When a Doctor is Sick

Up here in the north our neighbors down the street are casual friends.   We go out to lunch or dinner once or twice a year.  At one point we were part of a dinner group that kind of dissipated.  They have one daughter, a young adult.

Their dog had cancer and subsequently died.  I went to the vet with my neighbor and their dog (who was actually wonderful and gave us lots of time).  Then  I saw the husband ashen - faced when he came back from the vets after putting her to sleep.

Then during the pandemic - nothing.

He is a local doctor and she works for a large corporation.

I saw him one rainy spring day shortly after we got back from Florida.  We were down at the small community marina getting our kayaks cleaned by a local service the community had hired.  I doubt I will ever kayak again but it seemed the decent kind of activity to support.  I knew he often went out kayaking early in the morning. We were the last neighbors served and we chatted easily about nothing while waiting.  He lent me his umbrella as the rain became a downpour and then he tipped the kayak-washing guys and we walked up the hill..  I asked him if they were going to Nantucket this August and he said they weren't sure (COVID was still around).

Then one sunny weekend day in June he was trimming some bushes in the yard and felt weak and suspected a stroke.. His wife arrived home from shopping shortly afterward and by that time he was almost paralyzed.  She insisted the ambulance take him to Hopkins.  In retrospect, I wonder if that time delay going to Hopkins was a problem.  Our local hospital could have addressed the stroke, stabilized him, and then transferred him.  Hindsight!

He has been in Hopkins for almost two months.  He is finally walking with a walker.  She believes the hospital is trying to"push him out".  Arrangements are being made to transfer him to a rehab facility.

How fast lives get turned upside down.

Be Prepared

 My mother was my Girl Scout leader, much to my embarrassment in grade school.  She liked camping, crafts, and the overall wholesomeness of it.  Years later when I went to a grade school reunion and Mom was still alive an old classmate said, your Mom was our Girl Scout Leader.  Nothing else. Not how is she? Kind of weird.

I really never liked Scouts but I went along to please Mom.  One motto, Be Prepared was always remembered, if not adhered to.

I think now of friends who had sudden life changes thrust on them and were not prepared.  A friend and neighbor down the street has a lovely home but no downstairs bedroom/bathroom.  Her husband was trimming some bushes in the yard and had a stroke.  He will need months of rehab and their home cannot accommodate him.

Years ago we put in a downstairs bathroom with roll-in shower and other handicapped-accessible features here in our home up north.  Then my husband fell down the stairs, had a concussion and needed downstairs accommodations.  We turned his den into a small bedroom and it works perfectly.  Next year we plan to change our rarely used LR/DR into a downstairs suite.  We will live in the downstairs completely which will be fine.  We even have the upstairs for guests our deck and porch and our garden in the backyard which I love.  If necessary the bedrooms can be used for caregivers.

Now to get those closets cleaned out.