Some of you may remember sometime ago I had a post up about my Uncle...the mountain man. ( thats what I call him) Well he has been in the hospital several times in the past couple months. When he comes into town he always stops here and has coffee and to visit with my Mother. It is usually always in the morning and of course everyone is up in no time b/c no one could sleep through his talking ( yelling). He has been going downhill, he has lost a lot of weight and very out of breath.
My brother called me about a week ago. He had stopped in to check on Uncle. He told me he was all swelled and talking out of his head. I said he needs to go to the hospital. My brother said yes, but he wont. Uncle has a son, but lets just say he doesnt pay a lot of attention to his Father. So the next morning my Brother stopped in before work, Unc was in the same shape. So brother got ahold of Uncs son and told him, he needs to be in the hospital. So said son took his Father to the hospital.
They did some test on him and we found out Thursday the he has lung cancer which has spread into his liver and his brain. Needless to say the whole family was very upset. This is the Uncle that let you drive his car when you were only 12, would give you a cigarette when you were 12, and tried to fix my brothers up with some of his wild women when they were in high school. ( My Mother would have killed him had she known!)
The Dr suggested Keith go into a Nursing Home...especially since he is not in his right mind, I agree. He gets very adamant! Well,Uncle said...no way. So son said he would take him home with him. That didnt even last for a whole day, by the end of the day Unc was in a resthome!
Now the bad thing is that Unc is pissed off at the world...( this was even before he found out how sick he was) . My brother took my Mother to the hospital to see him this week and he started yelling at my Mother about its her fault that he is in the hospital. He said "your kids put me here"...which is just not true. Well, when he started telling her that she told him " my kids have done more to take care of you than your own kids ever have!" ( which is very true) and with that..she walked out. She was very upset when she got home that day. You know its one of those cases where you can say what you want about your own kids....but no one else better speak a word against them! But we have always gone out of our way to make sure Uncle was invited to holiday dinners, we even took food into him when he just didnt want to attend. Unc is a little self centered bless his heart!
You have to understand the whole picture here. When anyone in the family has been in the hospital...Unc never went to visit them. And when anyone passed away Unc never even went to the funeral home. He didnt go when his own sister died. He says he doesnt like those places! I dont know anyone that does but we all have to go and pay our respects. But Unc never went out of his way for anyone. But we all still loved him, we just overlooked it. Now that Unc is so ill, all kind of people are going to see him!! My brothers and I just watch in amazement.
When my Father was dieing, we got him a hospital bed and put it in the livingroom. Unc was there when the bed came ( this was 14 years ago) and said he needed one of those hospital beds for his back. My Father bought him one....Unc used it for a while then he decided he didnt like it anymore so he just threw it outside of his house. Can you imagine what that looked like? Talk about your rednecks!
The Dr is saying Unc probably only has a couple of months. The whole family has just been a little off kilter all week over Unc. My Mother is still upset that he yelled at her. I tried to explain that he is not responsible for what he is saying. I really do not want to see him suffer, I wish he could close his eyes tonight and God would take him. In the past couple years he has been reading his Bible a lot. I hope God realizes he is not in his right mind with all the cussing and carrying on he is doing. He always did cuss and carry on when he got mad, but I really think he was trying to control himself better. Unc is a good guy, everyone in this town loves him....just ask Unc..he"ll tell you!
Please keep him in your prayers!
17 comments:
Catch,
What a love you are!
I'll send up a prayer or two for unc.
rel
Your Unc sounds very much like my Uncle Carroll, all we can do is pray for them. This kind of illness does make people talk out of their heads. Before he died my Uncle was convinced I was stealing from him, and made sure everyone knew it...I was 9 and lived in another state!
Your blog touched me. My prayers are with him.
BTW-I love your sparkly heel!! how did you do that???
Catch, I'm so sorry, that is really sad. I'll be keeping you and your family in my prayers.
You're such a loving and caring person that I agree that if you're Uncle was in his right mind he wouldn't have said half those things about you or your family.
Hugs,
Christine
T'my way of thinking, GOD don't let ANYBODY speak fer a few years when they get t'heaven.
It saves a lot of time explainin' hings that don't really need any explainations, anyway.
So, uncle's OK and will do fine.
its a freaking cancer epidemic.
your uncle, you say, is very mad at "you guys" right now".
he isnt catch hes scared and sad and worried, he has just been told he is dying. he isnt mad at you he is mad at the world!
you cannot take it personal when he says mean things to you, hes just very very scared
hugs catch, and a billion extra for the days ahead
I'm so sorry to read about your uncle being ill. I will say a prayer for him.
Hugs to you and your family
Cancer is a terrible thing. when my Uncle Harolds cancer went to his brain he wanted us to look at the little people sitting on his glass. How can a loving God hold us responsible for anything we do when the mind is being eaten. Of course He doesn't.You also have to ignore what he says and love him any way.
Hugs to ya catch, I will remember your family in my prayers.
Your uncle is in my prayers. And God knows and only cares about what is in your Uncles heart. None of that other stuff really matters.
Catch, you really are a special person. Sorry about your uncle.
prayers for your Uncle from my corner too, as well as for you to help you get through this
I will say a prayer for your Unc and your entire family...
I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle, what a hard time this must be for your whole family. I'll keep him in my prayers!
So sorry about your uncle. I've see too much cancer take family and since I used to work in hospitals and around docs I know how hard it is to understand the things patients say and do. Sounds like the cancer is in his brain, too. Best just to love him dispite what ever he says. Ya'll are in my prayers. And a Big Hug.
Will say a prayer for him, of course.
Both my fatehr in law and Grandpa died of cancer and by the end they said and did some odd things. They were not themselves and like Kat said, the treatment can really affect them. Hugs to your Mum, it would ahve been hurtful for her, but it is likely that it was not really him talking.
Wow Catch, you have your heart and hands full don't you. it is a lot of mental strain, and worry. not to mention I am sure it did hurt your Mom's feelings, even if he is out of his head and doesn't really know he hurt them. The dynamics in any family during times of illness is very complicated. As you say, no one really wants the care or responsibility of someone sick and dying. But we all have this in our future. Something to remember, I always hope and pray that my kids love me enough to take care of me without doing to much complaining when the time comes. I feel for you Catch......
Post a Comment