Member-only story
An encounter with the heart
He wasn’t old. 52 or 53. He was in the cardiology unit. Had some heart issues.
Two years ago, he had his first open heart surgery. Then, a short month later, maybe 2, his wife died. She was his whole world.
33 years they were married. “I’ll tell you this, Roger. She was 5 feet 8 inches and 125 pounds of bossing me around. I loved it. I loved it.” His voice tapered off on that last sentence.
“I loved her. I miss her.”
“A whole year I was lost. Still am a little bit. That first year without her, I was lost. Tell the truth, I lost my purpose. I didn’t have any purpose. I lost my wife. I lost my job, because of my health issues. It got bad.”
“As soon as I was ready to get back on track, all set with a job I’d love, this Covid madness came. They said they’d keep a job open for me, but then even that became impossible.”
“One day I was crying, complaining, down on my luck. My 17-year-old grandson, who also has a rare heart disorder sat next to me. Just sat next to me and said: ‘My heart is not quite right. Your heart is broken. Man, here we are.’”
“I felt less alone. 17 years old. How about that?”
