Recently I received the news that a good friend has been diagnosed with a serious medical condition, and the treatment regime is still undetermined. This sort of news has become a common place occurrence in my world, which is to be expected when all your contemporaries are over seventy years old. The thing that made Grant Carter’s news different was the humorous and witty manner in which it was delivered.
Grant sent out an e-mail that relayed the basic facts, while presenting a funny and self-effacing context. I reprint it here with permission.
“The NSA seems to have a close watch upon my wife and her prayer list group, and that appears to be the source of the leak concerning my early, early diagnosis of bladder cancer. My plans were to pen an update to all of my friends — which would include prayers, agnostics, atheists and devil worshipers — once I had a more complete prognosis.
Monday the 4th, I had two tumors removed from my bladder. The process all started shortly after our move to Mountain Home when ‘Little Grant’ began passing in red, white and amber. Testing began, and along came a CT scan which pictured a mass within the bladder. Only 10 months before, a cystoscopy had signaled an all clear — at least by that Urologist’s eyes.
This cystoscopy revealed one sizable tumor and one small one in early form. My new Urologist explained the next steps over the continuing objections of ‘Little Grant’ — in which both removal and pathology is accomplished through ‘Little Grant,’ via flexible tubing through the urethra to the bladder.
My doctor, a man of few words, told me and the little guy, that the removal was easier than he expected. My next appointment is Tuesday the 11th, when we will determine what stage of bladder cancer we’re dealing with. The pathology is important from benign (doc says little chance) to aggressive, and will determine future treatment options, none of which ‘Little Grant’ likes, but has agreed to as many re-entries as needed.
All is well with Grant — no real side effects … ‘Little Grant’ sprays like a Rainbird sprinkler head, but that should go away soon.
Details to follow …,
Grant and ‘Little Grant’”
I first met Grant and Barbara in 1983 when Grant was President of an S&L in Eustis, Florida and I was with Union Planters Bank in Memphis. Grant and I did a lot of business, and we became good friends. Later, I convinced Grant to get out of the S&L business and to come over to the dark side. He and Barbara moved to Memphis where we worked together. We have kept up over the years and he is one of my favorite folks.
Grant played varsity tennis at the University of Georgia and remains an avid fan of the red and black. He and Barbara, his long suffering wife who has the patience of Job, sold a business and retired back to Memphis. Grant spends his time fly-fishing and driving around with his dog in a land yacht, while Barbara pursues her lifelong hobby of recreational shopping. They recently moved to Mountain Home, Arkansas to be near the fly fishing.
I am confident that Grant and Barbara will handle whatever comes down their road with grace and humor, and they will handle it together. I want to invite Grant’s many friends to share the stories they’ve garnered about him over the years by using the comments section of this post. In this small way, we can all share the coming months with Grant and Barbara.
Sprinkler image from Creative Commons
Categories: Uncategorized
Tom Lawrence's Blog 
Tom:
Thanks.
Please tell him (them?), “Hang in there!”
Bill Howard Nellysford VA
Sent from my iPhone
>
Will pass it on. Thanks Bill.
Looking forward to being on board. I have never met Grant except through emails. I have been sharing emails between him and my great friend and former business partner, Jim Smathers. I’ve always enjoyed Grant’s humor and insight on current issues. On a side note, I grew up in Tunica, MS. In fact, I’m going to a class reunion (’57) in Tunica next week. Since you were in the banking business, you probably know Tommy Garrott. We kinda grew up together, but he went away to military school, so we kind of drifted apart. E.
________________________________________
Everette, Mississippi is a small world. I grew up in Ruleville and Cleveland ate at the Blue & White on every visit to Memphis, Tommy Garrott was a giant in the Memphis Baing community and was far above my pay grade. Glad you are coming on board and I hope you enjoy the blog.
Tom
Hi Tom, I love the story of Grant and Little Grant. It was also interesting to find out that you had worked at Union Planters in Memphis. For about two years, 1999 to 2001, I worked at the Union Planters Bank here in Florence on Dr. Hicks Blvd. in the Mortgage Lending Department. I had been with Suntrust Bank prior to that and got a call with an offer to come back, pick up my years of service and retirement. It was too good not to take. Considering the changes in banking over the past several years, it’s not fun anymore. While I was sometimes driven to utter distraction with clients and underwriters, I still loved my time in the mortgage area.
While in the grocery store today, I saw an old banker buddy of mine from my Suntrust days. We were known as the two who got the crazy people with the most unusual loan requests. We passed customers back and forth and tried to help as best we could. LOL I left banking in July of 2003 and have not regretted it. I miss what were good days in the banking industry and the people I worked with but things change.
Deborah and I will be talking next week. She is “dog sitting” this week and has little or no signal for her phone.
Have a great weekend and I hope we will be talking soon.
Barbara
i’ve known Grant for longer than either of us would like to admit. he’s a gentleman and true friend who i’ve always admired for his genuineness – in his caring for others, kindness, thoughtfulness, and patience – not to mention his calm demeanor, dry wit and overall coolness. he’s considerably more intelligent than he lets on, but he never allows that to get in the way of his looking for and enjoying all the good times that life brings his way or that he can generate with his positive outlook and sense of humor. wow, i’ve always liked him, but never realized just how much and why until i put that all down in writing. my sincere hope and my prayers for him are that he pulls through this current problem with his health quickly, with no complications, and that he can get back quickly to his cherished avocations of fly-fishing, piloting the turnip truck, and following the shade around the house. go, Grant!
mike mullins