HOLDING ON

It has been 6 days since I last posted. The reason is a good one, I had to take care of my daughter, who suffers from developmental disabilities and lives in a group home of sorts up in Shoreham/Wading River.

Last Wednesday, while I waited for the TV appliance store to deliver a new TV, and the Water Authority deliver a new meter (I is wireless and sends out aa signal that is read by a meter man from his car), and after they had come and gone, I decided to settle down for a bit and enjoy a cup of coffee while heading to the sports pages of my newspaper. Peace and tranquility was present: I was a happy camper. Then the phone rang and it was the ICF (Intermediate Care Facility) nurse Wanda. Wanda is a pleasant little lady who loves my daughter a.k.a. Miss Ellie.

We exchanged pleasantries and good tidings (Left over from the holiday) and then she told me why she was calling; “Miss Ellie is going into the hospital!”

This is an equivalent of the old sucker punch, verbalizing.

It seems Ellen, (Ms. Ellie) was walking to her room, turned the corner and when they found her seconds later, she was on the floor trying to get up but couldn’t! The staff does not know how it happened but it did.

I rush to Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson and arrive before she does. Soon after she arrives and we go into the E.R. and they do some scans and x-rays and come back with the results, she has fractures her Tibia and Fibula in her lower leg. On top of all that there is blisters growing by the minute, oozing blood and getting larger. The doctors decided that they can’t operate until the blisters are under control, and that they will do two courses of action. One: They will place an external rod along her leg and screw it into under her knee and slightly over her ankle to get the bones aligned and then once that is done, in a few weeks they will operate on her leg and place a rod in her leg. The original plan was for that evening at 6:30, but because the hospital staff fed her at mid afternoon, they would have to post phone it.

All this time there were two people from the ICF who stayed with Miss Ellie until their shifts ended at 2:00 PM, when suddenly a new person appears to take their place.

AMANDA

Amanda was an interesting gal, a red head with a beautiful smile who lit up a dreary afternoon so far. We introduced ourselves and I immediately called my wife to inform her of all the news that had happened. (She was at The Wanna-Be Bank and Truss Company working,) I didn’t want to upset her until she got all the news finalized.

Asking the usual questions, she asked if she should come down, which I immediately advised her not to since I was OK, plus Amanda was here, A lovely young lady the agency sent to keep me company!” I told her. She suggested that before I hang up on my cell phone she would be there. She kept her word.