I find myself very remiss. Yes, remiss, indeed, and I don’t quite know how to handle it.
I want you to know what is going on with me and why I’ve been so distant and quiet.
I retired July 29, 2017. I took the next six weeks packing up to move across country. On Sept. 15th, I flew to South Carolina and here I remain. My mother signed over her house to me and we share. My possessions arrived in October and are in storage, mostly. I have some things I mailed to myself, but most of my "lifelong acquisitions" are stored less than a mile away. It has been my intent to go through them a little at a time and integrate them, as best I can, into this house, but I haven't done it yet.
I spent a month looking for a vehicle and in November, I purchased a 2012 Nissan Frontier 4 x 4. My first pickup truck. I didn't know if I'd like it, but I do...very much. As my mom told me, you can't live in rural South Carolina without having a means of transporting things and a pickup is the best means of doing that.
In mid-April, my mother contracted influenza. By the time it took hold, she also had developed a minor case of pneumonia. She was in intensive care for a few days and in hospital for two weeks before being released to a rehab facility. All her energy had been drained, and she had to learn to walk again. When she was released at the end of May, we had another month or home health weekly visits for "personal care" (i.e. showers and bed changing) and physical therapy. She went from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane in those four weeks. Finally, she was driving herself places and resuming her normal life.
Three weeks ago, she asked me to take her to the doctor because she was experiencing severe nausea without having any luck losing anything. This had been coming on for several days. Her doctor told me I needed to return her to hospital as her atrial fibrillation was out of control and she needed immediate specialist attention. The hospital is 27 miles away, and that's a long trip twice every day. She did fine for a couple of days and we thought she would be released. But one night she had trouble breathing. X-rays revealed her lungs were flooded with water (thanks to the atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure we thought had been under control). She was put into intensive care and a bipap was placed over her nose and mouth with extremely high amounts of oxygen being pumped into her. They also gave her several diuretics to eliminate the fluid from her lungs. That went on for three days, during which she neither ate nor drank. On a couple of occasions, the doctor told me she might not make it as they wanted to put her on a ventilator but she refused (it's in her will that no artificial means can be used to sustain her). Three days ago, she was returned to the regular hospital and Friday she was released to rehab.
The rehab facility is about 10 miles from here and she knows many people there. It's where she had been in May. We have a long road to her recovery as she is often confused and lacks the ability to stand up on her own. Physical therapy can only do so much. It takes the will to live and she has indicated several times that she is ready to go to the Lord and doesn't want to be tired any more. She turned 89 in June. She has perked up considerably since being in rehab, but her age is showing.
So...that has been my life since retiring a little more than one year ago. I am not complaining, but I have also been most remiss in touching base with folks. I hope to do better in near future,
