Thanksgiving Interrupted

Went to Chicago for a Funeral

This video and the lyrics are not exactly apropos for this occasion: the song was written at a time when the writer loathed social interaction, and hence, the lyrics. The video is about a man that loses his dog and is broken about it. But the video also represents Galway Bay Bar in Chicago, and so, it was the first song I thought of for this post.

The unpleasant circumstance noted in the headline forced a rather quick 15 hour trek to Chicago for an unexpected death. My wife was there a week ahead of me leaving early the day after Thanksgiving. In this case, the urgency was the hospitalization of my mother-in-law. Death came some 4 days later struck us all by surprise, and to say the least, the trip was filled with stress and sorrow. I left a week later, and spent another week in the frigid cold doing what I could. I could only watch the immediate family deal with the myriad of details that comes with settling an estate.

You can read the obit of my mother-in law here.

I still cannot believe she is gone. I always told my wife that she’d outlive us all. She was also a hoot. I have many fond memories of her, and her sayings like, “I do not care where you get your appetite, as long as you eat at home.” Use your imagination boys.

She was alert and sound mind until the end.

There were hundreds of people who came to the funeral. She was a generous and successful real estate agent. Her customers stuck with her for years and for generations.

This post is about the health industry and my anecdotal account of what I witnessed. It was remarkable to me that although she was admitted with a plus-ox of around 85 (not good, but not a sign death is coming) the Hospital she was at (Silver Cross) had already decided to prep the family for the inevitable—comfort care they call it. They bring snacks and food to the grieving family because, well, it is difficult to see their loved ones die.

However, she was not dying. She had a low puls-ox because she had pneumonia. Oh, I forgot, they now call it “Covid-pneumonia.” What was striking about all this was the attitude of the hospital health “professionals”—something I have never seen in a medical situation at this stage of admittance. They were resigned to her death not to saving her life. It was off-putting.

There is something rather evil going on in our society that was uncovered and revealed during covid years ago—our health care employees/professionals do not believe in the Hippocratic Oath anymore. They seem rather numb or outright hostile to life, and saving life. But Gay was 86, so they figured she had lived long enough. They never really said that, but one gets the feeling.

It was when the family found out that they had been treating her with Remdesivir that we understood Silver Cross was causing her decline. You see, she had no idea she was being given that drug as a treatment. If she had, she never would have consented. The hospital (and many many hospitals near you) run what they call “protocols.” This means they treat EVERY patient as the same. The protocols are employed and cannot be substituted. Nevermind that hospitals have financial incentive to do this and get money for every covid death and for every prescription of drugs like Remdesivir. More astonishing is that the data on Remdesivir is mixed at best.

It has been linked with causing death—no matter what the legacy media tells you. So, see here, here, here, here. When the family asked for her to be given Ivermectin, they refused. The family considered transfer to a new hospital. When they petitioned her primary physician, he said Medicaid would likely refuse the transport and anyway, the protocol at the next hospital will likely be the same.

So, as you can see everyone is on the same page, and individual choice has no place in modern medicine. The individual is only given a choice to take what the hospital gives you, or you take nothing, AMA of course.

My new friend Tony, who I met during the funeral, had to actually sneak in Ivermectin to his father after he took him off Remdesivir at the same hospital 2 years earlier. His dad took the pills covertly, miraculasly got better, and a few days later was discharged. Remdesivir did not kill him; ivermectin saved him. Those who know where to find me on facebook, have already seen his most excellent rant after the funeral. You can view it here. He details some of the story with his father, but was especially pissed off about the Remdesivir in our case.

The people who are so called health professionals are all in on what they are told—they have no critical mind on these questions any more. It’s like the mechanic who claims to be a mechanic, but really is a part’s changer. The latter has no critical thinking skills. Same goes for our health masters. They will not even entertain that they are doing harm while thinking they are doing good. Something is amiss in western medicine; it is not meant to save lives.

Any clandestine treatments that could have been employed, or the exploration of a reasonable set of doctors and hospitals would have taken time, time the family did not have as she expired a day or two after these events played out.

