#58 The sun is setting

I write this sitting next to my first wife as her life clock winds down during these final stages.

I’ve battled with myself whether I should throw this extra blog out or not as thought I was only gunna have to write one more. But tomorrow is two weeks into hospice life and by all your messages of love, I think we actually owe y’all an update.

A powerful photo 13 Feb 2020

Straight up, let’s try start on a positive; my first wife might be feeling a little bit shit right now but she wasn’t eaten by a shark like that poor cunt down Sydney the other day.

How devastating life can be when it’s taken so ruthlessly in an instant like that, yet still as natural a death as can be modelled by the Mother Nature approach. At least with our slow release version of a natural death, unlike ol’ mate down Sydney, we’ve had so much more time together since we found out we had a ‘use before’ date. To put it plainly, we’ve had time to say our goodbyes… fuck it.

I’ve already written about that heaps so it must sound repetitive but that’s because we’re continually appreciative of it. Maybe we have to be to even deal with this shit. I dunno, man.

Having said that, I’d like to think we’d also be appreciative should we have had to face an instant death because it would’ve been less painful in a way. Instant or a slow wind down? Our preferred option would be no fucking death at all.

It might sound like I’m harping on about this a bit and maybe so but when I think about it, it’s probably a coping mechanism to deal with the cards we’ve been dealt. On that note, if we got dealt these cards in the cowboy days I would’ve called the dealer a cheat and shot the cunt… woulda been in a saloon too, for sure. A real cool one.

So, to put our current situation into perspective, apart from those early hospital blogs when she was operated on, this is the only one Marjana hasn’t proof read before publishing. As far as first wives go, she really was a great lil’ proof reader though. I know if my words make her laugh when they’re mostly taking the piss out of her and our cunty cancer scene, then they’re at a suitable level for y’all commoners who aren’t my life choice. 

Problem right now though is that she’s pretty fucked up and her proof reading days are history like that cheating cowboy I woulda shot.

Ok, maybe I should’ve trimmed her fingernails before this pic

Tell ya what though, she’s one tough little squirrel, man! There’s no way she should still be here today sucking out my tears like Dracular does blood and giving me writing material.

That toughness though is possibly even trumped by her niceness. The staff here at our hospice don’t know of these blogs but even they kinda get she’s special. But a nice special, not a spastic kinda special like me.  Doctors and nurses come into our room and no matter how fucked up she is with pain or out of it from painkillers, so far she’s still managed to give them her smile with her angelic eyes and respond to the how are you question with a soft slurred ‘I’m good thanks,’ even though she is very far from good.

Here’s another positive (see we live in a good world, man), we’re now 20 days into February and I’m still waking up next to my little Kiwi rugby player huntress.  Yeah, different beds and mine’s some funky chair bed thing but I’m also no longer her chef slave cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Life ain’t particularly awesome right now but it’s ok, considering.

Also, not only does she hoard like a squirrel but she’s now eating and drinking like one. No, not like little nibbling bites or filling up her mouth with heaps of nuts ya clowns, I’m talking about the amount she eats. Surviving on few pieces of fruit, some ice cream and a little water, Powerade and chamomile tea. It’s nowhere near enough but when ya body’s in shut down mode it’s kinda hard to counter that.

My body seems to be very much not in shut down mode as I’m all for lookin’ after the world and shit and am pretty sure that food wastage is bad for the environment. So two feeds, three times a day, possibly also with a little contraband plonk and beer, is my way of helping the world counter global warming. You are very welcome.

No surprise here but apart from an initial attempt upon arrival, the ying to my yang hasn’t got out of bed since we arrived. That also puts things into perspective a bit.

Her right leg was getting all funky when we were still at home as had to drag it when walking. A couple days after arriving at hospice she lost use of it altogether and as of a few days ago has now also lost use of her right arm and hand. Now that’s what I call a little bit shit but taking that positive angle, she doesn’t seem to realise that she’s even lost use of it. Plus she’s right handed so I haven’t been clipped around the ears for a while.

I had her family and friends back in The Old Country send voice recordings of nice memories they shared together and it appears she even had a life before she met me. Go figure that aye. It’s so heart warming to see her smile as she too recalls those good memories when listening. It’s kinda like an olden days version of taking selfies but analog… in a digital sorta way.

Heaps of you, our cult followers are always checking up on me and that’s all cool and appreciated and shit but it’s not lost on me or our boys that Marjana is by far the greatest victim in this travesty. Yeah our lives, like yours, will change for sure but fuck man, nowhere near as much as hers. We’ve had some shit times (more good ones though) and we gunna be copping some more pretty soon too but for now, we’re doing alright.

