Emphysema is a Progressive Disease

Monday, May 18, 2009

“Well, I’ll go and have coffee with Christos now,” said Demetrios. “Do you want to come?”

“No thanks,” I said. “I’ll stay home and play Happy Housewife. You have fun.”

“I’m just trying to keep him alive.”

“Keep him alive, oh, give me a break! It isn’t as though Christos were going to – ” But the look in his eyes made me stop. I just stared at him.

“Is he really that unwell?”

“Yes.”

Okay, Demetrios is a doctor. So he knows whereof he speaks. But he never speaks this way, ever.

“But didn’t he just get a good report from his lung specialist and from the CT scan? Didn’t he tell us his emphysema hasn’t gotten worse since the last scan a couple of years ago?”

“Well, he likes to think that way about it. “But can’t you see for yourself? He’s fading away.”

It’s true. It’s the first thing we noticed when we arrived in Greece; we said he was looking quite gray. Friends of ours have also commented that Christos isn’t looking well. And yes, he has gotten even worse since we were here, feels weak and tired, doesn’t sleep well.

I didn’t realize that emphysema is a progressive disease, and there’s no cure. How often I’ve wanted to snatch Christos’ pipe from his hand and tell him to give it up. But now, may as well let him enjoy his nearly only pleasure in life.

The heartache his children daily inflict doesn’t help matters, either. (Remember I told you that at Pascha, his adopted daughter Danai came from London to visit him, looking beautiful and behaving charmingly? Well, she turned his joy to sorrow by asking him for 10,000 Euros to pay her debts. As if he had any money.)

If you are a praying person, please add Christos and his children (Danai, Vicki, and Phideas) to your prayer list, as the need is great.

And if you smoke tobacco or anything else, add that to your prayer list, too. And quit before it’s too late!