I celebrated my 69th birthday a week ago on Sunday, St.
Patrick’s Day, feeling optimistic that spring was almost here and baseball
season would finally get underway. I had
been taking in Pittsburgh Pirates spring training games in anticipation of
Opening Day on April 2nd.
Unfortunately, the Pirates lost to the Damn Yankees that afternoon. Little was I to know that was the first crack
in the dam. The deluge was yet to come. That evening I talked with my brother, Gene, to
see how things were going and he said Mom, who had been battling a kidney
infection, was slipping a little bit, but there was no reason for concern. I was planning on seeing her on Easter
Sunday, taking her sister, Aunt Peggy, along with me.
Monday was uneventful for Pam and me. My softball team had a bye, so I just enjoyed
a relaxing day, running necessary errands and just vegging out. All that changed on Tuesday.
My other softball team also had a bye and I was looking
forward to another day of leisure. That
all changed around 9:30 when we got a call from our best friend, Linda’s, neighbor
from across her street in Miami. Lance
told us that Linda had fallen and broken her kneecap the night before and was
at North Shore Hospital in Miami Shores.
We got all the details he could give and told him we’d drop everything
and come down to Miami later that day, after we made arrangements for some of
our pets and got packed. I made a few
phone calls and we finally got underway around 2:30. When we walked into Linda’s room around 7:00,
she was so surprised to see us because our telling Lance we were coming down
apparently didn’t register with him.
On Wednesday we got things set up at Linda’s and visited her
in the hospital. She was somewhat
comfortable and looking forward to the surgery to repair her patella on
Thursday. Pam and I had some decisions
to make. I was scheduled to go to a
regional Quaker gathering in Leesburg, FL which takes place the last week in
March. I still planned to go while Pam
stayed with Linda. However, Pam had
tweaked her left knee while we were making preparations to depart for Miami,
and it was giving her some problems.
Everything changed at 11:30 that evening when Gene, called
to let me know Mom had died. His exact
words were, “We lost Mom.” Although I
was not shocked at her passing, I was surprised it happened so fast. Later on, while talking with my sister, Margaret,
she said the nurse had told her they fully expected her to last thru
Easter. I guess no one ever knows. After a fitful three hours’ sleep, Pam and I
were in a bit of a fog on Thursday, the day Linda was going to have her
surgery. The first thing I had to do,
and the hardest thing I have ever had to do, was to call Aunt Peggy and tell
her Mom had died. Mom and Peggy were the
only children of my grandparents, so it was quite hard on her.
Linda was scheduled for surgery to repair the patella
fracture at 2 PM and, when they came for her at 1 PM, we left and went back to Linda’s
house. Pam’s knee was becoming more and
more painful and it was getting quite difficult for her to walk. Since I had been planning on leaving Pam in
Miami and return home before going to Southeastern Yearly Meeting (SEYM), I
decided to cancel the gathering trip and remain in Miami. However, since I only had packed meds to
carry me through the end of the week, we decided I should return home, taking
another of the dogs for boarding, pack for a longer stay in Miami and return
immediately.
I left Linda’s early Friday morning, along with two of our dogs,
Chloe and Frodo—Chloe for companionship and Frodo to join Archie and Bella at the
vet’s office for the duration. Upon reaching
home, I called Linda’s to let them know I had arrived safely. Linda had not yet returned home and Pam
tearfully told me she was unable to walk because of the excruciating pain in her
knee. We had a walker at home which I
had purchased for Pam to use year before last when she had suffered a
compression fracture in her lower back.
I decided to bring it back to Miami for her to use. After making arrangements to drop Frodo off
at the vet’s for boarding, I did what I could to get things together for the
trip back.
Leaving home early on Saturday, I arrived back at Linda’s
around 11 AM. Pam was in a lot of pain
and, after getting settled back in, I took her to the ER at Aventura Medical
Center to have her knee examined. An
x-ray was done and showed no fracture, but they could detect some deterioration
to the cartilage. The physician’s
assistant who examined her said there could possibly be some meniscus damage
and recommended she see an orthopedic surgeon for an MRI and full diagnosis.
Yes, it has been a challenging week. I attended Meeting for Worship at the Miami
Friends Meeting and that helped me quite a bit.
I was able to decompress a bit and shared my week with those
present. It felt a bit cathartic. One of the women there, whom I did not know,
came up to me at the rise of meeting and gave me a big hug. That really felt welcoming and
comforting. We’ll be here in Miami for
the foreseeable future and I expect to be worshiping with them for several more
times. In the meantime, onward and
upward.
