The word from the street
TONY
“Did you hear my good news?”
PHILIP
“Not that I remember.”
TONY
“Well I don’t have the cancer in the lung they thought might have it. I was just at St. Joe’s with my doctors and that’s what they told me.”
PHILIP
“What about the other lung?”
TONY
“They don’t know yet but it’s looking good if you ask me.”
Apologies for the radio silence in the last weeks. As you will have been able to read from the comments in the last post, Tony is out and about, having left the hospital several days earlier than the doc would have it. Here’s a picture of Tony the day the day he left St. Joe’s. Amazing.
Philip
He left me a message last night. I haven’t yet had a chance to visit him.
Philip
Hi all,
He called me from the hospital a couple of hours ago. He was waiting to be admitted and expects to be there for a while. The next time I speak to him I’ll make sure he tells me why he’s there but I do know what he’s on an intravenous feeding tube. Meanwhile, he could really use a sandwich; he always feels underfed when in hospital. I’ll try to see him tomorrow.
More when I know.
Philip
TONY
“Well that’s another of us gone. Did you know that Marty’s dead? He just died over the weekend.”
PHILIP
“Who’s Marty?”
TONY
“You know the short homeless guy who was selling the newspapers in front of Sobey’s just down Ronces? Well he died.”
PHILIP
“Sure, I remember him but I didn’t know his name was Marty. He seemed a nice guy to me.”
TONY
“He was saying how he was feeling terrible and went to the hospital on Saturday and he had a heart attack and he died Sunday. You know he was turning 50 next week, eh?”
PHILIP
“You mean 60? He couldn’t have been just 49. He looked way too old for being 49.”
TONY
“Well let me tell you, he put a lot of things into himself in his life that shouldn’t have been put in there — and he liked a drink too so you know what I mean.”
Hi all,
Thanks to Gwen, a mutual friend, I learned this afternoon that Tony’s out of the hospital. I’ll catch up with him tomorrow. 🙂
Philip
Hello all,
Tony just called me from the hospital. He’s been admitted to St. Joe’s for bleeding in his lungs. I will see him later today and let everyone know what I find out. In the meantime, I can say that his voice did not sound as weak as the last time he called me from the hospital.
Philip
TONY
“This heat is just killing me. I was down in the hospital for three hours yesterday. I was really lucky, my bus driver friend saw me and got me on his bus because I’ll tell you, I was really getting dizzy in the heat.”
PHILIP
“So what happens now?”
TONY
“Well now at least I know I can cool down in their emergency waiting room.”
Tony was sprung — so to say — yesterday. He’s back at his old location. His face has good colour (it’s autumn, after all). I bought him a coffee from Alternative Grounds and I gave him a toonie so he could buy a bagel from Mabel’s.
Philip
Hi All,
I found him. Tony is in the hospital (again). He checked himself into St. Joseph’s Hospital yesterday after trying, unsuccessfully, to check himself in the day before through the emergency ward, and getting himself sent “home” at the end of the day — a bit ironic if you ask me.
He’s on the 4th floor, Room #4M16. If you’d like to visit him, he’d be delighted. I will try to see him over the weekend. Any ready-to-eat food you can bring him (only stuff that is easily chewable) will be very much appreciated, as his appetite is well beyond what hospital meal portions can fulfill.
Before you visit, check the hospital visiting times and associated regulations at stjoe.on.ca/patients/visitor/index.php.
Philip
Hi All,
As of this morning, Tony hadn’t checked himself back into the hospital. I will check in front of Mabel’s later this morning. I don’t know what else to do.
Philip
PHILIP
“So, did you go to the hospital?”
TONY
Yeah. I spent six hours there alright.”
PHILIP
“And?”
TONY
“The doc says she thinks I might of had a stroke but that’s different and this bump in my chest is stress. She’s right because I’ve had big-time stress the last months and I was pretty dizzy the other day too. I’ll tell you about that later. So the doctor said I should be staying the hospital but of course she knows me and I ain’t staying. That would just be putting me in a broom closet — there’s no way I was staying. Anyway, you just have to keep going.”
PHILIP
“Where were you yesterday? I thought you said you were going to be here.”
TONY
“I was down at St. Joe’s with heat stroke …. one minute I’m crossing that overpass, the next I remember was being in the ambulance. The paramedic told me they found me on the sidewalk, which was good since I’d have been run over if I’d been on the road.”
TONY
“Did I ever tell you about my friend where his wife smacked him in the head with a rolling pin? I probably did but it’s a good one so I’ll tell you again …
“They’d never even been angry with each other before then and they’d been married for eight years. And then she hits with a rolling pin, one day, and I’ll tell you now, he deserved if you ask me. And so he gets taken to the hospital where you know, he can’t even recognize me, his buddy. He got better eventually but it was scary for everybody, if you know what I mean.”
PHILIP
“What about his wife, what did she do then?”
TONY
“She was just balling her eyes out right there in the hospital room. I don’t think she’ll ever use a rolling pin again, even for baking, if you know what I mean.”
TONY
“Did you know that I was working for the cops tonight?”
PHILIP
“What’s up?”
TONY
“There’s a guy around who’s snatching purses. He grabbed an older lady’s purse and put her in the hospital. You know, she was 72 years old and he put her in St. Joe’s.
“They thought they had him cornered in the lane behind but he must’ve slipped away. He was wearing a green jacket and probably aged around 17.”
PHILIP
“So what are you doing for the cops?”
TONY
“They want me to tell everyone who comes down the street that there’s a purse-snatcher around. So that’s what I’m doing. One sec, Phil
“Excuse me, Miss …”
TONY
“Did you see Bruce today?”
PHILIP
“Who?”
TONY
“Come on, you know the guy I’m talking about. He had the scraggly beard and was shouting inside Alternative Grounds and pressing doorbells. You know the guy I’m talking about?”
PHILIP
“Yup. What happened to him? He seemed totally out-of-it the last time I saw him.”
TONY
“Well, he got himself cleaned up, got his beard shaved and everything. You know, what he told me was that he finally went down to the St. Joe’s and asked for some help and they actually gave it to him. If you ask me, I didn’t think he had it in him. Shows you what I know.”
“Anyway, believe it or not, I gave the guy a loonie; he really needed it.”
TONY
“We’re losing another homeless guy.”
PHILIP
“Who’s that?”
TONY
“You remember when I told you about the homeless guy up the street, the guy who was drinking mouthwash? He’s in the hospital — has been for 3 days now. The doctors figure for sure he ain’t coming out of that hospital on his own steam, if you know what I mean.”
PHILIP
“How do you know this?”
TONY
“I spoke one of his other friends last night. The guy says that everyone’s done whatever they could to help the guy, but his insides were totally rotted out. You know, we’re just falling like flies now.”
Homeless Man Speaks 