Where Have I Been?

Thu., December 12, 10:56 AM

A few people have asked where I was, and I suppose it doesn’t do any good to say I’ve been right here. Actually, I was indeed right here, because I’ve visited all my favorite diaries every day, but I am surprised to see how long it’s been since I posted.

You should know that currently I am very concerned about Sister and, as a matter of fact, have been e-mailing Brother on the West Coast to talk about her. In the long run, this isn’t serious. Sister had her arthritic hip replaced last week, and U.D. was kind enough to drive me down to the hospital on Saturday. Despite the well-appointed hospital and modern surgical techniques, Sister was not comfortable. (I think she didn’t realize how much pain would be involved.) In addition, she had a really disoriented roommate, who thought she was in a hotel that she didn’t like; Roommate kept asking where she could check out. When Sister awoke one night to find Roommate fussing with her (Sister’s) feet and muttering in French, the nurses finally transferred her to another room.

Sister, who used to be fearless, is now easily frightened. She needed a blood transfusion, and she is certain that she is in danger of hepatitis or AIDS. So she phoned Brother, who has had transfusions, and he was able to allay her fears. And, of course, by that time she was feeling a little better.

The normal procedure after hip replacement is to transfer the patient to another facility for convalescence and therapy. I know about this because Husband had a hip replaced a few years ago. So they transferred Sister two days ago, making her very uncomfortable and nauseated in the process, and she finds herself in a nursing home. A nursing home is not like a hospital, and there is typically a shortage of attendants and very few nurses. When Husband was in the nursing home, U.D. and I spent long hours there performing nursing duties – including getting him in and out of bed and cleaning the bathroom. There is no one to help Sister or help her get answers to her questions, and she is frightened when she feels she isn’t in control. Even if I could drive to the nursing home by myself, I couldn’t drive home if I spent any time there at all. (So I’ll tell her, next time you schedule a surgery, you do it when the days are longer!)

So Sister is at the top of my mind, but I’ve had a few other tasks to keep me busy. For example:

  1. Christmas cards. I actually got them out before Christmas Eve this year. About half of them contained letters – mostly the same news but personalized for each recipient. All I have left are the e-mails to my overseas friends.
  2. Reading. I began reading Jumping Off the Earth, followed by Bouncing Off the Moon, by David Gerrold. You know Gerrold’s work if you’ve seen “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Supposedly written for youngsters, these two are good old-fashioned science fiction.
    My son bought me books for Hanukkah, two about Sandy Koufax and one about Geno Auriemma and Connecticut girls basketball. Somewhere along the way, I will have to tell you about these.
  3. Television. Has anyone besides me been watching “Stephen Spielberg presents Taken”? I’ve not only been watching it, but also watching the repeats. This story is complicated – I’m reminded of “The Stand” – and it took me almost a week to figure out who everyone is. This is one of those times when I’d be happier reading a book, but there isn’t any book. Whether I really like this series will depend on how it ends. I know that’s not fair to anyone, but I’ve got my own take on alien movies. The lack of compassion among the humans is scarier than the little gray men.

Over the past week I also took another lesson in html from M.D. I hope she will be proud of me.



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