"Hello friends." The battle continues. Anecdote of the day: Michael was a lover of war/military movies, specifically, The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, Top Gun, Black Hawk Down. In Black Hawk Down they referred to the helicopters as "Chalk" units, such as "Chalk One" and "Chalk Two." Michael routinely could be heard talking to himself in the shower, "Chalk One! Chalk One!" and when he turned on the water "weapons hot!" For those of you that really know him, can't you just picture that?! What a nut...but he always made me laugh! It's a part of his fighting spirit...
He is still sleeping as I write this at 0730 hrs. He was not very verbal yesterday, but we did get more than a few hand squeezes and multiple blinks to our questions. His vitals are solid, but our nurse did say that his heartbeat did not seem as strong. He has not eaten since Friday night. Unfortunately, his coordination is gone, so we have to move him from side to side every few hours. Usually during the day, we will lie him face up and raise his bed allowing him to look around and we can chat to him. He is on his meds and he is warm under some blankets.
God bless my parents...we are such a team. Dad and I tend to do the stuff directly with Michael (shaves, sponge baths), while Mom sits and chats to him and caresses his hand or head...she's always staying busy. We work well as our family unit, laughing and crying through it all. This can be so hard to watch, but at the same time, so wonderful. I cry watching my parents hover over my brother, whispering in his ear or holding his hand; but, I am grateful that we have this time with him. Do we know the outcome? Sure, but don't we all? So why NOT try and find the silver linings in this, as fragile as those silver linings can seem. Why NOT try and enjoy the time that we DO have with him?
Another M anecdote. The kid had about 554 t-shirts, many of them brand new (thanks Mikey, those were some of my old Christmas presents to you!!!) So, we've taken to dressing him in them, some of his favorites, from places he's been, like The Buena Vista (San Fran), Beograd (Belgrade, Serbia), World Cup (Japan), UConn, UT (Austin), etc.
So folks, another day has come, with our boy still (expletive deleted!) here. God Bless him. God Bless you and yours today. Thank you for all the support...the emails, the texts, the kind words, the tears. Do us a favor...do a Michael Whyte-ism today: greet someone genuinely and hold the door open for them....that's what he would do. We love you...
5 comments:
In 1996 Michael and I found ourselves on the same spring break in the Bahamas. One of my girlfriends, the crazy one that everyone always has one of, always thought Michael was soooo cute. She knew how close Michael and I are, and that I was perhaps a little protective of who I thought was good enough. She did not meet my standards!
So we are all at an outside, on the beach bar one night and Michael and said friend had perhaps a little too much to drink. She had him in her bullseye. Fast forward an hour and I ended up walking my friend home and the guy I was with ended up walking Michael home- about 100ft apart. A pretty long walk with two folks feeling pretty happy! I did always like teasing Michael about it!!!
-Thanks Jennifer H.!
From Seto - one of my favorite things to tease Mike about was his inability to mimic any accent except for those that spoke Spanish, like from Mexico or Central America...
So when he heard the Bahamian accent and was telling stories to us about the maid service or others, it always ended up with that same silly accent - "Hey man, you guys need cleaning service?"
Hahaha!
From Rende - Mike loved to fly and loved airplanes. In the fall of 1995 we visited a friend at Boston College on a football weekend. Friday night Mike left Bolt, Seto and I at a party. He ventured home with a pretty BC young lady. He showed up back at the BC "Mods" the next morning around 7am with a cup of DD coffee. Where had he been? Logan airport watching the planes take off and land! Hysterical and classic Spice!
Does he still have his t-shirts from the 1999 NCAA Championship...I can remember all of us going from store to store and buying Final Four shirts, and then National Championship shirts. I don’t think any of us could afford the amount of t-shirts we all purchased, but I wouldn’t trade that experience with my brother, Drew, Spicey Mike, and the guys for anything. One hotel room, too many people, UConn’s first Championship, and lots and lots of laughs. Sending strength to you and your parents TJ. You are amazing and thanks for keeping us updated.
-Christina R
TJ. I guess I should say goodbye to Michael. Maybe you can pass this along. This is hard.
First, I’m eternally grateful to you, your mom and dad for taking such good care of Michael - I’m sure it has been overwhelming.
Second, I’ll keep this brief. Just tell Michael that I love him and I will miss him. We have been good friends since February 2003, he was one of the first people I met at EY. We worked together, we traveled together, we laughed together, and of course we became close buds. I appreciate his friendship. He was always up for it,
no matter what it was...an after work happy hour, a ski trip to Colorado, or a New Years Eve party with Midget Kiss the Rock Band.
We spent days touring London, Amsterdam, Florence and excruciating hours watching the Yankees lose the World Series at the Stadium in 2006. He was my neighbor, he was at my wedding, he introduced me to plenty of new friends and professional relationships. He quietly did a lot for me. And I want to thank him.
Thank you Michael. You have been an amazing friend. You have always been so positive. Keep that with you wherever you go next. Hopefully it’s some exotic place you have always wanted to see.
Much love brother,
Mike M.
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