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Cousin Jude's Funeral

Earlier today I came back from Cousin Jude's Funeral which was held at Ebenezer Methodist Church on Shirley Street at 10:30 this morning. The church was so packed with family and friends that when I arrived late with my brother and his wife (he was driving behind schedule) we had to go sit on the second level!

It was nice sitting up there, having a birds eye view and staying out of the direct action, though it did not impede me hearing the sermon, eulogy, dedications and feeling the sorrow of my departed family member.

It was a lovely service, which everyone would agree with. It started out with the Reverend Dr. Gerald Richardson reading a poem that was picked out by Jude's widow Doreen, which she thought summed up Jude.

Here is the poem:

MY SOMEBODY

Here's to somebody, staunch and true,
Who's always around when there's work to do
Who keeps a supply of love and cheer
For all the folks for all the year,
Who knows that a gentle, loving smile
Is the best of tonics for all the wile,
That there's nothing so bad that it can't be worse~
A case of blues is a terrible curse;
So here's to somebody, staunch and true,
Of course you don't know it, but
Somebody's you

C.J.B.

Isn't that lovely?

Later the Eulogy by Bradley Lightbourn was great. It was light hearted and funny. I would like to get myself a copy of it so I can read it again and again...speaking of, I also need to get myself a copy of my father's as well.

FYI: Cousin Jude was born Arther Roland Kemp on January 5th 1934 in Rock Sound Eleuthera, which coincidently is the same place my grandmother was born. When Jude was a boy he called Junior by his family and his older brother Garth used to tease him by calling him Judy. He didn't like that very much so later his name was settled on something more palatable - Jude.

Dental Work Done

I just came from my dentist (Dr. Melanie Halkitis) whom I have been seeing since I first moved to The Bahamas in 1982. I had some work done and my top right lip still feels like I was punched in the mouth. I feel like I got cat lips, but only on one side.

Puffy

The last time I went to her she said that I had a plaque build up which caused me to have my first cavities ever. My perfect record is now tarnished! When I left her establishment I went straight to Lowe's Pharmacy and purchased a rinse to remove plaque prior to brushing, dental floss, and a brand new toothbrush - The Oral-B CROSSACTION POWER which I love using! It's so much better than ordinary manual toothbrushes; I recommend it.

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Fay Floods Nassau

When I awoke this morning all I heard was rain pelting my windows and the wind howling as branches of my fruit trees snapped under the pressure.

I did not know what was going on. The previous night at about 11:30pm I saw the satellite image of Tropical Storm Fay and it had passed Nassau and was almost on top of Florida. This was one of it's many bands that hit us.

Forget about 'Raining Cats & Dogs' it was raining buckets of water. The roads of Nassau quickly flooded as the waters had no where to go. Next time I'll have to take the boat to work ;)

This morning I also had the pleasure of having a flat tire. I was loading my car with things to take to the office when I noticed my back right tire was almost on the rim. I could not do anything about it at the time so I hopped in my car and drove to the nearest gas station. I just needed a roof over my head so I could use 'Tire in a Can' which I had in my trunk.

I digress. It rained hard all bloody morning and the sky is still overcast. Fay felt like a hurricane but it was only a Tropical Storm.


FYI
"Fay is the sixth tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

Two of the tropical storms so far, Bertha and Dolly, have reached hurricane strength."

~BBC News

Cousin Jude Passes On

I just received a phone call from my Aunt (Janet) who gave me some bad news. She informed me that Cousin Jude died last night at 8:00pm in Doctor's Hospital. He had been in ICU for three weeks now and the whole time he was in a coma.

This is how the events led to this...

Jude Kemp was working out in his yard with a gardener and they were lifting heavy things. Jude had to go to the bathroom and he filled the toilet with blood. He thought that he had an infection and that he had strained himself and pulled something inside of him. He had to go to the bathroom a few more times that day as well with the same results.

Once hearing about this his daughter Beth told him that he had to "go to the hospital." He didn't want to go; he had to be pushed.

When he was in the hospital he underwent a colonoscopy which reveled that his small intestine was filled with blood. They sent him to the Operating Room where they removed four feet from his small intestine.

He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit after the operation so they could monitor him better. He passed more blood later and had to have another operation because they found more blood clots in his intestines.

Jude did not wake up after the second operation; he was in a coma. I visited him in ICU and did not recognize who he was because his face was so swollen from all the drugs. If it were not for Beth standing at his bedside holding his hand I would have walked by not knowing.

He had a bunch of tubes going in and out of him and had a cold blanket over his legs and stomach which was used to keep his fevers at bay. Beth said to me "Daddy doesn't like the cold." I replied jokingly that she had " better get a hot water bottle and put that on top of the blanket then." We laughed and made a few giggles at other things too. Laughter is my medicine; it helps to get by the rough patches in life.

A week and a few days later I heard from my Uncle (Godfrey) that Jude's kidneys were not working properly and that Jude had to get hooked up to a dialysis machine. His kidneys were failing him; his body was shutting down.

