laughter and memory and stubbornness
Oct. 11th, 2006 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iridiuma few links, first.
from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nacht_musik, who knows how to make me smile:
Kermit the Frog and Sandra Bullock, with another Mahna song...Phenomena! (even better, the phrase "Ik zie allemaal rare beestjes...")
from Zoz:
a series of video clips on/by Tats Cru, with some good footage of the creation of their Big Jimmy memorial mural, and other bits from their time at MIT. (it took me a little while to realize that much of the everybody-sitting-down interview footage was recorded in the housemasters' apartment at Senior Haus. awww, nostalgia.)
and a small note, a bit of thinking, memory and family and stubbornness. my grandfather's been in the hospital for the past few weeks with congestive heart failure. this is a hard thing for me, for all of my family; i don't really have a handle on how to deal with it. but today's news made me smile.
he's been on a ventilator for a couple of weeks, because his heart had gotten weak enough that it could not do the things it normally does, like expel excess fluids & keep a regular rhythm, and the act of breathing was using up all of his energy. so the ventilator is good, because in theory it takes some of the stress off of the body while his other treatments are being readjusted, allows him to rest and sleep a little more easily. he's been doing a little better over the past week, and was becoming increasingly frustrated with the ventilator breathing tube getting in the way of his ability to communicate. yesterday they shut off the ventilator briefly and tested his ability to breathe; he did well, so it sounded like they'd go ahead and remove the breathing tube this morning. but apparently around 2am he decided not to wait, and removed the tube himself, which is not a simple thing even though he knows how to do it. he's fine, and so far as i know he's still breathing well and doing ok.
he is an amazing man, and a well-loved and much-respected doctor, and a wonderful father and grandfather. i am very, very glad that i was able to spend good, solid time with him this spring, and that i was able to go stand in with him at work before he retired. i have more admiration and respect than i can put into words for his compassion and kindness and strength of will. *little laugh* and this all reminds me that maybe this has something to do with where my own stubbornness comes from, and other bits of myself as well. (today's news didn't surprise me, really...but then, i'm the one who decided to just walk out of the hospital five days after breaking my hip in two places, because i got tired of waiting for the wheelchair.)
i'm headed back to Mississippi in early November, and i hope very much that i'll get to see him again then.
family is a strange and powerful thing, and i've been very, very lucky.
from
nacht_musik, who knows how to make me smile:Kermit the Frog and Sandra Bullock, with another Mahna song...Phenomena! (even better, the phrase "Ik zie allemaal rare beestjes...")
from Zoz:
a series of video clips on/by Tats Cru, with some good footage of the creation of their Big Jimmy memorial mural, and other bits from their time at MIT. (it took me a little while to realize that much of the everybody-sitting-down interview footage was recorded in the housemasters' apartment at Senior Haus. awww, nostalgia.)
and a small note, a bit of thinking, memory and family and stubbornness. my grandfather's been in the hospital for the past few weeks with congestive heart failure. this is a hard thing for me, for all of my family; i don't really have a handle on how to deal with it. but today's news made me smile.
he's been on a ventilator for a couple of weeks, because his heart had gotten weak enough that it could not do the things it normally does, like expel excess fluids & keep a regular rhythm, and the act of breathing was using up all of his energy. so the ventilator is good, because in theory it takes some of the stress off of the body while his other treatments are being readjusted, allows him to rest and sleep a little more easily. he's been doing a little better over the past week, and was becoming increasingly frustrated with the ventilator breathing tube getting in the way of his ability to communicate. yesterday they shut off the ventilator briefly and tested his ability to breathe; he did well, so it sounded like they'd go ahead and remove the breathing tube this morning. but apparently around 2am he decided not to wait, and removed the tube himself, which is not a simple thing even though he knows how to do it. he's fine, and so far as i know he's still breathing well and doing ok.
he is an amazing man, and a well-loved and much-respected doctor, and a wonderful father and grandfather. i am very, very glad that i was able to spend good, solid time with him this spring, and that i was able to go stand in with him at work before he retired. i have more admiration and respect than i can put into words for his compassion and kindness and strength of will. *little laugh* and this all reminds me that maybe this has something to do with where my own stubbornness comes from, and other bits of myself as well. (today's news didn't surprise me, really...but then, i'm the one who decided to just walk out of the hospital five days after breaking my hip in two places, because i got tired of waiting for the wheelchair.)
i'm headed back to Mississippi in early November, and i hope very much that i'll get to see him again then.
family is a strange and powerful thing, and i've been very, very lucky.
