Dammit

There is a gentleman in the neighbourhood who often sits on his porch and chats with his neighbours and friends who visit. He has been retired for maybe 5 years now. He knows everybody and is a large and gregarious sort of fellow, calling out to people passing by.

We walk past his house, taking DD to school every day. On the way home from taking her back after lunch, I stopped to chat with him. He has only been waving lately, instead of calling. I asked him how he was. I didn't notice how his hands were shaking. Can you keep something to yourself? he asked. Sure, I said. You know I've had heart trouble (he and DH are on many of the same pills). Yeah. Well, now I've been diagnosed with lung cancer. Long story short, he may have a year, if he does this special radiation and chemo combination.

So now I'm upset. He was sitting there, telling me in his matter-of-fact way about his "do not resuscitate" order. Dammit.

And you know what makes this suck just that much more? A couple years ago, he tried to get in shape. And had a heart attack. Now he's quit smoking and he's got lung cancer. Dammit.

Now I'm wondering how SurveySez is, because we haven't seen her in a while.

Anyone know?