Chapter One

One Sick Puppy

I made an appointment for my annual physical for Friday 23 September 2005. The Dates mentioned in this book are important in the telling of this story as I jump from one appointment to another as all the underlying issues unfold around me over the next six months. The appointment date was still two weeks away.

During this time interval, I woke up one morning perspiring, and nauseated, and made it into the bathroom to retch and fall to the floor. I had no idea how seriously ill I was. I mentioned to my wife Joan just a few days before, “Here I am sixty-six years old and I do not even take an aspirin, I feel blessed.”

Family members knowing I had a future appointment thought I should try to schedule it earlier, but I decided to wait. I developed a pain on my right side by my rib cage but thought it was probably nothing. That was a big mistake! During my physical it was determined that I would have a gallbladder test.

The following Sunday two days after my physical when my son and his wife were visiting, I almost fell on the floor after having breakfast. My blood pressure was high and my family took me to the emergency room at Franklin Regional Hospital, which was only about fifteen minutes away. On the way to the hospital, I started to shake as I was going into shock.

I remember talking to the attendant and saying very slowly, “I don’t feel good”. I started to shake and slowly slope off my chair. When they rushed me into the emergency room, I thought I was going to fly off the table I was shaking so hard. The attendant later told me I got his attention. “I still had my humor, because when they started asking me questions“. “I stated that I should be having fun“. “I just published a book“. I told them, “It must have been a bad one.” That got a few laughs.

I had an electrocardiogram and a cat scan of my head and brain to find out what was wrong. It was determined that my sinus passages were blocked, and I was kept in observation until the following Tuesday.

I was one sick puppy. I had a viral infection, urine infection, blood infection, high blood pressure and I was anemic. They also told me that I was leaking blood internally and when I stood up my pulse would race. I had a gallbladder scan and it was negative. Another point that kept coming up was that I also had other underlying issues, so much for being sixty-six and not taking an aspirin. This was the start of the underlying issues that would have me going back and forth over the next months, running to one appointment after another meeting with different doctors for different reasons.

During the next week, I started taking 18 pills a day. I started doing physical therapy and I had a cane to help me with my balance, which just turned out to be another medical issue that was not good. The next doctor’s visits were for more electrocardiograms and an appointment to see a surgeon for a colonoscopy.

Do you remember the old saying? My mother told me there would be days like this but I did not think they would be here so soon. My wife Joan added another saying. “We did not think there would be so many days like this.” Again, so much, for my not taking an aspirin a day, maybe I will try a vitamin

I met with a surgeon and he recommended that I have a colonoscopy as soon as possible. This was on a Friday afternoon October 7. I asked if I could have one on Monday and they sent me up to ambulatory surgery to set it up and I prepared for it over the weekend.

Monday morning at eight o’clock, I was prepped and ready to go. My wife was there to give me support. Everything was happening so fast I had no time to think about what was going on. After all, it was only another test and they told me that I would have results before I went home. I said, “Let’s do it.” When they wheeled me into the operating room, they said I would have a tube inserted through my mouth down into my stomach too, and I never felt a thing.

I awoke later with Joan by my side. The doctor came to me and said that he found a tumor in my large intestine and he thought it was cancerous, but did not think that it had progressed beyond stage II. This means that it was not metastasis, it had not spread. Well, I knew then that this was nothing I could fix with electrical tape or duct tape.

I asked the doctor when I could have it out. I told him I would like it out right away. He said tomorrow would be easier for me since I was already prepped. However, because of other under lying issues, here we go again with the underlying issues. I had to meet with a cardiologist to determine if I was strong enough for the surgery. That night all I could think of was that commercial where those little fungus critters get under the toenails. I kept thinking that this little bugger was coming out, tomorrow the operation.

I have a Scripture reading that comes to mind. Matthew Chapter 25, 35:41. I think of the medical profession when I read this especially the nurses.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me”.

“Then the righteous will answer Him. Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you”?

The KING WILL REPLY. “I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, WHAT EVER YOU DID FOR THE LEAST OF THESE BRETHREN OF MINE, YOU DID FOR ME”.

I often think anyone in the medical profession blessed for doing God’s work, for helping his people. Whether it is a smile, a kind word, taking vitals, taking blood, a back rub, or cleaning a room. When they do it for the least of my brethren, they do it for me and that is Scripture. Praise God!