Perspectives on Life

[vonVeezelsnider]

Well... Today's my brother's birthday, he turned 14. I still remember that morning like it was yesterday- I spent the night at my grandparents place and we rushed over to the Rockyview Hospital in their then new Emerald Green 1994 Neon Sport Sedan (with the automatic) so I could see my new baby brother... We were trying to meet my dad but when he was going down an elevator we were going up and vice versa- my grandfather was 65 then. Today, in that very hospital, two floors above the maternity ward, my grandfather lies suffering from congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung at age 80 (He's fine for now)... We're not sure what's the cause but they think it's a leaky valve... and We're not sure if it's operable.

Makes you think doesn't it?

[balthazar]

That's a tough one, Veez- and the man's not really that old. I hope, in the event a remedy is not forthcoming, that he may be made comfortable at the very least. What, may I ask, did he do for work in his younger days? He missed WWII- did he serve during the Korean War? Hope things work out for the best for him.

[vonVeezelsnider]

That's a tough one, Veez- and the man's not really that old. I hope, in the event a remedy is not forthcoming, that he may be made comfortable at the very least. What, may I ask, did he do for work in his younger days? He missed WWII- did he serve during the Korean War? Hope things work out for the best for him.

Nope, he grew up on a farm northeast of Edmonton and worked as a steward on the Canadian Pacific Railway first class dining car during the war... Having two young boys in the early 50s he didn't go to Korea. He worked up in Edmonton 'till 1962 for various things when my grandparents moved with my dad and uncles to Brooklyn... He worked as a plasterer for Donald Trump Sr and after that he worked for American Linen driving the delivery trucks... They returned to Canada in 1973 and he worked as a driver and eventually a supervisor/manager for Canadian Linen until he retired in 1990.

He had a bypass about fifteen years ago, but he walks three miles a day, so otherwise he's tip top. They just have him on O2, not even an IV right now... So the doctors seem somewhat confident that nothing has progressed too far.

[ZL-1]

I hope your grandpa makes it through this. My thoughts and prayers are with him, with you and with your family.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Well, wonder of wonders, He's been discharged and he's back at home... I'm in disbelief about what the doctors said as well. It wasn't congestive heart failure that made him unable to breathe, it was an air pocket in his lungs caused by Plaster Dust from his earlier work days, that in turn caused a little emphysema. He still has a small/leaky left valve and a partially blocked artery that will need to be operated on this year, but they're livable. The good news is he's out and will be able to see my graduation ceremonies (My grandma said he'd been beating himself up over missing them).

My dad and I had his black Impala washed today so it's clean for him to drive again, and I went up to the hospital to pick him up with my grandma... The nurse said that he looked ten years younger than he was and didn't look like he belonged in a hospital because he didn't look sick, she also says that he was the nicest patient on the ward... I believe it. Spending ten days in a hospital can't ever be fun but he kept his sense of humor throughout the whole thing, and I admire that.

[balthazar]

He sure has an intersting past, as so many do of his generation (as opposed to -say- pushing keyboard buttons for 30-40 years). Good to hear he's in the clear.

[capriceman]

being in a hospital is never fun. no matter what. great to hear though! Glad he is okay!

[Sixty8panther]

Wow, amazing. Good luck to your grandfather.