, she usually could be talked into drinking her Glucerna, but not much solid food. They called me at work Monday & told me she'd lost 9 1/2 pounds & her condition was deterioating. The nurse I talked to when I got out there said she would term it "declining" instead of deteriorating. I thought that sounded a little better, that it could be reversible. My uncle said both of them meant the same thing, she was dying. I never really saw them do it there before, but they gave her 2 bags of IV fluid Tuesday & her BP picked up & she was doing a little better. But Thursday, they called me again at work & said I needed to get there. I got there & they said they couldn't get up with my dad but my uncle was on the way. I got hold of my dad & he got there before my uncle & his wife did. One of Grandma's nieces was there when I got there but she had one of her grandkids sitting outside & had to leave. A little after 5, she passed away peacefully. They sent us outside while they were getting her ready. I called Rob at work to let him know, one of my cousins & Barry. (I don't think I posted this before. His mother died while mine was in the hospital. Also Ken's dad passed away about a month & a half later.) Barry showed up a few minutes later, which I didn't expect. One of Grandma's other nieces & her husband pulled up. She was just going to visit, & me & dad had to break the news to her. She left a few minutes later. They came from the funeral home to pick up the body while we were talking to Shirley & Barry. My uncle went ahead & made plans for a funeral the very next day with no visitation. Private funeral. Graveside only. Immediate family only. By which he meant him & his wife, me & Daddy. Nobody else. That night some people heard the news & called. I told them the unusual arrangements & they were kind of puzzled about them. People would've filled the church. They usually fix a dinner after the service. Jim, my uncle, told us to be at the funeral home at 9:00 the next morning. We were thinking that would be the "viewing" for the family. Nope. We were then told to come back at 1:00 for the viewing & then the funeral procession would leave & be at the cemetary at 2:00. The viewing only took a few minutes & then my uncle said something to the effect of, "Well if everything's ready, we could go ahead & leave for the cemetary now". So they did. We got to the cemetary well ahead of 2. But when we got there, Shirley was there along with some of Grandma's other nieces from out of town. For a few minutes my uncle wouldn't get out of his vehicle, but he finally did. The preacher read the 23rd Psalm & said a prayer & that was it. My uncle left & I found out that somebody had asked to open the casket so they could see her & my uncle refused. The preacher said he had other things he wanted to say, but was told to only read the 23rd Psalm. My uncle said he wanted the private service because the different branches of the family couldn't get along & he didn't want any squabbling at the service. And Shirley told me that she thought he might leave early so they got to the church early. But around 9 last night, Jim called me & asked me if I called the ones from out of town. I told him no. He said he didn't believe me. He said everybody lies to him & treats him wrong. How did they find out? I told him I guess Shirley called them. He said if was mighty fishy they were waiting when the procession got there. (If me & Dad didn't know we were going to leave early, how could we tell them?) I promised him I didn't call them, but he kept getting madder & madder. My dad picked up the other phone & told Jim that neither one of us called them, to leave me alone. Jim got even madder, & my dad got hot too & they argued back & forth. And Jim finally hung up. Only to call back a few minutes later, even more unhinged. I haven't heard anything from him today, so maybe he's calmed down some. | | |
|  | Currently Listening
Twilight
By Future of Forestry
actually it's Credential Recording sampler EP
see related |
It's been a lloonnng time since I wrote anything. And this just a short rant/rhetorical question post, maybe I'll do something longer/more substantial later. And even attempting to find some music that I'm actually listening to, leads to another question. None of the stuff that I really wanted to put up there can be found. No Stephen Kellog & the Sixers, no Chris O'Brien. Even the Future Of Forestry is not really what I got on Itunes. Another musical query that's occured to me several times, but I haven't researched anywhere is when is Gavin DeGraw going to release another album? Of new music. It seems like I had the CD forever when they started selling it with a "bonus" acoustic CD. I never sprung for that, since I already owned it. Found "Live at the Alice Lounge" on Itunes which I did spring for. But nothing new. I remember Maroon 5 released a couple of live discs with the same stuff & a couple of cover tunes. I looked on my copy of Chariot- 2003! Five years! Jinkies! Okey-dokey now to literary venting. A while back, I decided to re-read some "classics". And right after that, I heard John Piper quote C.S. Lewis about re-reading a book after reading new ones. And some books I have read several times, but nothing considered classics. I guess re-reading something after you read/experienced other things does bring out things that you hadn't noticed or really got the first time. So I re-read "Great Expectations" & started on "Ivanhoe". Anyway Saturday I stopped at a Barnes & Nobles. A Collegiate version. It's not that big & I would've thought the magazine section would be full of indy music & extreme sports stuff but it really sucks. The regular book selection isn't too great either, but it hadn't been open that long. So maybe it will improve. But I figured the literature section would be decent, given it is on a campus. The quotes that the Trillster put up from "Northanger Abbey" were intriguing, but the only Jane Austen books they had were "Persuasion" & "Pride & Prejudice". So I got "P&P". And while poking about I found that the "Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson" was 4 bucks cheaper than "Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson". I got that also. But I found that weird- about 100 pages more, yet cheaper. And I've never used by Barnes & Noble card on my previous 2 visits there. But when I asked the guy about my card, he said yeah, but methinks he thought I had a credit card. He rang everthing up, then stuck out his card for my card, "Oh" & then had to ask somebody how to run it. He then had to ring everything back up & it was like 12 bucks MORE. Then I came up with some witty banter about burning the card, whereupon he had to take everything back out the bag & ring up for the third time. Which was the proverbial charm, cuz it actually came out cheaper. Then in Wal-Mart, I was looking for a new lamp, the better to read my newest acquistions with. I found one like one of the many things I put together at Todd's house. (That will be included whenever I get around to writing something else.) And trying to be PC & EC & all, I looked for a compact flourescent 3-way bulb. And they actually do make such a critter, but the bulb wound up costing more than the lamp. | | |
