On Friday, June 29, 2012, Grampa Ralph Intorcio finished his rage against the dying of the light at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA. In the end, after 30+ years fighting his heart disease, two bypass surgeries, multiple catheterizations, and countless pokes, prods, and medications, he went gentle into the good night. We love you Grampa! Rest well.
It was with great sadness that we heard that a friend of ours was under the weather and wouldn’t be able to use her tickets to see the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the TD Garden. Great sadness. Really. Poor thing.
To help relieve her misery, we took the tickets off of her hands and promised they wouldn’t go to waste.
After a bit of negotiation, it was decided that Josh and John would be the lucky attendees!
The first game was classic: #1 Syracuse against #4 Wisconsin. Things were close for a while and then the Orangemen put on a burst before halftime and opened up a bit of a lead. The Badgers would fight back in the second half though and things got way too close for the largely Syracuse-biased crowd. ‘Cuse would hold on to win it by one point!
The second game featured #2 Ohio State vs. #6 Cincinnati. Again, the game was close for a while but then Ohio State started to pull out and never looked back.
Our premium club seats featured wait-service, padded chairs, and an awesome view. Really sad about our friend. Really.
What a pain in the… No, really, it wasn’t so bad!
Since John’s mom had suffered from colon cancer, John got to undergo the procedure a few years earlier than most. But when there was a scheduling snafu last year, he wasn’t too upset. And when this year’s January appointment got pushed to February, he didn’t put up an argument. But when the February date arrived, he was out of excuses and it was time.
Everyone warned him that the preparations were the worst part. Certainly the days of bland food followed by a liquid diet were not a gastronomical delight, but they were far from intolerable. And though friends warned that the magic liquid he’d need to drink could taste foul and nasty and offered tips about getting it down, he found it not so unpleasant – resembling extra strength Sprite. OK, there were a number of sprints to the bathroom and John was glad he’d gathered some baby wipes and ointment. But there were none of the severe cramps or discomfort that some had predicted.
When it came time for the procedure itself, John was gently cared for by the warm staff at the clinic. The actual procedure is an unknown… He remembers being told the anesthesia was being started and then… That was it and he was being rolled into the recovery area. Guess its couldn’t have been that bad!
In the end (pun intended), all was well. He even got pictures of his innards to prove he’d done it (and to prove his head wasn’t up there)!
Intorcio News 