Killianville

I didn’t really have a plan for accomplishing this task other than reading my grandfathers journal and writing about it in a stream of consciousness kind of way. I think that amorphous idea is working out well as it is triggering a lot of interesting ideas and memories as well as generating ‘movies’ in my head as I try and visualize the people and places he writes about.

I find it encouraging that despite frequently waking before dawn on a regular basis Poppa still looks forward to a “bright sun-shiny day”. Wow, mailing 500 letters, that’s a LOT of letters. From a contemporary perspective I wonder how he got so many copies. I’m sure there were duplicating machines but for that time that does seem like an unusual number of letters. I worked really hard to figure out what Don Wiley did for him in 1914 but can’t figure it out. Is ‘M. Cook?’ ‘Croker’? some sort of medical procedure? Was it a person?  Hmm, his doctor visits led to a determination that he needed a prostatectomy. I am reminded of my Dad’s prostatectomy and the process he went through prior to the operation. My dad must’ve gone to at least three or four different doctors prior to having the operation. I’m not sure if he was trying to confirm the diagnosis, or just trying to understand it, for my dad I’m sure it was the latter.

When my dad was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer he voraciously consumed every piece of information he could about it, talked to others who had the same diagnosis and eventually formed a local chapter of UsToo a Prostate Cancer support group. I’m fairly certain Poppa’s diagnosis was not for Prostate Cancer as I don’t think it was a ‘thing’ yet meaning it was not an identified condition at the time, but it seems likely that Poppa did have Prostate Cancer especially since out of the five brothers including my dad, three had Prostate Cancer.

In case you’re wondering what was on The Bob Hope Show on March 19, 1969:

Wow, not a bad line up. What do “unusually beautiful girls” look like? Also, what is a ‘tam’ and what is ‘prexy’? I’m guessing typos. Oh, Google says ‘prexy’ refers to a president of a college or society, which makes sense given the context, and ohhhhh, ‘tam’ is the graduate hat thingy! Thanks Google! Wow, that episode summary is using some, to me, antiquated language.

I was feeling bad for him reading about his ‘bad night’ until I read about the ‘terrible odor’ he passed! HA! Then to read he pushed the mower all over mowing the ‘green stuff’, which I also find amusing, I wonder if he was being funny or cranky. The 22^nd seemed to be a rough day despite the poem he left for a friend. First the café where he had breakfast wouldn’t accept his check then on his walk home he peed himself, almost fell and decided to no longer attend the Saturday prayer breakfasts anymore because he was felt old and out of place.

Rough couple of days. His condition is giving him more trouble, rushed to the hospital!  I’m glad he was able to attend all of the church services.

25^th – 26^th  Still in the hospital for ‘urine poisoning. I think I should read ahead.

27^th – 30^th  still in the hospital, develops a cough on 31^st which worsens on April 1. Time for a break.