These blogs are almost confessional in a way but wouldn’t be like that if I fluffed things over so… I gotta admit, sitting beside your dying wife’s bed witnessing life drain out of her by the breath, is an absolute cunt of a thing, man. It’s a little bit shit and I don’t like it very much but there is no place in the world I’d rather be right now.

I’d much prefer fun filled days together with cold beers, fine food and orgasms but when it’s ya most treasured human being, even struggling moments are appreciated. Like when the ol’ girl does her sneaky little look me in the eye melting smile trick. Life could be worse. Yeah man, of course it could be better but it could still be worse.

She’s so cute too aye. She’ll be crashed out big time and there’s a very light knock on the door from some room service sheila. It’s not enough to wake her up but her sleep lightens enough for her to respond ‘Come in,’ with a sweet slurred whisper.

Over these last couple weeks I’ve probably done a bit of soul searching with emotions running like clothes, food and junk in Dilan’s bedroom… all over the place. Heaps of emotions, including feelings of guilt ’cause here I am still enjoying some moments of pleasure when my greatest love can’t. I’m happy to call myself a dumb cunt but I’m also aware of the grieving process and know that’s all part of this gig, even though we aren’t quite at the finish line yet.

I even tried to make my brain think the person near death beside me is as healthy as she was before… oh hang on… yeah… nah, I think that was the plonk talking actually.

What wasn’t the plonk talking though and is still very much a cunt of a chore is having to get up off my chair bed thing to watch the first wife up close very intently to see if she’s still breathing. So far so good but it ain’t really heaps of fun.

I’ve been here with her pretty much 24/7 and the boys come every day with my ol’ lady. The first day they came was emotionally draining as fuck for ’em both. They sat with their ol’ lady taking in and trying to accept the reality as any 17 and 22-year-olds starting out in life would, could, hope to. They then lay down and fell into a deep motionless coma for couple hours and exactly the same happened the following day.

zzz zzz zzz

In case any of y’all are wondering, I have read and/or played every single message you’ve sent to my first wife, some more than once but rest assured she does get ’em. If you’re one of her chick mates and you get a reply from her phone saying you should root ya man more or cook him a feed or something, you probably should do it so you don’t go against ya mate’s wishes aye.

Our hospice holiday might not be quality time but it’s still time together even if we are running on fumes in an empty tank. She’s still got the ability to make me happy to aye. For example, she’s obviously drugged and confused as fuck from painkillers but when I helped the nurses give her a bed bath and she realised it was me holding her close enough to whisper, she gives me her purest smile and does Bella’s trick whenever my head gets close to hers, and starts kissing it. But not like Bella’s dog licking kisses. Nah, these are more like a woodpecker doing the woodpecker thing on a tree. A machine gun of kisses, almost.

Your quote of the day ain’t really a funny one but we like it.

First husband: I love you.

First wife: I love you.

Finally, I can honestly say that since we’ve been here in hospice our mutual friend has received the most compassionate gentle care in as happy an environment as potentially possible. She gets hand, feet and face massages and although they’re with my rough hands and not that of a hot beauty therapist sheila, surely, that’s gotta give us all a little peace of mind so on that note, peace out y’all.

#53 The squirrel comes home, again

That stent in the liver has worked a treat so the first line of this blog finishes with a, fuck yeah!

I knew before anyone that the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was a success because my first wife was getting more growlier by the day.  

Hospital this time around was actually quite a pleasant experience. Apart from regular interruptions by doctors, nurses, cleaners and room service, I kinda hogged Marjana for her entire stay. Well, me in person and our Croatian family back home via video, of course.

Mama time

Was kinda nice hanging with her all day every day over the last week. Nothing we ain’t been doing for the last 25 years, just in a different environment. Kind of a forced holiday so to speak, but in hospital. Lucky we don’t hate each other I s’pose.

So yeah, sorry ’bout not sharing her much lately but she’s improving day by day. By that, I mean her liver not working has changed to working mode. Not that cunty cancer though. Nah she’s still fucked from that big time but with the immediate liver issue sorted, she’s fading back to her more olive coloured skin colour. Dalmatian olive, as in the colour I just made up and not the stone fruit.

Actual real life photo of how yellow my first wife got before liver ERCP

Once we’re home and settled we’re hoping for bit more of an opportunity to share her around with y’all but there’s a couple of issues though.

She’s been so fucked up over the last few months that she hasn’t been able to get vaxed. I mean, she wanted to but hasn’t been healthy enough to actually get it done. That means she’s vulnerable as fuck to COVID and should she become infected, it won’t end well.

We like all kinds of happy endings but when we know an ending ain’t gunna be happy, we’re kinda going with the happy part being the ride towards the end.

That’s all compounded now that our borders are open and COVID positive numbers are growing faster than my nostril hairs (ok, maybe not that fast). The chance of our star character in these stories becoming infected is almost as high as Cheech in that Up in Smoke car scene after picking up Chong.

