Death Knocks

We got a call late Saturday evening, it was the kind of call no one wants to get. Mitch’s childhood friend and business partner was in the hospital, while on the phone with his wife I learned that he had actually flat-lined twice prior to being whisked off the property in an ambulance, by the time he reached the hospital his body temperature was 94 degrees and he was severely dehydrated. By the time Mitch and I got there, he was at least siting up and talking, but he was having blood drawn and tested every hour, and quite frankly… he looked like death. Maybe I was ignorant, or maybe this is truly happening at an escalated rate, but it seems that the moment he was diagnosed with Cirrhosis of the liver, he transformed from a healthy man measuring in at six feet tall and weighing 220 pounds, to weighing only 156 pounds. The best way I can describe how he looks, is to say he looks exactly like a holocaust victim, complete with the distended tummy.

This morning he has been moved out of the ICU and is awaiting a CAT scan; Medicine and the Medical Field, the art of hurry-up and wait. I cannot stop thinking about his wife and his two young children. How do you explain how Daddy suddenly got addicted to alcohol late in life? How the disease of alcoholism works and worst of all, how it is killing Daddy? I just cannot imagine.

The news has affected us on an emotional level, obviously, but more than that it is also impacting us on a financial level. Mitch has a lot to think about with regards to the company, if it can stay alive, what to tell the employees, etc. It was, to say the least, a shock to the system and a hard-hitting reality check.

I held onto Mitch like crazy the remaining of our evening Saturday, and all day Sunday. We were oddly more amorous too, maybe it was the most intimate and non-verbal way to express and convey just how grateful we are, how grateful that we have each other, how blessed our life together is and just how thankful we are that we are both happy, healthy and without death knocking on our door. It is amazing how a scene like we saw on Saturday can change you. I am still feeling the difference this morning.

On a lighter note… we survived the ex-wife tension at the graduation and we had a nice dinner celebration for Janet’s last evening.