Some Dark Humor

Morning before surgery. Photo by patient.

There’s been a bit of dark humor around these parts lately.

Phil keeps on saying he and my mother are in a race to the finish line. Where the finish line is THE finish line.

Well, let me tell you, none of us are ready for either of them to cross that finish line.

What a year it has been for them. This time last year, they were both healthy and active. Then, last July she got her cancer diagnosis, and this February, he got his.

They’ve already got a jump start on coordinating their treatment schedules. This past Monday, she finished up a CT scan just as he was coming out of surgery.

His doctor was great. After an 8 hour surgery, she patiently explained to my mother, my sister, his sister, and me how she had rewired, rerouted, reshaped, and reconfigured various internal organs of his. It was actually quite impressive and a bit overwhelming.

The anesthesiologist also talked to us, and because he was so impressed with how well Phil had held up during surgery, he told Sue and me that we inherited good genes.

Right now, everyone is doing great – relatively speaking. But, with the Big C, there is always that worry to deal with, isn’t there? (This is where people are going to tell me to be positive. I am positive. But I also worry.)

One of the hardest parts of all of this is having to be nice to one another. I’ve had to be nice to my mother for a whole year! That’s a record for me. However, she still gets the sense I have no faith in her abilities where I feel I’ve been doing an amazing job of covering that up.

Prior to surgery, the doctors did ask him about a cut he had on his arm. That may have been due to the R&R we treated him to on the days leading to surgery.

Yes, Thelma and Louise were up for the weekend. They are now planning on moving to California next August. These girls are planners. They provided some laughs.

And how could this combo not manage to provide some laughs:

I have to say I managed to irritate Amber this past weekend as much as I irritate my own daughters. I may have done that in the past, but this time she let me know about it. She didn’t appreciate my own dark humor (I told Phil I would take him shopping for a new computer if he made it), my nagging of Dave, and my hounding her about Hillary. She promises to vote for Hillary – but only for Grandma.

In addition to R&R, we made sure the patient, who was on a liquid diet prior to surgery, got some good nutrition – beer, wine, and ice cream.

What a crew.

That finish line better not be in sight for a good, long time.