MY OLD FRIEND
Three students came by for their lessons,
and each politely asked
“Hi, how are you?”,
to which I replied,
“Fine, thanks, and you?”
But it’s not true.
A friend is in ICU.
I’d just returned from spending the day there.
Not just a friend, but friend from my childhood.
We went through adolescence together.
We were tight.
He was smart,
recognized as bright.
We wrote poetry and music together.
We were on the same wavelength.
And on the other side of adolescence…
He lost his mind.
Paranoid Schizophrenia, it was called.
Haldol was the anti-psychotic.
Napa was the State Mental Hospital.
Cogentin countered the jerking.
He left the mental hospital and returned to his family.
He never recovered,
Never had a normal life,
Never married,
Never became a father.
His angelic siblings have cared for him ever since.
He went one way -
I went the other.
But why ICU?
Why the call last night – “He’s taken a turn for the worse.”
Cogentin affects the bladder, stretches it, enlarges it.
You and I take it for granted.
But tripled in size, it messes up the kidneys.
“Kidney failure,” she said.
Not good, not good.
Super low blood pressure, blacking out, falling down.
Pneumonia, too, as if it were invited.
But wait, there’s more, there’s a blood infection.
It’s a good hospital.
All the staff are great.
They have a Certified Music Practitioner on Celtic Harp.
I was introduced to staff as “his best friend.”
His vitals are improving,
though power of attorney is being arranged,
and hospice is being discussed.
A life may be winding down.
I’ve been seeing him and his remaining family for years.
Just once a year, on his birthday.
You’d have to be there to understand how far he’s fallen.
He went one way and I went the other.
Another “there but for fortune” story.
I’m so tired.
I must write before I forget.
And be glad that he was glad,
That I was there.
September 2019
