A quick view of the past three weeks:
Dottie arrived October 2nd to live at Century Oaks Retirement Community in Melbourne. It was, at first glance, a welcoming time. We hadn’t been together for years. Although I had tried to convince her to become part of an assisted living arrangement for about three years, she was adamant about keeping her home and remaining independent. When she was scheduled for open heart surgery last October, the doctors said she would not survive the surgery. Instead they put one stent in, damaged her right leg, and it was obvious she would not longer remain independent.
At that time, our other sister and I agreed she would attain Power of Attorney, and I would look after Dorothy longterm here in Florida. We managed the sale of her house and belongings, and went to work on the enormous debt Dottie had accrued through her bad management of her finances. that has taken months to achieve while Dottie was in rehab and care in a nursing home facility in upstate New York. It has been a difficult task to qualify her for assisted living care here in Florida.
After her arrival on the second, she had a diabetic crisis because the facility in New York did not send her needles for her injectable pen. We solved that problem. Then, within a week, she fell twice, visited two hospitals, and is now in rehabilitation at Melbourne Terrace. We hope to return her to Century Oaks. That remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, I am scheduled for my second hip replacement surgery next week. I am mentally prepared, but certainly hoped to have Dottie settled before dealing with my own rehabilitation. Somehow we’ll manage.
My other issue is trying to get Anthology #3 completed here at Glenbrooke. We’re almost there. Assuming my surgery goes well and the rehab that follows, we plan to publish it the week of November 11th. We hope to have copies available for sale in time for Christmas gift-giving. The article in Senior Life about our project has brought us lots of acclaim and a scheduled panel discussion on Memoir in November at the Space Coast Writers’ Guild meeting.
All things being equal, it’s all just life, isn’t it? I thrive on complications, it seems, and God is sovereign and is the ultimate problem solver. Now, if everything goes as I’ve prayed in the election, I will be confident better days are ahead. We can only hope.
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