Dave Taylor
Dave Taylor’s column wins 1st place
The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association judged this year’s News Contest. I saw that the Hancock Clarion had submitted an entry and so hoped that was you entering your columns. It was you. I didn’t know any of the 40 or so judges but just randomly picked a category number and assigned it to one of…
Read MoreWhat I Learned From Dying: I almost missed this week
By Dave Taylor In late April when I first began this column on my battle with stage 4 esophageal cancer I made it a goal to never miss a week no matter what. Well this week I’m barely making it. I’m still in the hospital with an infected chest cavity and severe anemia. I have…
Read MoreWhat I learned from dying
This is the most difficult column I’ve ever had to write. It’s not because of the content, it’s because I’m writing from an ICU hospital bed where I’m hooked to a million wires, feeling terrible. I’ve been here since Thursday after I started having difficulty breathing and my blood pressure dropped. Shortly after arriving at…
Read MoreWhat I Learned From Dying: People are ready for my death
BY DAVE TAYLOR I hate to say it, but I get the feeling that people are ready for me to die. I don’t mean that people are actually looking forward to it or anxious to see how it goes, I just mean people lately seem more mentally prepared for the fact that I’m probably…
Read MoreWhat I Learned From Dying: New Year’s Resolutions
Since everyone else starts the year with New Year’s resolutions, which are mostly lies we tell ourselves, I’m going to make my own list of lies, I mean, resolutions for 2022. Exercise more. Everyone says they’re going to work out more as their resolution, so why shouldn’t I join in too? I actually do need…
Read MoreWhat I Learned From Dying: Is This My Last Christmas?
With Christmas fast approaching I’ve been thinking about how the odds were stacked against me even being here for it. No one ever explicitly stated that I wouldn’t be here for Christmas but they made it pretty clear that I wouldn’t be around long, and that was eight months ago. And when you consider that…
Read MoreWhat I Learned From Dying: I may be dying but I still have hope
A little more than a week ago I was preparing for my chemotherapy but when I told the nurse about my neuropathy and a spate of blisters that had broken out on my hands, they canceled that session. When the nurse was explaining the reasoning behind canceling she said something that, while true, hit me…
Read MoreWhat I learned from dying: Dreaming of dumplings
By Dave Taylor I haven’t been able to eat anything by mouth since about April. I’ve gotten 100 percent of my nutrition, both food and water, through a feeding tube, but that’s been fine because I was never all that into food. But lately I find myself obsessing and even dreaming about the foods I…
Read MoreWhat I learned from dying; Sometimes I forget I’m dying
Sometimes I forget that I’m dying. Sure, I feel super tired almost always, I spit up foul smelling bile all day and my hands and feet are numb, but that just equals sick in my mind. It’s easy to forget that those things are signs of my slow departure from this earth. I’m pretty sure…
Read MoreWhat I learned from dying; Little victories
I’m in Indianapolis this week staying with my fiancée Jamie so I’m sitting at her kitchen table, looking out at the frosty back patio, trying to think of what to write. I’m watching as birds flit in and out of a birdhouse mounted in a tree outside. I’m very tired. I have minimal feeling in…
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