Two nights ago the doctor overseeing Cousin Jude called the immediate family in and asked them what they wanted to do because Jude had been on life support for a long time. The doctor asked them if they wanted to take Jude off life support and see what his body does or leave him on. They decided to leave him on. I guess God had to make this decision for them because the next night he died.

Joe Reports His Progress

I received this update from Joe today.

"Hello everyone. As you know I started my chemo treatments on July 29th. I had three pre-medicatipns to help with side effects and then had three different chemos, Taxol, Carboplatin, and Avastin. Six hours of laying with an IV in my arm. That day, Tuesday, I felt pretty good.

The next day I had some tingling in my fingertips, stomach discomfort, and generally tired. These symptoms continued and the stomach discomfort really overshadowed all other side effects. The following Tuesday I went for my weekly wellness visit. I had lost nine pounds (what a tradgedy because you know I don't have it to lose) and my white blood cell count was down to 1.5. Normal for men is 4-10. This was because of the chemo.

They started me on five straight days of Nupogen injections which stimulate your bone barrow to produce more white blood cells. Two days later, Thursday, I started getting chills and when I called the doctor he told me to go to the emergency room which I did and was admitted. My white cell count was down to 1.0 and everyone around me had to where masks.

They said I was "neutropenic", which means that I was very susceptible to everything because of my low white cell count. They saw a small spider bite looking spot on my left thigh and thought that was the source of the infection. For the next couple of days I had x-rays, CT scans, blood work, etc. to rule out other possible infections. The spot on my leg grew larger but reacted well to the intravenous antibiotics which were many and often changed by the day. They said that the spot was a staph infection. My white blood cell count went up to 13.8. All test came back negative for other sources of infection. My red blood cell count is a little low but they decided against a transfusion at this time.

I was released on Monday. We meet with my oncologist tomorrow to figure out where we go from here.

Thank you all for your continued concern and especially your prayers. Love to all."

Road Rage: 'This is My Block'

This morning I had to pick up the housekeeper for my sister who had gone away to the states with her husband and children who went to go visit Joe who had only been given 6 months to live because of his cancer.

I was heading down the long road where she lives and this car came out of a road on the left. The car pulled in front of my car and I had to slam on the breaks. I swerved around this asshole and shouted at him, "What the fuck are you doing? You trying to hit my car? Watch the damn road!"

I continued on my way to pick up Beanus and this asshole was racing with me! He was on the right side of my car (we drive on the left here) and he was just looking at me. I payed him no mind but he would not let up.

I slowed down so that he would go ahead of me and roll out. He pulled in front of my car and slammed on the breaks. I had to slam on mine too or I would have severely crashed into the back of his car.

His door opened and he started to walk towards my car. I put my car in reverse and backed up. I went around him and told him, "I don't have time for this."

I continued down the road and noticed in my rear view mirror that he was on my tail again. He pulled on the right side and I gestured to him as I lipped "Go. Go. Go. Go ahead. The road is all yours. Go. Just go."

He got in the left lane in front of me and headed down the road. I started to slow down now because I was approaching the corner where I was going to be picking up Beanus. This 'Road Rager' pulled over to the left and got out of his car ten feet from where the pick up spot was.

He walked towards my car as he was saying things which I was not pay attention to.

The dumb ass man who is in dire need of having a driving lesson said, "This is my block. You come 'round here. This my block."

Beanus got into my car, looked out my window and said, "Oh God. Look!" and she immediately got out of my car and started telling the man off in creole. It was obvious that the angry black man was a Haitian at this point since he spoke back to her in their native tongue. I looked out my window and saw this irate man holding a huge rock with both of his hands. I put my window down sightly and said, "Are you serious? You want to break my windows?"

The Haitian man said, "This my block. Don't come fuck wit me."
I replied, " Buddy. You came flying out of that corner without looking."
"I'll bust you." Threated my would be attacker rising his weapon. "This my block."
"Okay fine. Whatever you say. Whatever."

He went over to the spot where he picked up the rock and placed it back down on the ground.

- OR -

The Haitian man said, "This my block. Don't come fuck wit me."
I replied, " Buddy. You came flying out of that corner without looking."
"I'll bust you." Threated my would be attacker rising his weapon. "This my block."
"Okay fine. Whatever you say. Whatever."

He did not want to stop though. He proceeded to approach me in my car gesturing to me that he was going to toss the rock at my car, so I got out. I rose and outstretched my hands in the air and said, "You shoulda left it dead."

I darted towards him and punched him in the face with my right hand so hard he dropped the rock he was holding on his feet. As he wailed in pain he leaned forward and connected his face with my knee. The momentum that I hit him with threw him back and he fell on the road with great force. I then ended the ass kicking by spitting on him and saying, "This is my block. I grew up here. Who the fuck are you?"

Beanus then got back in my car and we departed from the scene. I hope to never see that sonofabitch again. If I do it'll be too soon.

Watch this Road Rage video

I wish I had a Trunk Monkey; he would come pretty handy.