The Captain

The Captain. Bob had been a Navy Captain, aviator variety. He was on Halsey’s team in the pacific, and at one time was qualified on more Navy aircraft than anyone else of his rank. He had been retired for years, and constantly complained of the dumbing down of medical benefits, especially when forced to go on CHAMPUS. I made the terrible mistake of marrying his psychotic daughter.

Maybe there was a co-pay? He was a cheap bastard! I don’t know, but he avoided physical exams like the caribou avoid wolves. When finally forced to be examined, it turned out he was a plus-five diabetic. They showed him the syringes, drug vials, and monitoring equipment (as they showed the instruments of torture to Galileo to get him to retract?), and he balked. Isn’t there a pill I can take? Yes, but this is serious and you have to get this under control as soon as possible.

He opted for the pill, which I believe was called Ornaze, or something like that. In the year or more it took the pill to work, the disease tore him apart. He had to give up tennis because of severe neuropathy, and was cold at night from poor circulation. His amazing vision, the best I've witnessed, started to deteriorate. Despite knowing better, since the material he had been given specifically warned him against this, his cold feet kept him awake, so one night he got out a heating pad, wrapped his feet in it, and went to sleep.

When he awoke, he had burned his feet. Rather quickly afterward, his right big toe developed gangrene and had to be amputated. That caused an air embolism that traveled to his lungs and killed him.

All because he couldn’t stand the sight of needles? I ask you, as with Jane, was this a natural death or a suicide? I truly miss that fine man.