It has been awhile since I have posted, all for a good reason. This past month has been a nightmare. Things happening that you have to ask, "why now"? My uncle, David Charles Monds, my mom's brother passed away last week at 55. What was a snake bite announced his silent killer, cancer. He has always been considered a mountain man/ blacksmith/artist/musician, living in the mountains in Arkansas in a cabin without electricity. I remember when we used to visit, having to take baths in the creek, and have wild game for dinner. He was always messing with snakes and has been bitten several times by poisonous ones, especially rattlers. He would tell these crazy stories of his adventures and I naturally thought that he would die fighting a bear or something wild and adventurous as that.
He moved back to Texas to be with my grandparents and about two months ago he was bitten by a copperhead, saving kittens from the snake. He thought he had killed it with a pitch fork and went to take the snake off the teeth and it bit his finger. My grandparents rushed him to the doctor and apparently they did 4 blood tests on him and found he had stage 4 lung cancer. He didn't tell anyone, his plan was to die in his bed. He never went to the doctor and had always been healthy. Week before last, my parents got a call that they life flighted him to Houston, his organs had shut down and was placed on life support. Apparently he couldn't breathe and was stomping the ground and my grandparents went to check on him and called the ambulance. He said he wasn't going to go he wanted to stay in his bed. The venom from the snake spread the cancer like wildfire all over his body. My parents went down to be with him, and my mom and aunt never left his side. I couldn't go nor did I want to because I knew that was not what I wanted to see and have burned in my mind. My mom can't get the image out.
While he was in the hospital he had a heart attack and then a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. He had blood clots in his legs and on his ear. My parents would describe what was going on. They had him medicated but he was still alert and trying to write and talk to my mom. There was a team of doctors working on him and one who had been practicing for 30 years never saw anyone be as alert and strong as near to death as he was. After about 3 days, they had him in an induced coma and my mom decided to take him off life support as his body was turning black. My mom said that as she talked to him he had the most peaceful look on his face as he died.
It has been an emotional roller coaster these past few weeks. Everything happened so quickly, it has been hard to digest. One thing that has helped me cope with not only his death but the past couple of deaths that have happened within the past year is a book called, Heaven is for Real. My uncle was very religious and I am happy that he has been reunited with my grandpa and great grandparents. That was my biggest worry but this book has inspired and uplifted me reading about what is to come. I am thankful that I was able to have his banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, my grandpa's guitar, and harmonicas as well as the songs he had written. Matt got his muzzleloaders, knives, and pistols, that he had made. He really was a unique person and I am looking forward to the day we will reunite. Until then, I will cherish his memories and gifts he passed along:-)
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