(no subject)
Yesterday, a little after 3pm, my uncle died.
He was finally happily married last spring, after a bitter divorce and 20-odd years of unhappy marriage to an unfaithful and unreasonable woman. About three months after the wedding and back surgery, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. A softball-sized tumor and most of the lower lobe of his right lung were removed. He was treated with aggressive regimens of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but two months later, it was clear that the cancer had had plenty of time to metastasize to his liver and adrenal glands. Shortly thereafter, it also reappeared in his lungs - both of them, this time. He continued treatments, researched on his own, and applied for experimental drug studies. Last month, Johns Hopkins told him that they could not use him in their studies because his disease was too far advanced.
My mother and grandmother went down to Virginia to help his wife care for him at home because he did not want to be placed in a care facility. They had just finished remodeling their home. His son is currently serving in Iraq - though he did receive special dispensation to come home for a week, last month to visit. For the last week, he has been waking every morning to ask what day it was. If he made it to July 1st, he could officially retire from his company and receive full retirement benefits which he could bequeath to his wife. So every morning, he asked if he'd made it.
I can do nothing but admire his tenacity.
I last saw him on Mother's Day, after he flew in from Virginia. He said the air on the plane was the best air he'd ever breathed.
He was finally happily married last spring, after a bitter divorce and 20-odd years of unhappy marriage to an unfaithful and unreasonable woman. About three months after the wedding and back surgery, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. A softball-sized tumor and most of the lower lobe of his right lung were removed. He was treated with aggressive regimens of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but two months later, it was clear that the cancer had had plenty of time to metastasize to his liver and adrenal glands. Shortly thereafter, it also reappeared in his lungs - both of them, this time. He continued treatments, researched on his own, and applied for experimental drug studies. Last month, Johns Hopkins told him that they could not use him in their studies because his disease was too far advanced.
My mother and grandmother went down to Virginia to help his wife care for him at home because he did not want to be placed in a care facility. They had just finished remodeling their home. His son is currently serving in Iraq - though he did receive special dispensation to come home for a week, last month to visit. For the last week, he has been waking every morning to ask what day it was. If he made it to July 1st, he could officially retire from his company and receive full retirement benefits which he could bequeath to his wife. So every morning, he asked if he'd made it.
I can do nothing but admire his tenacity.
I last saw him on Mother's Day, after he flew in from Virginia. He said the air on the plane was the best air he'd ever breathed.