Category: Lifeliner

Christmas is over. The staff are back. It’s time for more and different kinds of tests to see how Judy is doing, how this new artificial feeding is working. But Judy isn’t thrilled about the biopsies of liver and bone. To make matters worse, she doesn’t understand Jeej. He talks so fast. With the encouragement…

Christmas Day dawns. Both Jeej and Judy’s children cannot contain their excitement. But there’s a person missing in Judy’s place: Judy. She cannot come home for Christmas as she is still too sick. And so while Jeej’s family enjoys the day together at home, Judy’s goes to the hospital. Chapter Ten: Christmas

The Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) seems to be working, but the ultimate goal of sending Judy home on this artificial form of feeding cannot be realised until they figure out a permanent way of feeding the TPN solutions into her vein. Tubes falling out her vein regularly just will not work. Dr. Bernie Langer, Jeej’s…

As Judy heals, she becomes more conscious of her situation, of the extent of her illness, of the odds against her, and Jeej feels that she may fall into despair as a result. He talks to Cliff. Contrary to the ethos of the day, Jeej tells Cliff to bring the children in to see Judy.…

Judy liked to joke about being a pincushion for Jeej, about it being easier to put a zipper into her abdomen, about her dates with the knife. And one of her favourite expressions was “I could be pushing up daisies.” She could’ve. For on her third date in the operating room, she died. Chapter Seven:…

Let Judy die, let her die with dignity, Judy’s mother pleads with Jeej. Let Judy die, this is madness, assert Jeej’s senior colleagues, insisting he not waste hospital resources. Under mounting pressure, Jeej agrees to withdraw antibiotic therapy from Judy for four days, but he refuses to stop feeding her artificially. If the bacteria doing…

Judy’s skin has been starving, like the rest of her body, and cannot hold the stitches anymore. Her surgical wound has opened up, creating a maw through which they can see her insides — and smell them too. The nurses have to come up with a unique way to dress this hole, keep the sheets…

Judy protests as she’s slid into the ambulance, standing in the dark, waiting to move her from the suburban hospital to the big downtown teaching hospital Toronto General Hospital. This is all too much drama for her, but Dr. Jeejeebhoy awaits her, with his promise of life. She wants to live so much. Yet she’s…