Words fail me.
I cried so hard when I came out of the bathroom and saw the monkey sitting in my bed. I just knew the imbecilic ambassador was from the PW crowd when I first laid eyes on him.
That’s the first Joy I have felt in four weeks. Nobody knows how this is going to turn out for me. So far, I have fallen behind every healing curve the docs had.
Good news: the open, sucking chest wound seems to be healing. It’s possible that problem will be behind me in a few more days.
I went into this knowing there was a 30% hospital mortality rate for my presentation. I couldn’t go on living the way I was. Didn’t have a choice in my book.
It is possible I could achieve escape velocity as early as this Friday. If the wound completely heals and I can get home health care to admin my IV antibiotics I will bail.
As I told my surgeon; nothing but bad things happen to people that are flat on their backs in hospitals. He agreed.
I’ve learned the hard way that fresh hell’s pop up out of nowhere for me so everything has to go really slow. I’ve thought one day I had turned the corner only to have death come within a few minutes of snatching me away. I coded in my room when a tech tried to do an echocardiogram. Nothing gets your attention like your room filling with people screaming “Keith! Stay with us!†as they jump on top of you.I am touched beyond what I can express in words by the kind words and prayers from you guys.
I hope to send a picture later.
One thing I am certain of: thor is going to have a really nice coal shoveling credit tacked on to his Book of Life. I laugh just looking at that monkey.I’ve heard and come to believe God never gives us more than we can handle. If I think, ‘why me’, I come back to why not? I really want to know how this is going to turn out for me but some things are just in God’s hands. If I am lucky I will get out of here and face all kinds of new questions. Right now, the best shot is eventual AV node ablation and a pacemaker. A summer of rehab, and then Everest.
I am tired and must end this note. Thanks is not enough but it’s all I have to give right now.
Those are some pretty good words from someone whom words fail, Keith.
Behold! the power of Thor.
God bless you my friend…
Keep fighting the good fight.
God bless you both.
burrhog – My prayers are with you.
Dan – You are a kind man, and this exchange exemplifies that.
Thoughts and prayers are headed your way! Keep up the fight!
Keep digging, buddy. You can’t leave that poor lil chimp an orphan, now can you?
Thanks, JD. I think thor gets the kudos, this time, though.
Consider the prayer offered.
Now then…
Pads low! Keep those feet moving!
Wonderful post, Dan. Thank you for sharing it.
*wipes tears away*
Godspeed, Keith. Keep fighting the good fight and never give up on faith.
I’m truly humbled by the heart that exists every moment of every day on this site.
Masal Tov to you all, especially thor and Dan.
Good news.
burrhog: Stick around. It’s not your time yet, kid.
It’s nice to know one’s faith in God is reciprocated, but the finding-out can be a little rough, no?
Get better, Keith. We prefer you stay with the rest of us monkeys.
Keep that Mjolnir away from the sensitive instruments, Mr. Thor. We don’t want stray electrical surges to cause any complications.
Good luck, sir. Hope you get to start showing off all those scars soon.
(And I hope the antispam generator isn’t sending any messages with “youre86”. Is Jeff threatening me or is that thing completely random?)
Heh. Just think if thor had sent a stuffed ‘dillo…
Good to hear you are moving forward, Burrhog!
Well done, thor, and Dan.
And those aren’t too bad either, Dan…
Indeed, Keith. Indeed.
I love it when guys are sweet.
And I love it that burrhog is staying with us.
Ya gotta have heart, Burrhog.
Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. Someone had to say it.
Get well.
The other chimps are hogging all the bananas.
Yeah, but we’ll be there to delouse you when you get out. Cuz that’s some good protein right there.
Keith-
After reading your note from you’re calcified-lump-in-the-chest Hell, I was struck by the fact you were sort’a alone, left attendant to by family. I, too, have a sidecar filled with affable freaks called family. Somewhat sadly, a multitude of women in my life (ex-wives, girlfriends and chicks I simply shacked up with) have left me. Being petty, predicable and boring wore them out long ago. They tired of my daily rants, late night drinking binges and addiction to round-the-clock ESPN watching during stints of joblessness. The I, that is me, predictably takes a toll on the female expectation of what a man is supposed to be. Yet today I can say “fuck ‘em all.â€Â
Learning of true truth’s truthiness is truly rare, and the truth is a soft, stuffed monkey’s love will never exhaust itself, even in light of repeated failures to make a bastard world conform to your commands. During my hardest years my stuffed monkey’s love for me only grew and grew. He sat/sits there every day and night with his wide, fixed smile. Even this morning we shared a thought, and with him they’re always agreeable thoughts.
I’m able to face my life with renewed energy knowing when I get home from work I may not have a real wife or girlfriend or happy kids, and not that that should be otherwise, but damn it, when I open the door to my partially furnished apartment I know who is there. I know who has a smile for me. I know who has been waiting for me. Just how happy is my monkey to see me? Who can really say. But Keith, he’s there, always there, there to wash all my loneliness and troubles away.
I’m very happy to hear how quickly you bonded with your stuffed monkey. Chump is his name, I believe. Keith, dude, if you’re like me, wait, you just wait. Soon come breakfast time you’ll be flipping an extra banana pancake in your skillet for your truest true, one-and-only, smiling simian friend.
Wishing Your Full Recovery Includes A Few Extra Laughs,
Thor, a.k.a. Tom
You know, Thor . . . if you had a magazine, you could call it Thorazine.
Hey, Dan? Somebody just knocked on my door.
It’s your shame.
It’s stinking drunk, weeping profusely and just peed on my front porch.
What do you want me to do with it?
If Dan’s shame has decent tits and all of her teeth I’ll send over a cab.
Thor – Do you have a website ?
Usually, Jeff or some of the commentators are the only ones that make Mocha spew out my nose, but you managed to do so. Kudos !
A website? But Jeff already owns the only really good one of those.
Naw. Not even a lame-o myspace page. When Google comes out with free cyber transport stations including unlimited bandwidth I’ll consider signing up for that. Till then I’m a happy spam-bot.
BJ–
So that’s where that went. Let it sleep there and hose it down after a few hours; my wife will drop by to pick it up later.
Dan:
Ya better tell her to bring 4 large garbage bags, a snare drum for the rim shots and a gallon of Arizona Green Tea.
On second thought, you’d better send a priest…
Extreme Unction II: The Reckoning