An S-B tube was placed into Willie's stomach and the balloons inflated. Amazingly, the bleeding stopped. A thin, emaciated, disoriented yellow man with giant belly. Wearing a football helmet emblazoned with the emblem of our city's professional team. For two days Willie Duncan lay like a wounded linebacker, the bleeding stemmed by fragile balloons pressed against his gut.
Jokes are inevitable about such patients.
Willie's trying out for the team at the rate they're going, he'll make first string. That year, our team and Willie Duncan were losers. We never really laugh at patients. We laugh at situations, at circumstances, at the human condition, and at ourselves. Six different doctors became involved in Willie's care this time around.