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Category Archives: Family
Time-less
It was a usual hectic time-starved week: preparing classes, marking and grading papers, managing classes, while at the same time preparing the materials for the next teaching period. Here I find I am dependent on others delivering their components in … Continue reading
Grave memories 6 – commando operation
The story of Eva’s gradual decline now reaches its apogee: that should be the high point, but in this case the high point is Eva’s last operation, appropriately called a commando operation. It was the most extensive operation she underwent, … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
Tagged cancer, commando operation, emotion, Eva, hospital, oral cancer, World Cancer Day
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Grave memories 5 – treating cancer with light
Eva’s cancer kept returning. Our local ENT-oncologist suggested going to Amsterdam, to the main cancer hospital Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, since they were better equipped, and he thought Eva was a candidate for PDT or photodynamic therapy. ‘What’s that?’ we wondered. … Continue reading
Grave memories 4 – mouth cancer
Eva had been complaining of pain in the mouth for months. The pain simply did not go away. I could see nothing, nor could Eva, when she used an intricate series of mirrors. Our family doctor sent Eva to the … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
Tagged anger, cancer, chronic pancreatitis, death, Eva, hospital, oral cancer, splenectomy
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Grave memories 3 – lithotripsy
Lithotripsy – that is, ‘breaking stones’ – the next stage in the story of how I came to take Eva to her final resting place at Číž-Kúpele 1300 kilometres from home. And it’s becoming a long story (see Grave Memories … Continue reading
Grave memories 2 – sewing butter
Chronic pancreatitis. I was only vaguely aware of the pancreas. If you have no problem, you don’t know it’s there. But if you get a problem, you damn well know it’s there. The pain is excruciating, and nothing helps. Morphine … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
Tagged chronic pancreatitis, death, emotion, Eva, hospital, pain
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Austrian schnapps
We had travelled through Austria so many times on our journeys between Maastricht and Bardejovské-Kúpele in East Slovakia. However, Austria was usually simply a through-route, with only rare stops off the highway. OK, Eva and I had stopped briefly in … Continue reading
Grave memories 1
My journey through central Europe took me to my wife’s grave in Slovakia. It was an emotional return, but less sad. Two years ago I had brought her ashes to a tiny spa village on the Slovak-Hungarian border and interred … Continue reading
Reuniting for the first time
What kind of feelings go through your mind when you are about to meet a member of the family for the first time? No, this is not a new-born, and no, it’s not a new spouse. And no, it’s not … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Travel
Tagged Czech Republic, emotion, estrangement, family, Prague, reuniting
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