He was working so hard to learn how to walk again. It was 2008 and his last surgery had taken a toll. The cancer had required a vertebrae be replaced in his spine. Somehow a staph infection had attached itself to the new part and emergency surgery resulted in a replacement part and a very sick patient. It wasn’t enough that he was fighting metastatic disease, but add to that a metal piece of hardware where bone used to be and then add to that an infection of major proportion and it was one heck of a rehab.
He’d sweat and curse under his breath and clinch his teeth, but he was so determined to stand and ultimately put one foot in front of the other. Walking was his goal and I remember thinking his physical therapist probably thought he’d never reach that goal. She really didn’t know her patient.
He walked. He worked so hard and he walked: First with a walker, then with a cane, then with just the grit of a man on a mission.
That’s what the calendar notation says today. The 2008 calendar I glance at every once in a while, reminding me of just how hard he worked to live. He was a warrior.
May 24, 2017 @ 18:50:25
Cherish the notations because they remain a connection which triggers other memories. That’s the way we keep our loved ones close to us.
I keep pictures up and her clothes remain. I like the memories even with the sadness that comes along. Odd…In our closet, her clothes remain and as I see them every day, some items trigger a memory and I see her wearing that item. I like that but soon I’ll give them away. She would want that. Her memory is etched in my mind so when the physical items are gone, she will be with me.
May 24, 2017 @ 15:26:45
The best part of that warrior was that he shared the entire journey with the world. So many times I read his posts and thought “that is exactly right” or “if only I had read this before my husband’s diagnosis.” It is no surprise that he eventually mastered walking again.