About Joe Napolitano, 105

Letter to the Editor

By JOE NAPOLITANO Special to the Palisadian-Post I’m now feeling fine. I can still pass the DMV tests for driving. No glasses needed. Late last year, however, a tumor developed near my appendix and colon. It grew to the size of a tennis ball. The question was whether I should leave it to chance or undertake a dangerous operation. My general practice doctor, Roberta Smith, called in surgeon Dr. William Hutchinson, who lives here in the Palisades. He sent me to St. John’s Hospital for several tests. The three of us consulted and I personally opted for the expected major operation. The Christmas holiday interfered, so on January 5, my belly was opened with the doctor’s promise that he would cut only the parts with cancer. Both the tumor and my appendix were taken out. I’ve been convalescing and collecting the numerous bills. You’d be surprised how many! Thank goodness for Medicare and my savings. I am writing this by hand because I don’t know how to use the wonderful equipment available now. Since the surgery my appetite has been great. I even tend to overeat sometimes. My favorite foods are lamb chops, fresh frozen vegetables and pastas of all shapes. I love pork but don’t use it because it’s loaded with water so that the flavor is gone. No beef, no chicken. Incidentally, I’ve had an ill-fitted lower set of teeth that was making my mouth sore. Should I have a new set made at $1,000 or more or could I have the bad set fixed for less? I went to see a good friend, Ronald Wormser (a dentist of long experience) and he said, ‘Give it to me.’ In no time at all he fixed the whole set and it works fine. A couple of dollars? ‘No,’ he said. ‘You owe me nothing.’ Now I’ll put down my pipe and look over my Iliff neighborhood and friends. I’ve been surprised at how many friends I have with great appreciation. My friends the Bartons are back next door by an unusual coincidence. They were scheduled to stay in Marin County until this June. However, the company Roger was working for moved its operation to Los Angeles six months early, so the Bartons were stranded. No job, and their house here had been leased out for six more months to a very nice couple, Mark and Zeita Jones, who were looking to buy a home in the Palisades. Well, the Jones family found a house on Embury ready to be occupied. But they had six months remaining on their lease of the Bartons’ home. What a dilemma for them, too. They turned to the Bartons, who were hoping for just such a solution. So the Jones family moved into their new home on Embury while the Bartons came happily home where they are now, next door to me. Everyone is happy, especially me.