Which was our Worst Christmas?

Recent my wife Di and I was discussing our worst Christmas very, there was two before, but now it looks like this Christmas will be a contender, too.

My wife has been to see her oncologist and surgeon today plus an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon. They are going to open her up again to check her bowel and liver and her throat. This will happen on 11 October. So now we wait again.

So, Christmas this year will be quiet, again.

The other two Christmas are 2014 and 2022.

I will start in 2014. My wife mother-in-law passed away in 2014, she was crémant on 11 December and on Saturday 13.

On Saturday morning I when to Parramatta for finish my Christmas presents. On the way back I started to get a massive pain in my chest, something like having an elephant standing on my chest.

I jump into the car, spoke to Di while driving home, rang for a doctor. He arrived and thought I had a bad chest infection, but he and Di decided to ring for an ambulance, they come and said I was having a heart attack. I went to Concord Hospital, they took into an operating theatre, and they check my heart, one of the first comments from the cardiologist was did I have a heart attack previously. I said no. He believed this was my second heart attack.

He found that my heart was irreparably damaged. I spent the next seven days in hospital. They organise for me for have a quadruple bypass and later a defibrillator.

So that was the lead up to Christmas 2014.

Now for 2022.

Di was having problems with her stomach region and become noticeable weaker than before. She at been going to the doctors often. The doctor thought she was drinking too much alcohol because her liver function was bad in blood test. We have been to Concord Hospital a couple times. As it was getting closer to November and our second daughter Siobhan wedding was getting closer, she and her husband were getting worried. Siobhan arrived as our place and took Di back to Concord Hospital. Siobhan finally got a doctor to do specific test and the found something in Di colon and bowel region. The surgeon decide it was better to operate on following morning. They opened her up and found cancer in her colon and bowel. Then we were worried about her making Siobhan wedding. Thankfully, she made it to the wedding.

Our daughter Siobhan, who is a social worker, decide it was a clever idea for us to get a cleaner to clean the house, someone we still use today. I went for from being care by my wife especially since my stroke getting on to almost three years before. So, I became her caregiver. We started by buying a chair to be use by Di when she is having a shower. I started making her breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was interesting to me for a time. Unfortunately for Di chemo only may felt worse. Slowly as the months went on her strength came back.

So now it looks like we have three Christmas instead of two, to pick from.