Monthly Archives: May 2015

The Beautiful YOU!


Living the Human experience

beautifulyou

The beautiful you is not the color of your skin

Or the texture of your hair.

The beautiful you is not  how tall or short you are

The beautiful you is not rather you’re skinny or overweight by society standards

The beautiful you is not the degrees you have obtain

Or the size of your bank accounts.

The beautiful you, has nothing to do with where you’re from, or religious beliefs

Nor the car you drive or the house you live in.

The beautiful you is not the price tag of what you wear

The beautiful you has nothing do with how eloquent you speak

The beautiful you  is your kindness and compassion toward others

The beautiful you is your tolerance and patience

The beautiful you is your ability to love and forgive

The beautiful you don’t rush to judge what you don’t understand

The beautiful you is always seeking…

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Micheline Jean Louis


I have a new follower. She surprised me with her Gravatar connection. Many don’t write much on Gravatar but she did. I invite you to read about her and to communicate with her. She seems to be an interesting person who believes, as do I, that we are all one in reality—-we just don’t know it.  Below are links to her writings. I think if you take the time to visit her you will be pleasantly surprised and it will bring a smile to your face as it did mine.

http://en.gravatar.com/michelinej

The Beautiful YOU!

Parchment

No shaded path

DAN ANDERS


I lost a good friend on Wednesday, 5/6/15. His name was Dan Anders. He was a Vietnam Vet. He died at 1420 hours about 5 to 10 minutes after I walked out of his room. I had spent over an hour visiting with him and his wife. He had pancreatic cancer. He was in the hospice unit of C. W. Bill Young’s VA hospital located at Bay Pines.

Dan was unique. He is the only person known to have lived following being exposed to anthrax. The National Institute of Health had been following him for several years after it was discovered that he had been exposed and survived. His pancreatic cancer was a surprise to everyone. Only a little over a month back he was told he had 7 to 9 months to live. Then less than two weeks later it was reduced to 3 months. Then a week later it was down to 3 weeks. He leaves a wife and a daughter. He also leaves a group of friends, vets and non-vets. He was an avid hunter and loved the outdoors. He will be buried in a family cemetery next to the woods he roamed as a young man.

He’ll be missed.

Dan On Friday


I saw Dan on Friday. I saw him and met his wife and daughter at the VA hospital at Bay Pines. He is in the hospice unit. That unit is unique because the people working there volunteer to be there. They are not assigned. Each has personal reasons for being there. It is an incredibly loving facility and filled with a respect that in overwhelming. An Army veteran working there delivered some fresh water and juice and, just prior to leaving the room, snapped to attention and saluted Dan. It was a crisp snap of  salute. No words. No smiles. Just professional military respect for another vet.

They had a poster on the wall, a certificate made out to Dan. They had beads made of the same colors as the ribbon that all Vietnam Vets know and recognize for having served in Vietnam. Vietnam still holds emotional content that the average person will never understand. Never. We sometimes will tell the uninitiated that it is a “Nam thing” to try to best explain words or looks between vets.

The beads were delivered in a ceremony that will bring tears. The beads are put together by a Vietnam Vet and delivered by a Vietnam Vet to a Vietnam Vet. I have beads. They were given to me by a combat Vietnam Nurse that had worked on the unit and when she did it hit me hard. She was well-known for walking up to VN Vets that she found even in the elevator and doing the ceremony while giving them the beads.

Dan was in bed. His wife on the left and his daughter had just left the room when I walked in. They had warned me that he did not look like he had as his illness was taking its toll. Dan was in and out of it. I knew he was an avid hunter but did not know he hunted not only with rifle but with bow and with muzzle  loader. He was an avid outdoorsman. They said he will be buried in an old cemetery up north and the grave will be close to the woods he so loved.

Dan is an Air Force Vet. Dan holds a purple heart. Dan survived a brain injury. Dan survived exposure to anthrax. Dan has a daughter, a wife, and a group of Vietnam Vets that love him and will miss him. Dan was a friend.

Swoosieque


I would like to introduce Swoosieque and her pages. She wrote a comment on my post about Dan and his rapid decline in health due to pancreatic cancer. The note is about her own son and his battle with the same horrible disease. I am sharing that note just below.

Her pages are well written and can be accessed by visiting her at

cancerisnotpink.wordpress.com  and at

https://shapeupswoosieque.wordpress.com/

Her note follows:

Second Followup on Dan.


I learned just a few days ago that Dan had originally been given six to nine months. That was only a month back. Then the time was shortened to three months. Sadly, on Tuesday this week, Gina called to tell me that Dan was in the VA hospital and had been given three weeks to live.

How can this be?

This is a man who survived being exposed to Anthrax and has been followed by the Centers for Disease Control following that discovery. That federal department and the VA have tested him over and over again. They have gone from the top to the bottom of the man and then done it again on several occasions. How can it be that no one discovered the cancer destroying his pancreas and how is it that it is so extremely fast-moving.

There comes no answers.

I will visit with him tomorrow at Bay Pines. It may be the last visit that I have with him. I will sadly meet his wife and daughter for the first time. Both have had recent medical conditions that have caused pain and concern for their own lives and now they face the loss of the man who has helped them through their own problems and there is nothing to do but watch him be destroyed by a cancer that suddenly appeared. And no one has an answer. No one.