Death Food



It was exactly one month to the day that my father, Willie Walsh, died after a 7 and 1/2 hour long surgery at Sloan Kettering Hospital in NYC. We went through many stages of food, to keep him healthy, and in the end he stopped eating, and died anyway. Damn. We tortured him. I think he left because he couldn't stand what we were doing to him. I was all set to make him soy protein shakes with ice cream and bananas...he must have gotten wind to that.

First it starts at the hospital.
Hospital Food:
The food at Sloan Kettering is ordered like room service. Anytime. Just call and order from the menu:
Baked Chicken
Real mashed potatoes
Green beans
obligatory jello, beef bouillion, canned peaches
Burger and fries hospital style (not bad, not bad..)

Then it was rehab at the worst rehab facility in NJ:
Rubbery baked chicken
boxed mashed potatoes
green beans
obligatory jello, bouillion, canned peaches
gray burger, old fries, rehab style
(No wonder the poor codger decided to go on a hunger strike and lost 9 lbs in a week)

Then he was dying, only we didn't know. And we were giving him anything he wanted to stop the starvation diet: milkshakes, rootbeer floats, doughnuts, cake. Anything he wanted, Will, please eat. Cherries, watermelon, cold foods, warm foods. Make it hotter, colder. Two bites, three. Eat dad, eat. Farina, did he eat the farina? How about yogurt?

Then he was dying and we knew it and we ate anything we wanted while he was finally left alone to rest and we were doing anything to wait: Italian food, Delicioso, by Aunt Joe. Meatballs and sausage, crusty italian bread, salad, a carafe of cool water. Who even cared. Leftover cherries, watermelon, cold foods warm foods. the foods we didn't feed him because he was too sick to chew. He could only have sips of water. A cool washcloth to his lips.

After death we ate Funeral Food:
Panini sandwhiches & cakes sent over by the Undertaker
Muffins by Mrs. Sweeney
Chicken Marsalla & pasta by Diane
Sloppy Joe sandwhiches by Aunt Carol
A spiral ham by Katy
More sandwhiches, more pasta.

At the funeral we ate The Body and Blood of Christ.

At the repass we had a brunch: eggs, potatoes, salad, pasta, chicken francais, beautiful desserts. coffee, bloody mary's..

Only he wasn't there. Dad's gone.
RIP Bill Walsh, August 2nd, 2008