Nice People Thread Number 11 - A Treasury of Nice People

Spirit_2

I had some sad news last night. A former member of my team had had a major surgery a few weeks ago. He already had significant health challenges, following a teen accident and used a wheelchair. He took the decision along with his wife that he wanted the ventilator to be turned off if his condition/function deteriorated further.

He had asked that his former immediate boss and I should be told and said he would welcome us to see him for the last time. My colleague saw him Monday night, and he died in the small hours of yesterday.

I am struggling to comprehend the decision he has faced and taken. I had been worried about him not losing further functions, was in touch with him in recent weeks and it had not occurred to me it would end this way.

This is a guy I made redundant, that he still counted me in amongst those he would want to see in his last hours is humbling in the extreme. He was younger then me. I will talk to his wife over the weekend

Today has been my birthday, had a lovely day, my OH and DD understood completely, had low key BBQ party with my late friends husband, sons and grand children and I feel pretty overwhelmed by the loss of her and now this.

SingleSue

lostinrates wrote: »

I just tried.

Its a long time since I did yoga or anything, but thankfully :huh:I can still do this.


Neither leg goes behind my head any more though. Unsurprisingly! And as its not that attractive a skill I'm not THAT fussed. I do feel really in flexible.

I know I can do it, my problem is I then get stuck and someone would have to come and rescue me with my leg stuck up to my head!

SingleSue

GDB2222 wrote: »

It's worth pointing out the case of the daughter of some friends of ours. She had terrible eczema and they tried all the standard cures. In desperation, they tried a Chinese herbalist. His medicine helped with her eczema. A lot! But it turned out that it also severely damaged her liver, so they stopped the herbal treatment. And now she has eczema AND liver damage to live with for the rest of her life.

I'm not suggesting that tea tree oil is harmful in that way, of course, but I doubt that it has received even a hundredth of the safety testing modern medicines go through.

I use tea tree to control my eczema, just a few drops in the bath rather than taken orally but it has kept it at bay for several years now with only the occasional flare and without the horrible skin thinning creams I was using originally.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

Nearly there.....
I just wish we could have set up a rota to be with you each day.

There was no rota but there has always been someone about, often you actually, to wish me well as I post my x down, y to go.

lostinrates

Woke up, feel better about wine thing.

Remembers all reasons wouldn't work.edot: eg, for wine tasting being on drugs that alter taste probably not that great! Whether allowed or not!

lostinrates

Spirit wrote: »

I .

I am struggling to comprehend the decision he has faced and taken.

I don't know of this will help but I type in the hope it does.

Obviously my situation is different to his, but I have had a DNR and no wish to be kept alive since first big recovery. Somethings one only want to do once I think.

. I compare the situation to the decision with a pet. With special girl I had an event to react to, the decision was 'easy' and frankly I am grateful for that. With old girl I didn't have that event, it was harder and this makes timing things stressful, every day seed of self doubt, second guessing.

Your colleague did had something to react to and an opportunity. I think I'm not alone in seeing life at any cost in any way not the aim or a winning situation.

I've deleted bits of this over and over I hope it makes sense and is obviously very sensitive and I don't know how best to say it. I might have over edited and removed compassion too.

mystic_trev

Generali wrote: »

@mystic_trev - I'm sitting in the waiting room right now with a 3 year old who has lost all her hair to chemo. I reckon her parents are doing it tougher than me let alone the girl herself.

This is difficult and scary but it could be an awful lot worse.

Life can be so bloody cruel at times. You've handled it with great dignity and your usual sense of humour! I look forward to buying you a beer (or two!) when it's all over, and your over!

lostinrates

Spirit wrote: »

May be it is a NP thing.

We got back from Cornwall yesterday afternoon and went straight to an emergency appointment at the Podiatrist as I too had a painful infection around a toenail. Is there no end to the bits of me that can break? It was cleaned out and packed with sterile cotton wool. My toe is neatly bandaged but looks a bit silly with open toe shoes..and we are off to France for a couple of days. So I will be the woman on the 8am Caen ferry with clogs on whilst wearing 3/4 length linen trousers.

We went to the beach for an hour yesterday. Fir ate a huge ice cream and stood in the sea with his trousers rolled up. I stood on the sand shivering. .

DH wants to take the dogs to the beach soon. Would have to be a dog friendly beach , not a dog friendly bit of beach, I'm not sure ours could read the sign saying 'no dogs past this point' . Kiwi hates water.

silvercar

Generali wrote: »

11 down, 4 to go.

Something very reassuring about coming on here in the morning and finding you have completed another treatment.

Only 4 more, really is nearing the end now. What have you planned to celebrate?

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

Life can be so bloody cruel at times. You've handled it with great dignity and your usual sense of humour! I look forward to buying you a beer (or two!) when it's all over, and your over!

Thank you mystic_trev.

I have had my moments at home where I really haven't coped well and my boss has been critical of me at times which has hurt and is pushing me towards a future which I've been looking at for a long while anyway. (More about that to follow in the coming couple of years).

I have coped with all this as well as I could hope. The big fear that I daren't think about is What Happens If It Comes Back? I don't know how I'd deal with that.

On the one hand, this could have been much worse, on the other hand I've been under treatment of one sort of another since 25th March and the whole process has been going on for a couple of months before that. I've been in constant pain for almost 3 months from 25/3 and face probably another year of pain before it will hopefully be mostly or (fingers crossed) completely gone leaving behind a discrete scar.

I am looking forward to being afforded the quasi-hero status that comes from the prefix 'cancer survivor' which makes any action I take now incredible in the eyes and words of local newspaper journalists:

Cancer Survivor Completes Half Marathon
Of the thousands of people that completed Local Area Half Marathon this week, one had a special reason to raise 3s6d: he had cancer and lived to tell the tale...

Cancer Survivor Serves Tea
One of the people baking cakes for Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, an annual cake bake raising funds for cancer research, at Local Area Shopping Mall has a special reason for making a slightly burned Victoria sponge.....

Cancer Survivor Gets Up In Morning, Eats Breakfast
One person had an unusual reason for having a bacon and egg roll from Local Area Cafe this morning...

I think it's replaced War Hero in these days of war deaths happening to people on the other side (for the most part).