Re: November Army Manoeuvres 2018
This month has truly been a trying one. I got a preview when a friend called the 29th of October telling me she has uterine cancer. 48 years old, never been married, never had kids. I've known her for 13 years - she lives down the hall from Mr. Stirly (where I lived for over 12 of the 13 years) Surgery scheduled for next week but she has to appear in court next Monday out of town and then be admitted on Tuesday. Her sister had breast cancer 4 years ago so she is worried about her elderly parents and how they will react to this new trial in their lives.
Younger son who is with me in the business is in the process of moving into his own apartment. The divorce papers arrived yesterday - just waiting for signatures. They both agree to it but he is terribly broken up by the fact that he will not wake up with his boys every morning and that is one of the highlights of his day. It will take some getting used to but he is very down. Plus he is worried about what kind of care the kids, especially the younger boy who is 2, will be given when he is not there. Their mother is not the most careful person nor is she the most fastidious when it comes to keeping baby clean. His diaper only gets changed by his dad when he gets home from work as she cannot bear the smell of it!! So he could be in a dirty diaper for a couple of hours til Daddy comes home and cleans him up. Also, the older boy - 8 - contracted a staph skin infection that she did nothing about for 10 days until the red patch was the size of a saucer and then finally took him to the doctor. Thought that putting an ointment made from beeswax would do the job. It didn't. Result is that baby and younger son both contracted it as well. Also, she went to a shopping mall with her mother a couple of weeks ago where there is a LegoLand play area for the kids. They left the older boy on his own there for 2 hours while they toured the shops. Went to check on him once during that time. Thank the lord no one nabbed the kid while he was there.
My special friend is also going through a rough time which of course has me upset. It all started two weeks ago when his lovely Irish Setter "Terra" died of kidney failure. A beautiful girl just 7 years old. 10 days ago (last, last Sunday) he went home after work, had lunch and then a nap, woke up feeling not so well and ended up throwing up a couple of times then again later. Was very weak and called two friends to come and help him to the bathroom. The result was that he was in bed from Sunday night til Wednesday when they finally took him to the hospital because he was unable to walk by himself. The doctors have no idea what he had/has but suspect a viral infection that has caused neuropathy. He is in hospital with an IV drip and is slowly but surely getting his strength back. Can take baby steps to the bathroom with the aid of a cane. He's 54 and in the physical shape of a man 10 years younger. A farmer and former basketball player and swimmer. Within a few hours, he couldn't walk and his one foot still has no feeling although he manages to shuffle along slowly.
Worst of all, a customer of ours for 15 years (and very good friend of younger son's) had a tragedy last week. Their baby boy (first child) was born full term but with a strep infection that caused sepsis and only lived for 4 days. Needless to say, we are terribly broken up about this situation. So sad for all involved. I truly can't wait for this month to be over and hopefully next month will be better.
This month has truly been a trying one. I got a preview when a friend called the 29th of October telling me she has uterine cancer. 48 years old, never been married, never had kids. I've known her for 13 years - she lives down the hall from Mr. Stirly (where I lived for over 12 of the 13 years) Surgery scheduled for next week but she has to appear in court next Monday out of town and then be admitted on Tuesday. Her sister had breast cancer 4 years ago so she is worried about her elderly parents and how they will react to this new trial in their lives.
Younger son who is with me in the business is in the process of moving into his own apartment. The divorce papers arrived yesterday - just waiting for signatures. They both agree to it but he is terribly broken up by the fact that he will not wake up with his boys every morning and that is one of the highlights of his day. It will take some getting used to but he is very down. Plus he is worried about what kind of care the kids, especially the younger boy who is 2, will be given when he is not there. Their mother is not the most careful person nor is she the most fastidious when it comes to keeping baby clean. His diaper only gets changed by his dad when he gets home from work as she cannot bear the smell of it!! So he could be in a dirty diaper for a couple of hours til Daddy comes home and cleans him up. Also, the older boy - 8 - contracted a staph skin infection that she did nothing about for 10 days until the red patch was the size of a saucer and then finally took him to the doctor. Thought that putting an ointment made from beeswax would do the job. It didn't. Result is that baby and younger son both contracted it as well. Also, she went to a shopping mall with her mother a couple of weeks ago where there is a LegoLand play area for the kids. They left the older boy on his own there for 2 hours while they toured the shops. Went to check on him once during that time. Thank the lord no one nabbed the kid while he was there.
My special friend is also going through a rough time which of course has me upset. It all started two weeks ago when his lovely Irish Setter "Terra" died of kidney failure. A beautiful girl just 7 years old. 10 days ago (last, last Sunday) he went home after work, had lunch and then a nap, woke up feeling not so well and ended up throwing up a couple of times then again later. Was very weak and called two friends to come and help him to the bathroom. The result was that he was in bed from Sunday night til Wednesday when they finally took him to the hospital because he was unable to walk by himself. The doctors have no idea what he had/has but suspect a viral infection that has caused neuropathy. He is in hospital with an IV drip and is slowly but surely getting his strength back. Can take baby steps to the bathroom with the aid of a cane. He's 54 and in the physical shape of a man 10 years younger. A farmer and former basketball player and swimmer. Within a few hours, he couldn't walk and his one foot still has no feeling although he manages to shuffle along slowly.
Worst of all, a customer of ours for 15 years (and very good friend of younger son's) had a tragedy last week. Their baby boy (first child) was born full term but with a strep infection that caused sepsis and only lived for 4 days. Needless to say, we are terribly broken up about this situation. So sad for all involved. I truly can't wait for this month to be over and hopefully next month will be better.
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