What comes of this is still up in the air, but I want to end with my friend Tony who wrote this on his FB soon after he heard she passed—it is a wonderful story:

Sadly, we have lost a true gem. Gay Weaver passed this week….

Gay was an icon of the South Suburban real estate business. She was one of the most impactful people on my career and life. I considered her a true dear friend.

We met when I became the Managing Broker of RE/MAX South Suburban. Gay was either the 1st or 2nd agent ever hired by Mike Kroopkin when he opened the office in the 1970's. She had already had an entire professional career outside of real estate beforehand. At first we did not get along at all. It turned out she was concerned I would get rid of her due to her age and lack of technological proficiency. In uncovering this, I also learned a great deal more about her.

When Gay entered real estate years prior she set her sites on real success right away. She was a winner. In those days, RE/MAX was reserved for the most killer of killer real estate agents. Joining RE/MAX South Suburban was like joining the Yankees. In that environment and in that era, the agents in this elite group were all taking up the latest sales trainings. Tom Hopkins, Tiger Training, Mike Ferry, Howard Brinton, and more. In our "come to Jesus" breakdown meeting where she was sure I was going to get rid of her and I was getting pretty sure I couldn't tolerate her, I learned she had unbelievable sales acumen and knew a TON about real estate itself. She had been a real student of high level sales and real estate for 30 years at this point. She had mastered all those courses (a real time and money commitment). She just came in an elderly sweet looking lady package. Don't be fooled though! You'd never have guessed she had a knife. I could not believe she thought I would get rid of her because she didn't know what she was doing with a computer or these new phones. I was maybe going to get rid of her because of her attitude at the time, but not because she didn't know technological innovations of the day. That day we decided to make a deal, I would help her with the tech stuff and she would help me with the real estate sales and agent stuff; and, the attitude based off her mistaken concerns stopped that second. She agreed and from that day forward my respect and admiration for her only grew.

I helped her learn how to send professional e-mail, store and name files, add attachments, work her new phone, and work the new MLS efficiently (HTML MLS was just developing). Unlike so many others her age, she took it quite seriously, didn't give up, and got it together well.

At one stage Renaud and I were buying leads from Zillow to feed our agents who were starving because of the recession. They missed them, didn't do anything with them, or fumbled them entirely. They certainly didn't appreciate them. So, we tried giving them to Gay. It took a little coaching as to how to handle them, but she was appreciative and we knew she knew how to sell, so it was worth it. Lo and behold, Gay became our #1 online lead agent! A position she held for as long as I can recall. And, Gay was appreciative. And, the clients.... well, they got to work with someone with 10 times more experience and knowledge than anyone else picking those leads up at the time. Fantastic!

From Gay, I learned unbelievably greater lessons than what I gave her. Things they don't teach any longer. How to obtain commitments, how to keep things moving forward, how to settle buyer/seller disputes, getting down to what REALLY matters in a deal quickly, etc. Also, small things like "You always sell on the 9's and bid on the 10's - always." "It's a 'house' when you're selling it and a 'home' when you're buying it." And so much more! All of this before I was 29 years old. And, she also gave me a bit of an inside read on the agents (God bless you Gay for that!

As I became real friends with Gay I was fortunate enough to spend time with her outside of the office. Gay had a wonderful husband, Frank, and they had an exemplary relationship and love for one another. They shared so much fun and were so interesting. Frank was a pharmacist with an unbelievable wit and sense of humor. Being of the era they were, they really enjoyed a cocktail and some music. We shared several great evenings with a dinner and trip back to their house to sit on their deck listening to their music while drinking the world's stiffest martinis. They had as much fun as any of my friends of my age. I laughed as hard as I've ever laughed with them.

I loved Frank, my wife’s dad, and my father-in-law. He was truly a gem. Now, with Gay passing, we have lost all our parents.

Thanks to Tony for this honest post, and thank you Gay and Frank for the joyful memories and for your daughter, whom I love.

Memory Eternal.