i has human

[thehefner]

So a huge, huge thanks to all who sent me cat macros and have offered their sympathies during this very difficult time.

I saw Dad in the hospital yesterday. He couldn't talk, couldn't even smile. They have him on a breathing tube, and had to give him a tracheotomy last evening to help him breathe. If we hadn't have gotten him to the hospital when we did, the tumor would have suffocated him in a matter of days.

I didn't realize when I went that he didn't know about the tumor, and got to watch him as they doctor explained the whole deal. I couldn't read his reactions; his eyes have been glassy and inexpressive for years now. But he had a clipboard and pencil, in which he wrote, in very large letters, "SHIT."

They're gonna give him radiation in the next few days, his first of about ten weekly sessions, which they say will shrink the tumor. For a man who passive-aggressively waited for death all these years, he's scared shitless; he's not going to go unless it means living off a feeding tube, in which case he very much wants to go. Or so he says.

So lord knows how much time is ahead of us. Could be a couple years. Could be another ten years, for all we know. But I don't think it'll be any easier either way. By the end, the things we said to one another (or wrote, in his case) was near-unbearable in places.




So again, thanks to alla y'all for your love and support. Which brings me to the high point, the thing that really pulled me out of my funk yesterday. disc_sophist wins for one of the greatest macros I've ever seen, even if about three people will get the joke.



You see, it all started when tompurdue sent me one of the greatest cat macros of all time:



Which got me thinking about another favorite, a variation on that theme, but I couldn't find it at the time. Was it "I brought you a human..."? I didn't know. In making this post, I actually just today found it!



disc_sophist tried and failed to find that one, so instead, she went ahead and made this:



Yay. Yay. Yay. A thousand times, yay. And THAT, my friends, is just plain brilliant.










Oh hell, just one more random adorable macro, just to get my spirits up:

Comments

[interdisciple.livejournal.com]

Shit indeed! Sorry to hear this, man. Clearly I don't keep up with LJ as well as I should. I wish him and you the best and hope it's as painless on every level as possible. You all will be in our thoughts...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aye, it's been the subject of my LJ for the past couple of days and, I fear, shall be for awhile to come. It's all good, pally, and thanks for your thoughts, it IS appreciated.

[kmousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love that last macro. So very much. ♥

*hugs*

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Good luck, man. Few people get to go genuinely well. It's the exception rather than the rule. And that sucks for everybody in the vicinity. If anything it manages (somehow) to suck more for the family.

So there's no good advice, only the really crappy advice to muddle through it as best you can and not let it get to you more than you need to. And remember that your friends are here. They can't help today, but they fact that they'll still be there when they are able to help can be a small comfort.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Man, what a crappy exception.

Aye, it's actually a great deal of comfort. If nothing else, I have an audience, know what I mean?

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

...

YAY.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

I'm here for you, honey. I'm scouring the interwebs for funny as I type this.

Also, one thing with cancer patients - they are often undermedicated for pain. It's important that, if your father can't speak for himself, that you really advocate for them to give him sufficient pain medication.

[adaptor.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you want to put this in the good news or hard news column, but it's worth noting my dad was told my brother Jimmy wouldn't live to see his first birthday.

Third.

Fifth.

Opps, we meant to say tenth.

He died a week shy of his fortieth, and speant the weekend beforehand hearty and hale, camping with his kids. The accuracy of medical science goes out the window when the Stubborn SOB card is played. Your dad strikes me as the kind of man who'll find a way to fight this on his own terms, whatever those terms may be.

/and I'll keep an eye out for more macros for you

<img src="http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/ohalp.jpg"

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Hehehe.

See, but here's the thing... I really appreciate what you're saying, but... well, I don't know how I can say it without being unclear and perhaps even sounding like a bad person, so I'm gonna do a big post on that soon.

Just know that my father is no saint, and it's becoming increasingly clear from my visits with him that the cancer ISN'T what's going to be hard about this whole thing.

Yes, macros will always be good. As will youtube videos! Or whatever, thankee! :)

[shadowlongknife.livejournal.com]

I never know what to say to things like this, and we don't know each other all hat well yet. I want you to know, I'm not much of a praying man, but I'll definitely keep you and yours in my forebrain. I have hope enough for forty people, or so I've been told. Sometimes, it helps to know that there are people out there, pulling for you.

Besides, you're a DC guy, how could I not? I went to high school in Alexandria, and I've always considered the DC/Metro area my home.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks. That means a lot; there's something really nice about sorta-strangers and LJ-only friends wishing me well through this. And from a local boy, no less! Thankee! :)

[jellied.livejournal.com]

I don't really comment on shit on this.
But I read, and well -- yeah.

I don't do emotional things very well. Pullin' for ya kid.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I know you don't (I don't either; I never know what the fuck to say), and thus is means a lot to me. It really does.

[findingjuliet.livejournal.com]

love you hef.

haven't told you yet ... but i do.

i can relate, more than you know.

hugs.....

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

hugs back. Thankee; it is mightily appreciated. Mayhaps you and I should talk sometime. Over movies and wine and... other stuff, perhaps. I'm up for it at this point, and if I didn't have to drive last night, I would have then as well.

By the way, Serge said I passed Principles. Even though I think I'm being idiotic, I'm gonna take Character and Emotion in the Fall.

[findingjuliet.livejournal.com]

That's great news :) I'm sorry I couldn't make it -- I really wanted to, but we had to have a group meeting for comedy weekend. I'm really glad you are going to take C&E though -- it really only gets better. Hopefully you'll get Nancy.

Let's try to hang after I get done with this week. Roddy will be busy with paper stuff and my comedy class will be over as of next Sunday. So I'm up for it :)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

So Nancy's the one to have, eh? Then Nancy shall I shoot for.

Yeah, well, I have to get through my performance of FAUSTUS this weekend, don't I? So the timing'll be good, methinks! I'll think about possible movies to watch, and I really should lend you some comics of Brian K. Vaughan, who was hired to write for LOST this past season. I think you'll dig 'em... if you actually read 'em this time! ;p

[kwsapphire.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't even know what to say. I don't know that there's anything I can say. Except I am really drunk right now and it's really hard to spell any of this correctly.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Well, check out my follow-up one once you sober up. Because I realized that there's a whole other level that people may need to be aware of, something that's becoming increasingly apparent.

[kwsapphire.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going batty... I'm not seeing a follow up. The next entry I see is the one where you talk about Billy's poetry..

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Whoops! I should have added, "when I write it"! Sorry! (it's most impolite to mess with less-than-sober girls, I know this for a fact) ;)

[kwsapphire.livejournal.com]

OH! Okay. Glad I wasn't going totally insane ^_^

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

I haven't got anything useful to say, so I'll say something useless. Thought of you and your dad while eating a very large and cuddly chocolate-chip cookie made by my brother the other day, for its comforting powers were great, though I didn't personally require them. They should be bankable or something.
Anyway. That Carlyle macro is funny.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh man, if cookies could acrue interest... well, I don't really have a point there; I dare say it speaks for itself.

Isn't it, though? Now you're gonna have to watch RAVENOUS so it'll be even MORE funny!

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm gonna, yeah. That'll be for a webcam movie night, when things permit. I'm pretty sure my video guy has it. He has "Attack of the Alligator People", after all.