Red

April 2, 2012
Lawrence is his real name but Red is who he goes by. This crusty old sailor has survived three conflicts (WW2, Korea, and Vietnam) and is kind of a center piece of the Band of Brothers....or at least the center of many of the jokes.  Red gets a lot of ribbing and can dish it out when needed also.
Red courted and wed Vivian who had been a volunteer to help serve the Band of Brothers and they were married on our floor last year.
A couple of weeks back, Judy got a call from Vivian and we met her at the hospital.  Red had a small stroke.  Vivian was quite shook up and Judy helped her calm down.  Later, Zin and I visited as they put him in a room.  We did our best to make him feel at home, writing notes on his nurses board and such.  Dr. Gayle (one of Red's Band of Brother nemesis') ordered him up an enema while a constant stream of friends came and went.
Last week, he was placed in therapy before being allowed to return home.  I visited him early on Monday morning.  He was just coming out of the bathroom when  I entered the room.  A smiling Red asked me to sit and before we were able to start talking, the nurse entered the room and confronted me.  "Are you family?", she asked.  "I am his brother.", I stated.  A nod from Red gave me my authorization to be there.
She then turned to Red and began chewing him out for going to the bathroom without letting her know.  "I am going to put that alarm back on you if you do that again!", she ordered.
Red waited patiently as she chastised him and when she was finished, he picked up a wrapper off of his table.  The wrapper stated it was a laxative.  "Did you give me this?", he asked.  "Yes", she replied.   "And did you give me those stool softeners?", he asked.  "Yes", came the reply.  Red paused for a moment for effect, and then looked up at her and said, "And you want me to wait for you?".