the comeback kid
mike has been part of my life almost as long as i can remember. my parents divorced when i was in fourth grade. my mom was 30 , had never finished college and had three kids under 10.
when i was 18, i went on an exchange trip to england and while i was there she met mike. at first it was “mr sievers”, then it was “mike” and then it was “we”. they got married in february, the week i got back from my travels.
anyone who has ever met mike does not forget him. in the old days he could and would talk to anyone. i think he took great pleasure in tormenting me by talking with all of my environmentally conscious friends about logging and hunting. he is a guy who looks like a leprechaun, and has always lived his life on his own terms.
he was always good to me, and to my siblings. though he only had a son himself, he accommodated having three teenagers around fairly well. i remember bringing my college boyfriend home from college one christmas and he asked where paul was going to sleep. i replied “with me” , and he took that in stride. he poked fun of me eating “rabbit food” when i went through a short vegetarian phase. he made fun of me when i slept late telling me i “would get bedsores”.
he adores my girls. nothing gives him more delight than to watch them dancing or singing or just playing. he calls them “miss ruby “ and “miss hazel”. he’s been very important to me and i love him.
the guy is a medical train wreck. he has had open heart surgery, colon cancer- twice, high blood pressure and out of control diabetes for years. in the last 5 years there has been at least one if not two medical crisis’ a year , necessitating week plus hospital stays. he always manages to beat the medical odds and bounce back. i can’t count how many times i have thought that he would die from his malady of the moment.
he has also had some cognitive changes that have made him less fun to be around. my response to the question “how’s mike” is ORNREY. getting him to stop driving just about killed me....
just before new year he ended up in the hospital again with an infected toe. ( for my non medical friends - anything to do with your feet when you are diabetic is huge). he ended up getting his toe amputated and spent 17 days in the hospital fighting infection in his foot and pneumonia. he ended up needing kidney dialysis due to his kidneys finally failing. it surely looked like this was it for him. he has always said that he does not want to do dialysis and ate age 84, with all of his other medical issues, there is not much to be gained. folks who don’t understand the true medical picture have suggested that he “just try it”. i’m not anxious for him to die, but i know what a decrease in the quality of life being on long term dialysis dictates
i have spend a lot of time the last few weeks supporting my mom, and preparing for what seemed the inevitable- mikes decline and death. well to quote mark twain “news of his death has been greatly exaggerated”.
today we went to the nephrologist and its not clear that the kidney damage was permanent, although the labs are pending. he is wavering about doing dialysis or not. his main goal is to get out of the nursing home where he is doing rehab.
i have no idea what the next weeks will bring. but one thing is sure, he has continued to defy the odds and he is using someone else's nine lives since his are long gone.
when i was 18, i went on an exchange trip to england and while i was there she met mike. at first it was “mr sievers”, then it was “mike” and then it was “we”. they got married in february, the week i got back from my travels.
anyone who has ever met mike does not forget him. in the old days he could and would talk to anyone. i think he took great pleasure in tormenting me by talking with all of my environmentally conscious friends about logging and hunting. he is a guy who looks like a leprechaun, and has always lived his life on his own terms.
he was always good to me, and to my siblings. though he only had a son himself, he accommodated having three teenagers around fairly well. i remember bringing my college boyfriend home from college one christmas and he asked where paul was going to sleep. i replied “with me” , and he took that in stride. he poked fun of me eating “rabbit food” when i went through a short vegetarian phase. he made fun of me when i slept late telling me i “would get bedsores”.
he adores my girls. nothing gives him more delight than to watch them dancing or singing or just playing. he calls them “miss ruby “ and “miss hazel”. he’s been very important to me and i love him.
the guy is a medical train wreck. he has had open heart surgery, colon cancer- twice, high blood pressure and out of control diabetes for years. in the last 5 years there has been at least one if not two medical crisis’ a year , necessitating week plus hospital stays. he always manages to beat the medical odds and bounce back. i can’t count how many times i have thought that he would die from his malady of the moment.
he has also had some cognitive changes that have made him less fun to be around. my response to the question “how’s mike” is ORNREY. getting him to stop driving just about killed me....
just before new year he ended up in the hospital again with an infected toe. ( for my non medical friends - anything to do with your feet when you are diabetic is huge). he ended up getting his toe amputated and spent 17 days in the hospital fighting infection in his foot and pneumonia. he ended up needing kidney dialysis due to his kidneys finally failing. it surely looked like this was it for him. he has always said that he does not want to do dialysis and ate age 84, with all of his other medical issues, there is not much to be gained. folks who don’t understand the true medical picture have suggested that he “just try it”. i’m not anxious for him to die, but i know what a decrease in the quality of life being on long term dialysis dictates
i have spend a lot of time the last few weeks supporting my mom, and preparing for what seemed the inevitable- mikes decline and death. well to quote mark twain “news of his death has been greatly exaggerated”.
today we went to the nephrologist and its not clear that the kidney damage was permanent, although the labs are pending. he is wavering about doing dialysis or not. his main goal is to get out of the nursing home where he is doing rehab.
i have no idea what the next weeks will bring. but one thing is sure, he has continued to defy the odds and he is using someone else's nine lives since his are long gone.
posted by chris at
5:18 PM
2 Comments:
what an amazing man mike sounds like. i hope when i am looking at the end of my life, someone will be able to write such a tribute for me. hoping that all will be well for mike and the decision made. thoughts for mike and your mom... and family.
Hardcore guy. Sometimes you gotta just take a guy like that with the bark still on; it's who he is, love him or hate him.
Thanks for telling us his story.
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