Hunter!

I went to visit my absolute bestest friend yesterday. (I mean, seriously. This guy is just absolutely beyond epic. He's kept me stable for the past few months, and if anything ever happened to him, it would be like losing a brother. I love him, just absolutely love him. We could never date, though. We've tried it, and it doesn't work very well XD)

He has a walker. He was washing his hands when I got there, and had to shuffle his way back to the couch. He moves slower than most of the older people that I know, but hey, at least he's walking! (He's also sleeping on the couch, because there's no way his parents could get him up the flight of stairs to his room. Plus, the hallway at the top of the stairs is too narrow for his walker. He's gonna be stuck downstairs for a while yet.)

He hasn't eaten much the past few days, his mother said. 

"I don't know if I'm hungry, or if I'm in pain," he told me. 

"Please, just eat something. For me? It'll make you feel better." I put a hand on his.

"I threw up this morning. It hurt. A lot. And it was black."

"I'm sorry. But maybe you just need some food in your stomach. Something soft. I have jello."

So he ate maybe half a cup of jello in forty-five minutes. It was really sad, and I wish I could have done something. But what can you do?

We just sat and watched cartoons for about an hour. I talked to him about my Talk Like a Pirate Day escapade (going out to get free donuts at 10:00 at night), how our friend Eddie hopes he gets better, and what I'm doing for Halloween. 

And he just sat and winced. It really hurt to see him like that. He's not fun and excited about life. He's barely talking.

The one time he did perk up was when our friend Cameron came over to visit and brought him some CDs. We then got into a discussion about band (Cameron and I, that is); Cam used to be in Chelsea's marching band, but graduated two years before I did. Hunter spoke up and was adament that our marching band this year sucks. So we argued about that for a bit :P

He had to take three pills while we were there, and it took him a good five minutes to get all of them down. His parents have a notebook that keeps track of all his meds and when he took each one. Loratab, Oxy-something... plus stool softeners (he moaned at that one, but his mom said, "It's gonna happen, and this will make it less painful") and infection meds. There are so many medical things hanging around his living room.

^That's his, "Why?" face. But just look at that hair :3

I don't know how he's going to survive. I hope he gets better. Everything about him just seems...dead. He needs to get well soon so I can give him a hug. (I can't hug him at all now, because it would hurt so much.)

I may go back to visit him either today or tomorrow, and then again when I come back from school next weekend. Hopefully he'll be sans walker by then, but we'll see!

***

Marina's doing very well. She came through her Wednesday surgery with flying colors: everything went much better than expected, and they were able to do more than they thought they would. So she's doing very, very well. Still unconscious, but hopefully she'll do well when she wakes up. That's what everyone's praying for, at least.