To start on a morbid note (or should I say a mortal note?): when I got back from class today I found a brief email from my parents that went like this: “Great aunt Betty was admitted to the hospital with vomiting, diarrhea, great pain, etc. and likely had a “stroke” of the colon. She probably would not survive surgery and likely has four or five days to live. We’re leaving by car shortly to come to Minneapolis and will see you tonight.”
Wow. Just a couple of weeks ago, Betty was sitting at the Thanksgiving dinner table, as spunky an old lady as ever, not having lived to the age of 95 without a fight. She still walked a mile each day and was as socially active as one can be at that age. But despite all she did to protect your body and her health, something could still go wrong in some corner of her body – an organ gone out of function, a normally ignored process or enzyme somehow inactivated. For Betty it was the colon, and what would be a matter of routine surgery for a young and resilient person is precluded thanks to the thinning of the colon that progresses with old age and makes recovery less and less likely.
I’m visiting Betty tomorrow. She’s lucid and says she’s ready for anything, including death. It will be sad to see her go. I’m going to tell her that her continuous growth throughout her life is the thing I would most like to have gained from having her as my great aunt.
pseudoisaac 