A Series of Unfortunate Events

Shortly after Jody returned from her Cousin Scott’s funeral, we were surprised with an early morning phone call from my mother. She informed us that my dad had a heart attack and, while he was in stable condition, he needed to have a triple bypass. The surgery would be on a Monday and my sister was already scheduled to have Gastric Bypass surgery on Tuesday. Both surgeries require a stay in the hospital and they were at different hospitals. So needless to say, I needed to get back to Detroit. When I arrived in Detroit I was told that my Uncle Jim (my dad’s brother) was hospitalized. Jody and I had visited my Uncle Jim when we were in Detroit last October. The doctors thought he had a bad respiratory infection. Turns out they misdiagnosed him and he actually had lung and liver cancer. The good news is that my dad and sister both did relatively well with their surgeries. My dad was released two days early from the hospital and both my dad and my sister arrived back at home within ½ hour of each other. The bad news is that my Uncle Jim passed away on Feb. 14^th. I guess the upshot to my dad’s heart attack was that I was able to visit him one last time. He was released from the hospital and had home hospice at my aunt’s house. When he died he was surrounded by both of my aunts (who were singing to him), my other uncle, my grandfather and my dad was talking to him on the phone. My Uncle Jim was one of the friendliest persons I’ve ever known. He will be missed. So next time you have a drink, raise your glass to James Emil DeMeyere. Oh, and my dad finally quit smoking.

Jody’s family also experienced another loss. Jody’s Great Uncle, Stanley had a heart attack. He developed pneumonia in the hospital following the heart attack and was unable to fight it. He had made a good run and lived to be 92 years old. I credit his longevity to all the great polish food he grew up on. So when you raise that glass to my Uncle Jim don’t forget about Stanley Pawelak. Or maybe eating a pierogi would be more fitting. I’ll leave that up to you.