Regular contributor
Over a year ago, my kids and I visited our friend in the hospital during one of his many emphysema flares. Heâd suffered a long, complicated course, bouncing back and forth for months between a rehabilitation center and a hospital, without stabilizing long enough to ever return home. Before long, an oxygen tank was his constant companion, and he could no longer sing the hymns that had once uplifted him in times of trouble.
My kids were accustomed to such visits, and clambered next to our friend to scribble in coloring books while we talked. As they snuggled up beside him, he didnât chuckle or embrace them as usual. When I asked him his thoughts, his eyes stirred with unease.