"JUST ANOTHER HOSPICE PATIENT"(George Petrie) “JUST ANOTHER HOSPICE PATIENT”
GEORGE PETRIE – LONGBOAT KEY, FLORIDA

HE WAS REALLY JUST ANOTHER HOSPICE PATIENT. PATIENTS WITH TERMINAL ILLNESSES COME IN ALL AGES AND ALL ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF HUMANKIND. LIKE MOST PATIENTS, ON PAPER, HE WAS A NAME AND A DIAGNOSIS; LOTS AND LOTS OF DOCUMENTATION ABOUT THE PROGRESSION OF HIS DISEASE AND HIS DIRE PROGNOSIS. THIS WAS A DIAGNOSIS THAT IS PERHAPS MORE EVIL THAN MANY OF THEM - AMYOTROPIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS.

MOST PEOPLE KN0W THIS ILLNESS AS “LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE". MOST OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE THE NAME LOU GEHRIG, BUT HE WAS A FAMOUS BASEBALL PLAYER WHO GAVE A FACE TO THIS PERNICIOUS DISEASE.
SOMETIMES, WHEN SOMEONE FAMOUS ACQUIRES A SERIOUS OR TERMINAL ILLNESS, THE GENERAL PUBLIC SUDDENLY GETS AN EDUCATION ABOUT SUBJECTS THAT MOST OF US PREFER TO IGNORE. NO ONE REALLY WANTS TO THINK ABOUT DEBILITATING DISEASES AND, IN SOME WAYS, WE HAVE BECOME INNURED TO THE PROSPECT OF ONE DAY FACING THESE TYPES OF CHALLENGES IN OUR OWN LIVES.

OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND, AND BETTER NOT TO THINK ABOUT HOW QUICKLY WE, OR OUR LOVED ONE’S, COULD SUDDENLY BECOME A “VICTIM” OF AN ILLNESS THAT HAS NO CURE.

LOU GEHRIG WAS FAMOUS AND NICKNAMED “THE IRON HORSE” BECAUSE OF HIS ALL STAR STATISTICS.

“Fans and the press openly speculated on Gehrig's abrupt decline. James Kahn, a reporter who wrote often about Gehrig, said in one article:
I think there is something wrong with him. Physically wrong, I mean. I don't know what it is, but I am satisfied that it goes far beyond his ball-playing. I have seen ballplayers 'go' overnight, as Gehrig seems to have done. But they were simply washed up as ballplayers. It's something deeper than that in this case, though. I have watched him very closely and this is what I have seen: I have seen him time a ball perfectly, swing on it as hard as he can, meet it squarely — and drive a soft, looping fly over the infield. In other words, for some reason that I do not know, his old power isn't there... He is meeting the ball, time after time, and it isn't going anywhere.”

SUDDENLY “THE IRON HORSE” HAD MET WHAT WOULD COME TO BE INSURMOUNTABLE ODDS; A GAME THAT HE JUST COULDN’T WIN.

About half of all people with ALS live at least 3 years after they find out they have the disease, and 20% (or 1 in 5) live 5 years or more. As many as 10% will survive more than 10 years.

Stephen Hawking has been living with Lou Gehrig's disease for about 40 years — ever since his diagnosis at age 21. He is the most famous long-term survivor of the disease. Born in England, Hawking is a famous physicist who furthered our understanding of the universe.

MY PATIENT WAS ONLY 34 YEARS OLD. WHEN I SAY HE WAS “JUST ANOTHER HOSPICE PATIENT”, IT WAS BECAUSE I HAD TO THINK OF HIM IN THE SAME TERMS AS EVERYONE WHO WAS GOING THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE OF COUNTING DOWN THE MINUTES LEFT IN THEIR LIVES. SO MANY PEOPLE, SO MANY AGES, ALL TOUCHED BY DIFFERENT DISEASES OR TRAUMATIC INJURY THAT SUDDENLY INTRODUCED THEM TO LIFE’S GAME OF “BEAT THE CLOCK”.

HE WAS AN AMAZING ARTIST. I HAD SEEN A LOT OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS AND HIS ABILITY BEHIND A CAMERA LENS WAS STRIKING, EVEN TO THE UNINITIATED, TO HIS USE OF LIGHT AND REFLECTION. THERE WERE SOME OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS OF PEOPLE THAT SEEMED TO ALMOST SEE THROUGH TO THEIR SOULS. THEIR EYES WOULD CAPTURE YOUR ATTENTION AND YOU WOULD BE DRAWN TO STARE AND WONDER WHAT THEY WERE THINKING.

HIS EYES WERE THE SAME. YOU COULD LOOK IN TO THEM WHILE YOU WERE SPEAKING AND SWEAR THAT YOU COULD TELL WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SAY, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS UNABLE TO SPEAK.

HE USED A STICK IN HIS MOUTH AND WOULD PAINSTAIKINGLY PECK OUT A MESSAGE TO YOU.

