I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just gotten home from work. I was chillin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in front of my computer, before my shower, before Diane arrived back from wherever she was, and before our trip to the bookstore, Borders. Diane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lebanese born car salesman had convinced her to buy language tapes to improve her French (doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that sound like something that would happened to me, not her?) and I needed a few more hours of radio mystery. <\/p>\n
Let me add – this had already been one of those <\/i> weeks. For both of us<\/p>\n
Ringy dingy. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is this the Florence Canning household?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Close enough.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Then you are… ?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Her son-in-law.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is Kim from Dr. Paparallo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office. We have the report on today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s CAT scan. Florence has a fractured hip. She needs to be taken to the emergency room at Emerson.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why? What will they do there? We did that last Saturday after her fall on Friday.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the doctor wants.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She has some mobility, she is in rehab… \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But you have to take her to the emergency room.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean to be argumentative, but why not call an orthopedic surgeon to see her?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dr Paparallo wants you to take her to Emerson. She has a non-displaced fracture of the greater trochanter and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s severe enough that she should be seen in the emergency room.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But then what? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been through this before. They looked at her and sent her home. Now that they have more information, what will they do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She may need surgery. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Kim won. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t argue anymore. I knew that Diane, after yet another week of medical calls and today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s CAT scan on her supposed day off, might just complete her core meltdown, which would be pleasant to watch compared to how I knew Flo would react.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay. We have some things to do (I had to find Diane), but we ought to be there within the hour.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll call and tell Emerson you are coming.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Maybe you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to call and tell my wife.<\/p>\n
The emergency room bustled with business, but Flo didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to wait long to see Dr. Sam Sockwell. Maybe because, in my own fit of pique, I wheeled her through the door marked \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ambulance Entrance Only,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and not the one further away, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Emergency Room Patients.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Wheeled is a misnomer. I gave her a shove and she glided through both automatic doors, and arrived without escort at the front desk, behind which all the doctors and nurses, not the admitting staff, buzzed. Even stressed out Diane, who had to whip her head around to find her mother, laughed.<\/p>\n
Dr. Sockwell is tall and thin and his light brown hair has just a touch of gray at the temples. He is direct, very polite and though he has no accent, you know he is not native born. He told us that Flo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fracture was similar to her right hip fracture of two months ago, and we had to decide if she would get proper care back at good old Concord Park. If Flo were at risk of falling, she would have to be admitted to Emerson, and then shipped back to Rivercrest or another rehab facility. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can you be careful?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Each time Dr. Sockwell turned from one of us to talk to Flo, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d bend down and make real good eye contact. Yes, he raised his voice some, but not a lot.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009dFlo answered. I knew how much Flo wanted to go back to her place and I knew she was going to serve a whole platter of yes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. I bit my tongue. We all wanted her back at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the hole.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are there people at Concord Park to take care of you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The hole\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had morphed into God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gift to the elderly.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Will you ask for help?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes. I will. They told me to pull that thing (her call chain) whenever I needed to, but I thought it was just for emergencies. They said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcPull it anytime.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcYou mean, even at 2 AM ?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 They said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcYes.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
Diane, eager to make sure Dr. Sockwell knew who he was dealing with, interrupted Mrs. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll-Be-A-Perfect-Angel.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Last night my mother used the commode, but she couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stand it sitting at her beside, so she got up and emptied it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
Dr. Sockwell, who had been laughing at Flo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s answers before this, straightened up, turned away and muttered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a character.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Flo said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a character?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Dr. Sockwell looked down and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Polite, respectful, raised in that generation of proper names, Flo held out her hand as though closing an important business deal, and I swear, in an octave lower than her normal voice, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, Sam.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
They shook hands and Sam signed her discharge papers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just gotten home from work. I was chillin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in front of my computer, before my shower, before Diane arrived back from wherever she was, and before our trip to the bookstore, Borders. Diane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lebanese born car salesman had convinced … Continue reading