“I’m here with my son and grandson. We’re showing him how to catch crabs.” Do you have other children? “I have two others. One is deceased. I lost him in 2000 when he was 21. He got in a car with the wrong person. It … Continue readingSon’s death — ‘You just tolerate it and push on’
“My husband really didn’t have many symptoms, besides things that kind of disagreed with him when he ate. He had just lost his best friend to an aneurysm and changed his job, so I thought that with the stress and worrying it could be an … Continue readingFriend by her side at a time of great need
“He had been in the service, World War II, and hadn’t been out all that long. I was still in high school with two years left when we met at a dance and started dating. After I finished high school, we were married for a … Continue readingLoneliness, quiet most difficult for widow
“My wife and I just had our 25th anniversary. We’ve been through a heck of a lot together. “She lost both sons from her previous marriage. Blake, he was murdered in 1992. He was tied up and stabbed 42 times with a kitchen knife. Ross, … Continue readingHis wife is ‘my friend, my hero, my everything’
“My oldest daughter lives in Michigan, and I used to meet her out in Las Vegas once a year. One time while we were out there my son called and said, ‘Well, dad had an accident.’ “He was in San Francisco driving a truck with … Continue readingFreak accident ends their long marriage
“I was very young when I was in the Vietnam War. I didn’t think about it a lot at the time because I just did what I was told to do. But the trauma, actually, I still carry with me today. “About five years ago … Continue readingHe still carries trauma from Vietnam War
“When you get into heavy drugs like that, people are not going to give you money to go buy more drugs. So he would steal. That’s how he died. He and a friend broke into somebody’s house because they knew the woman was in a … Continue reading‘I think God took him out … so he wouldn’t be lost’
“He loved his kids. I mean, he cried over them all of the time. He had six in all, including twin girls who were born shortly before he died. “It was the most devastating for his oldest daughter, who is 19 now. They spent a … Continue readingChildren miss their dad after his death
“I lived in my roller skates growing up. I wore them up and down the stairs, every place. “I’ve been wanting to roller-skate again so bad. So when we were at Traders Village recently and I saw these for only $15, I knew I had … Continue readingBack on roller skates nearly 40 years later
“Some patients are just always going to complain or be grumpy, no matter what. And some nurses just don’t take it very well. It’s not that they don’t care. It’s just not their personality. “So the patient or family member would say, ‘Don’t you give … Continue readingNurse’s upbeat attitude helps with difficult patients