Craniotomy

 

The Scar

When Jerry had his craniotomy, it was some serious sh*t,
October 4, 2017: His life was in jeopardy with or without it,
He joked and said he wanted to “go in as a man and come out as a man”,
His surgeon said he would do the best that he can,
The surgery was long, updates were few,
The procedure was like picking sand particles out of glue,
It was messy and meticulous, but we had the best doc,
But seeing Jerry after surgery gave us a shock,
His head was all bandaged, and his face was beet red,
He was stable, but helplessly lying still in the bed,
The first few days that followed are a blur to me now,
We managed to get through it all somehow,
His head was embossed with a large, raised scar,
He was weak and couldn’t walk very far,
The shape of his scar was a backwards question mark,
“Like my $100,000 haircut?”, was his cutest remark,
The scar healed nicely, and when he got the stitches removed,
He wanted the nurse to count them, and she was quite amused,
She carefully counted each one and then she quietly said
“56 stitches I removed from your head”,
It was October 20, and I’ll never forget,
The excitement he had and his enthusiastic mindset,
It was his brother Randall’s birthday, and 56 he would be,
“How about that!”, Jerry said so happily,
He had the courage of a lion and the tenderness of a lamb,
He took nothing for granted, especially not his fam,
Family was his universe, always had been,
He told us all he was a “blessed man”, once again.

Tammy Harvey
Written: 6/10/2022

Our son took this photo after the craniotomy, but recently had it enlarged. He wanted to hang it in his office to remind him that life is short and to live life to the fullest. 

 Remembering Jerry: 4/26/58-6/25/2018