THE FIRST TIME I MET HIM I WALKED INTO THE ROOM AND SMILED. SEEING THE COMPUTER KEYBOARD, AND BEING A PROFICIENT TYPIST, I QUICKLY WROTE OUT “HELLO, MY NAME IS GEORGE”. I LOOKED INTO HIS EYES AFTER TYPING THIS AND THEN I WATCHED AS HE SLOWLY TYPED OUT “I’M NOT DEAF!” EVERYONE HAS EXPERIENCED AT LEAST ONE MOMENT IN THEIR LIVES WHERE THEY WANTED TO CRAWL UNDER THE CARPET AND HIDE AND THIS WAS ONE OF MY MOMENTS. OF COURSE HE COULD HEAR ME. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ME TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIM WITH A KEYBOARD!

THE SAVING GRACE IN ALL OF THIS WAS THAT THERE WAS A TWINKLE IN HIS EYE THAT SIGNALED TO ME THAT HE UNDERSTOOD. HE TOOK THE STICK IN HIS MOUTH AND TYPED “SHOWOFF!” I LAUGHED AND I KNEW THAT HE WAS LAUGHING ALSO AND THAT HE UNDERSTOOD MY DISCOMFORT. I ALSO KNEW THAT HE WAS ACCUSTOMED TO PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT HIM AS THOUGH HE WASN’T IN THE ROOM.

HE HAD ACCEPTED THE FACT THAT HIS DEATH WAS IMMINENT. HE KNEW THAT THE DISEASE HAD PROGRESSED TO THE POINT WHERE HIS VITAL ORGANS WERE SHUTTING DOWN AND HIS MIND WAS ALL THAT HE HAD LEFT. HE KNEW, ONLY TOO WELL, WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE LOCKED INTO A BODY THAT FELT PAIN AND WANT AND NEED BUT THE INABILITY TO TELL ANYONE. HE KNEW THAT HE RELIED ON OTHER PEOPLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT WE ALL TAKE SO MUCH FOR GRANTED EACH AND EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES.

I ASKED HIM ONE DAY WHAT HIS ONE WISH WOULD BE AND HE TYPED BACK THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE OCEAN AGAIN.

THERE WAS NO FEASIBLE WAY TO TRANSPORT HIS WEAKENED BODY TO THE BEACH AND PICTURES WERE A VERY POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR A MANS DYING WISH.

I HAD A NETWORK THAT I HAD BUILT OVER THE YEARS WITH PEOPLE WHO’S LIVES HAD BEEN TOUCHED BY HOSPICE. EVERY ONE OF THEM WAS JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY AND THERE WERE SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE TO ME TO PROVIDE FOR DIFFICULT REQUESTS. IN THIS INSTANCE I CALLED A CONTACT AND, AFTER SOME NETWORKING, WE WERE ABLE TO SECURE AN EMPTY APARTMENT IN A HIGH RISE BUILDING ON MIAMI BEACH. THE OWNERS LIVED “UP NORTH” AND ONLY USED IT DURING WINTERS.

SOMEONE MADE A CALL TO SOMEONE ELSE, WHO RELAYED TO SOMEONE ELSE AND, BY THE NEXT DAY, WE WERE MAKING ARRANGEMENTS TO MOVE HIM TO THIS LOCATION. WE ACQUIRED A HOSPITAL BED AND, DUE TO THE ABILITY TO RAISE THE HEIGHT, WE WERE ABLE TO POSITION THE BED IN FRONT OF A BEAUTIFUL WALL OF GLASS THAT LOOKED OUT ON THE BEACH AND A GLORIOUS VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
THE DAY THAT WE MOVED HIM IN, IT WAS AS THOUGH NATURE HAD TAKEN OUT ITS PALLETTE AND COLORED THE WATER WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HUES OF TURQOISE, DARK BLUE AND BEAUTIFUL WHITECAPS.

SEEN FROM THIS HIGH UP ONE HAD A SENSE OF STANDING ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD STARING AT LIFE’S HORIZON.

HIS EYES REFLECTED THE BLUE OF THE OCEAN AND HIS EXCITEMENT WAS ALMOST PALATABLE. IT DIDN’T TAKE ANY PARTICULAR SPECIAL ABILITIES TO SEE THAT HE WAS SURPRISED AND DELIGHTED THAT HIS WISH HAD COME TRUE.

ONCE EVERYTHING WAS SET UP HE TOOK THE STICK IN HIS MOUTH AND TYPED, “THIS IS WHAT I PRAYED FOR….A GLIMPSE OF FREEDOM. SOMEDAY SOON I WILL BE SOARING OVER BEAUTY LIKE THIS AND KNOW WHAT IT IS TO BE FREE!”
HE LIVED FOR A LITTLE OVER ONE WEEK LONGER.

HE DIED AT NIGHT WHEN THE OCEAN WAS DARK BUT I WAS CERTAIN THAT WHEREVER AND WHENEVER HE AWOKE AGAIN THE SUN WOULD BE SHINING AND HE WOULD TRULY BE FREE.

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