My sleeping beauty (apparently one can still be a beauty when snoring and doing saxaphone sounding farts when asleep next to me) will be leaving hospital today to return home. Just in time too as the house is a mess and really could do with a vacuum.

Basically, her bilirubin count (liver) is down (that’s good) but her haemoglobin was also down (not good), so she’s waiting on another blood transfusion before custody release papers will be signed.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It’s taken us 25 years to work out Marjana’s spirit animal is a fucking squirrel of all things. She stores all her hospital room service food like she’s living during WWII food stamp era. A modern day prepper of the stage four metastised bowel cancer prepping homies gang. Seriously man, I turn up to hang for the day and she’s offering her hoarded cheese and cracker snacks to fatten me up. If I didn’t have to drive home every night, I’d be bringing a nice merlot to compliment the cheeses.

Inside a squirrel’s den in the early stages of hoarding

We’re gunna need a bit of a game plan going forward because basically, we’ve been given a use by date. More on that topic in the next blog, hopefully.

We had a very real chat with our palliative care doctor and the last thing we really want is to cut short the already fleeting time we’ve got left because of a COVID infection.

Conversations with the palliative care dude, whose a real good cunt by the way, included confronting topics like whether to die at home or in a hospice. It’s kinda an ugly topic to ponder, as are many others for us right now but fuck man, ya gotta look at it from a positive angle and having the option to choose where ya take ya last breath is very much a blessing compared to an unexpected death.

Since our squirrel’s hospital admission, I’ve been spending the day with her. Leave home about 7.30am and usually get home about 9pm. Sort dinner and all that shit, go to bed and wake up to do it all again. Either the first or second morning though, I freaked out big time.

I was woken by a phone call from my first wife… you know, the squirrel one. She said the doctors had reviewed one of her scans, that she’d been in pain overnight, wasn’t too flash and finished by saying ‘Brendon, I think I’m fucked.’

Oh man, my heart sank and I felt sick. Not angry sick like I get from All Black Rugby World Cup losses but just as sad… maybe even worse. I had a piss, brushed my teeth and drove one of the longest 30 minute drives to find out exactly how fucked with the worst possible scenarios taking centre stage in what ‘fucked’ actually meant. Oh yeah, I also got dressed first too.

We ain’t doctors and not really in the know as to how long some cunt can live when their liver’s rooted but with that and that cunty cancer, Marjana felt she didn’t have long at all. I’d like to say that’s all changed now with the liver stent so a little battle was won that buys us more alive time. We prefer alive times, especially compared to dead times.

We are still losing ground on the cunty cancer front though. The cancer is the war too and not just a battle. At least now though, there are options on the table like getting chemo again. Everyone neds a working liver to process all shit that goes into ya body, including of course, poisons such as chemo. In fact, hopefully even have chemo this Wednesday.

When ya not home to enjoy ya Christmas tree after Christmas, just leave it up till next Christmas and drink a beer because beer is good or just put it in another room with a rubbish bag over it aye Michelle

Just in case anyone’s wondering, sponge baths are a good timing way to break up cheese and cracker picnics in Mater Private’s Ward 8, especially if you’re the recipient. Not quite as much fun when you’re the one giving them but still, better than a punch in the head.

Tell ya what though, this cunty cancer journey is like fighting a whole heap of different battles on different fronts. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Much like our Mother Earth all being connected and intertwined, so is the human body. If a particular organ is a bit rooted it usually affects another part of the body that may need sorting before the primary issue. That means going places and organising shit and that too now tends to be similarly connected with absolutely everything COVID. Pressure builds and with it stress and the subsequent connected flow-on from that.

But all is not lost people because there’s another interconnected piece to the puzzle that helps counter that entire previous paragraph. It’s the love and support from y’all and that right there is medicinal as fuck. It has helped get us this far. You’re a bunch of real good cunts who’ve made our lives better over the last year and a half. Never enough thank yous for this so I do hope y’all are blessed with an unlimited amount of orgasms.

Me and my squirrel didn’t get to be together at the strike of midnight crossing from 2021 to 2022 but she did survive the year so was nice to see her with a beating heart early on January 1, 2022.

No cunt pissed me off on New Years eve as was only me there to argue with

The above I wrote over the last couple days and since then we’ve made it home.

Should’ve seen when the first wife was being wheeled out of hospital though. Anyone watching could’ve been forgiven for thinking she was doing an Olympic victory lap as most of the nurses came out to see her off. She was waving and smiling, as were all the sheilas who’d looked after her. Did everything except sign autographs. Was nice to see her so loved, even by people that only recently met her.

Not sure how many chemos she’s got left in her but game on again tomorrow… actually game on now as didn’t publish this until now and we’re currently doing the Chernobyl thing.

Doing the squirrel move to coincide with sirens