When I think of Big Joe, I see his overalls and how he filled them. And how a couple of months after I operated on him, there was room for both of us in there.

Big Joe: farmer, salt of the earth, tough, stoic. And now, bright orange. My initial recommendation, while probably justified, damn near killed him.

Big Joe hadn’t been sick a day in his life. He worked his tractor every day – it took a hell of a lot to slow him down. However, lately he’d been feeling a little poorly, with less appetite than usual and no pain, really.

The white stools worried him, along with the brown urine.