SAD TIMES FOR THE FERNANDEZ CLAN!
San Francisco, CA– The Fernandez family, at least those a couple of generations before me are dying. On Saturday, I took my cousins Alonzo and sister Cecilia Fernandez(ees) to see my uncle’s, our father’s two surviving brothers. One, Palamento Fernandez is in Hospice care and is being shot up with Morphine on a frequent basis, as Cancer has him knocking on death’s door. My other uncle, Lobe Fernandez, three years a widower and my Godfather is living with brother Pal as the pair have hospital beds in the same bedroom of Pal’s house on the San Francisco Peninsula.
WERE SUPPOSED TO VISIT THURSDAY
Myself, my cousins, and two girlfriends were supposed to go visit Lobe and Pal on Thursday in the early afternoon. But something came up and we pushed the visit up to Saturday after my radio show. On Thursday, I called my Godfather and told him that myself, Al & Cecilia, the son and daughter of his brother and my late uncle Johnny “Cortez” Fernandez, that we’d see him Saturday morning.
WE WERE SIX, NO ACTUALLY 48 HOURS TOO LATE!
Arriving around 2 PM, we were stunned to find out that Lobe, although he had fell and had a blood cot on his brain in January, suffered a major Stroke around 8 AM and was in a nearby hospital. His condition is listed as “Guarded,” which in essence means, uncle Lobe will not recover. Thus, unless a miracle occurs it appears to be a matter of a short time before he succumbs.
LOBE WAS LUCID ON THURSDAY, PAL NOT SO!
Although uncle Pal remembers me, he can’t recall but a couple of other people in his life, mainly my aunt, his sister Santa. Meanwhile, Lobe was all “fired up” about seeing Johnny’s kids after 25 years and said so on the phone Thursday. We, my cousins and I, we screwed up terribly by rescheduling our Thursday visit as it appears we will never talk to our uncle again. The moral of the story is that had we gone Thursday, we’d have seen Lobe in good condition. We didn’t, thus it haunts me for our not going the day we were supposed to.
DEATH IS NOW IMMINENT FOR BOTH UNCLES!
With Pal it is a “day to day” thing. He might last a month, or he may be gone tomorrow. Lobe is on an “hour to hour” thing, something that we really weren’t expecting. The brothers of my sweet but sometimes truculent aunt Santa will soon meet their maker. In closing, don’t put off until tomorrow what you were supposed to do today, especially when it comes to sick relatives. I’m hoping this guilt trip I’m on will pass, but until that occurs I’m constantly kicking myself in the ass.
DIDN’T WANT TO WRITE BOXING TODAY!
This was my scheduled day to share writing feature stories with Professor Chuck Marbry, but the wise one will instead go it alone today. I hope you, my “Ring Talk” family members will understand.
Pedro Fernandez