| Things have been much better lately. Thank y'all for your thoughts & prayers. There was some drama with my uncle, but I think it's all calmed down now. The 29th was Grandma's 97th birthday. She had a bunch of company that day & then a small party Saturday. And things have been pretty busy for me. And I was beginning to feel like I was gonna sprout gills & feathers. From Thursday to Monday fish or chicken. Thursday Todd invited me over to watch the game & Miranda picked up chicken from Zaxby's. Friday Angie e-mailed me, she was rounding up folks to go out for dinner. And we ate at the Half Shell, so I got the grilled grouper. Saturday, Barry had invited me to a gospel concert & we wound up eating at an all you can eat seafood buffet. Sunday was homecoming at my parent's church with lunch afterwards. Naturally, tons of fried chicken. Then Monday, back to Todd's for Monday Night Football & he'd fried grouper. | | |
| I have no clue how to put this down, I guess there is no good or easy way. The eleventh of this month my mother died & was buried on the thirteenth. And had no clue there was anything wrong until about a month ago. She had some pain in her side & thought it was a kidney stone. My dad took her to the hospital & they said they were going to keep her overnight for tests & to give her something for the pain. The next afternoon she called me at work & told me that she was going to have surgery, that it wasn't a kidney stone, but a cyst pressing on her kidney. But it wasn't a major deal & not to leave work, just come down after work. I did, & they told me she wasn't in a room yet. I found my dad in the surgical waiting room & he pretty bluntly told me she had cancer. And that was kind of how they told him. They told him, it was widespread but small spots. I found out much later the cyst was grapefruit sized & ovarian cancer. The next evening when I visited she said the doctors had said the spots might not be cancer & they were checking. Then it was cancer again. My uncle & his wife took them to see a specialist & he was very positive. He thought since it was small, three chemo treatments should knock it out. And after the surgery, she was on liquids & Jello & such. A few days after, when she tried solid food, she couldn't keep anything down. The doctors said it might be one of the medicines or a combination thereof. She was taking 6 or 7 different things. They called in some different scrips & after a day or two, nothing was better. So she went back to the hospital, where they found an "obstruction". The theory on this was maybe the medication had "locked up" her intestines & stuff was just compacted in there. So there were going to operate to clear the blockage & attach a colostomy bag, "for now", to go ahead & get her strength back up so she could go ahead & take the chemo ASAP. About 10-15 minutes after they started the surgery, a nurse called my dad back to speak to one of the doctors. The doctor told him they opened her up & had to close her right back up. Her spleen was gone, her liver was almost gone, her stomach was badly damaged, & the blockage...that was a tumor & there were more behind it. There was no way they could do the procedure. They kept in ICU that night, & me & dad both stayed. They said at the most, she might make two weeks. And all they would let her have was ice chips & popsicles. The next morning when we went into ICU she woke up & we asked how she was doing, "Fine...have y'all eaten breakfast yet?" That's typical of her...more worried about others. They got her moved to a private room that afternoon. And me or dad was there with her all the time. On one occasion when dad wasn't there, one of the doctors that I'd had no previous dealings with, came in & talked to me (& one of my cousins). Gave some broad, general statements like "maybe by the weekend she can go home". How? "I can get somebody from hospice to talk to y'all about that". So it wasn't very long till a guy from hospice came by, again before dad had gotten back. And he was really nice, but not really informed of what her needs were going to be. And then the next day the same doctor asked if hospice came by, I told him yes, but nothing was really decided, because dad wasn't there to talk to him. And just a few minutes later, the hospice guy calls on the room phone & in talking, mentions that the doctor told him he was trying to get the discharge papers ready that day. He never told me that. Paul then said the doctor had said "as far as he was concerned she could've gone home yesterday". Huh? She had surgery Monday, was in ICU until Tuesday afternoon, & he wanted her to go home on Wednesday? I know there was really nothing they could do to make her better, but the other doctors were concerned about keeping her comfortable & as pain-free as possible. So I was doing some hard praying for guidance & direction. While I was talking to the hospice guy, my cell rang. When I got off the room phone, I called Barry back on my cell. I told him the situation & he gave me something to go with. Dad came in & we talked, we didn't think hospice was really going to be the answer, because they couldn't be there all the time. They said they would be someone "on call", but it would prolly take 45 minutes to an hour for them to get there. We came up with the idea of sending her to the nursing home where Grandma is. We know most everybody there, someone would be there all the time & both of them would be in the same place. That's when my Sunday School teacher came in, I talked to her & she asked me if anybody from social services had come in. I said no, & she said "Let's go to the desk & see if we can start something going". And we did. And a couple more people came in & helped. So I got my guidance & direction. Then by the time we got everything done, they said it would be Friday morning before they could transport her to the nursing home. And it was sometime after lunch before she actually got there. They'd given here a big dose of medication before they put her in the ambulance, and while she was concious, she couldn't really talk. But they wheeled Grandma in to see her, & that went ok. Later on that evening, her pain patch & her other medicine wore off at about the same time & she was hurting for a while. So me & dad decided to stay the night. After a while though, everything kicked in & she was sleeping well. Early the next morning, dad noticed she was missing a breath every now & then. The oxygen machine would blow, & she'd catch back up. He called a nurse in & she said that was nothing to worry about. But a little later, she stopped & didn't catch back up. He called the nurse again & she checked all her vitals & said she was gone. 6:05 am Saturday morning. | | |
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