News:

Unnecessarily argumentative

Main Menu

a good friend of mine is dying

Started by billy rubin, March 04, 2023, 10:35:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

billy rubin

we all go, sooner or later

a good friend of mine has got a week or two to go

hes th eguy that got me into motorcycle racing, and his machine still holds the number two position n top speed LSR, after mine. he was diagnosed with esophogeal cancer  four years ago-=- the deadly one-- and they told him to tak eradiation and chemo, but that he had jst a few years left.

so three weeks or so ago it finally hit, and he went from a normally agile 75 year-old to being unable to get out of a chair by himself,, in a day.

right now hes either asleep or on so many painkillers that he cant talk n the telephone. i keep calling to see whether i can catch him at a good time, but it hasnt happened.

anyway, hes accomplished a lot in his life. i biought this 25-year old buell from him and took it to 132 mph at the races.



and hes done a lot of impressive work since ive met him\



a good guy, all around. the world will be a poorer placein a week or two.





set the function, not the mechanism.

jumbojak

Esophageal cancer is a bitter way to go. A friend lost his father to it. I'm sorry for you and your friend Billy.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Anne D.

I'm so sorry about your friend, billy.

Dark Lightning

Sad to see you losing a friend, Billy.  :therethere:

billy rubin

yes

but as i said, we all go sooner or later

ill call agsin tomorrow and see what happens


set the function, not the mechanism.

Asmodean

Yes... The inevitable result of life, towards which we all race at the speed of time. Personally, I think death should be a celebration of a life well lived, if even remotely well lived it was. That attitude does tend to get spoiled by the process of it though, which... Can be a tad depressing, let us say. It... dims the milestones reached and heights climbed. But I shan't gloom too much.

Best wishes!
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

billy rubin



set the function, not the mechanism.

billy rubin

well, spoke to him yesterday morning. he hasnt eaten in seven days, feeling pretty week. but hes swapped out of the morphine onto something that doesnt fog hs head so much, and we talked for about 40 minutes.

odd to say goodbye forever to someone for the last time every day or two. hes interested in seeing whats happening next, if anything. he classifies himeself as spiritual, but not religious. they asked him if he wanted to talk to a generic spiritual advisor, and he said, sure, send on over. it would be a break from the two peopl ehe normally has there, either his wife or the suicide-prevention specialist from the hospice. dunno why theyre so concerned about suicide. a strange taboo.

a friend of mine is also keeping up with him. tried to call him yestrday but he was asleep.


set the function, not the mechanism.

Dark Lightning

Good to see that you got a chance to talk with him. :smilenod: It's a pretty warped sense of priorities some people have. He could die at any time, but better not do it to himself. Meddling busybodies. When one of my younger brothers was in hospice and busy dying, with enough morphine to kill a rhino in his system, his son's pastor kept calling him, to repent. If I had been in the room when a call like that came in, I'd've blistered his ear with some "repent".  >:(

billy rubin



set the function, not the mechanism.

Dark Lightning

Morrison only lost a girlfriend in that song. Sorry, Billy. :therethere:

Tom62

The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

Tank

I would think that the anti-suicide advisor is a result of the litigious American attitude. They are there as a box tick so when a person dies their remaining relatives can't sue the organisation for failing to care for their now dead relative. Plus the fact that there probably has to be an autopsy on everybody when they die. If a person killed themselves the organisation would have a shit load of paperwork to do at the very least to explain why the person had access to the means to kill themselves. A suicide may also cast a shadow over the staff ie did somebody actively kill (murder) the person. If somebody got their shits and giggles killing people what better place to do it than a hospice? So while the law does not allow assisted suicide I would think the hospice would need a suicide counselor for their own protection.

I expect Bruce can shed more light on this. 
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Dark Lightning

I hadn't thought of that. I learn new things all the time!

The Magic Pudding.

Quote from: Tank on March 12, 2023, 08:44:16 AMat the very least to explain why the person had access to the means to kill themselves.

They don't take their guns away do they?
That would be outrageous.  >:(