Claude Bouchard Books

We're a close-knit family and every couple of months or so, we gather at my parents' home for a family dinner. We can be quite a crowd on major occasions, with four generations in attendance, and a smaller group as it was yesterday for our Thanksgiving weekend dinner with thirteen of us sitting down to the feast.

As is often the case, once the main course was over, my sister's two teens went off somewhere to read, away from us adults, while we continued sipping wine and chatting away. Though the mood was a happy and festive one with much joking and kidding around, we invariably started discussing various medical subjects including:

• my brother-in-law's colonoscopy scheduled for Tuesday;
• my younger sister's upcoming surgery later this month;
• my father's heart attack and prostate cancer in recent years;
• my recent eye thrombosis, vision problem and blood pressure issues;
• etc, etc...

We only briefly touched upon my wife's arrhythmia and, though he wasn't present for this particular dinner, we did mention my brother's current treatment for ongoing respiratory tract problems.

I guess we're getting older...