Living with MCL

The saga has finally ended.

Sylvia made it to Florida to be interned with my mother and father, and Edie and I have made it back from a very stressful 42 hours of travel (22 hours of which were either in the air or waiting in airports), traveling between LA and Fort Lauderdale.

I sure don’t want to do that again.

Up at 4:30 AM on Thursday, arriving Fort Lauderdale around 7 PM that evening, only getting about 3 hours of sleep Thursday night, and essentially awake for the next 24 hours before arriving back home at 11 PM on Friday.

At least I slept good last night, and even managed to make the “hammer zone” [bike ride] this AM, although I will admit to missing the first part of the ride, having awoken just a little later than normal, but it felt so good.

It sure does feel strange though, knowing Sylvia isn’t around any more, or that we don’t have to go visit her in the hospital anymore either. I guess that’s something we’ll just have to get used to.

Well, the inevitable occurred last night at 8:48 PM Pacific Time. Sylvia passed away.

It all started just before Thanksgiving, when I had to call the paramedics for what I thought was a stroke. Miraculously, she made what seemingly was a very quick recovery, and she was able to return home in just over a week. That unfortunately didn’t last very long, and she spent the next 3½ months going back and forth between home, the nursing home, and the hospital, each time making what appeared to be a good recovery.

Then a week ago on Monday, just after I had visited with her, and thought she was doing better (I even took her for a short walk earlier in the day), she again had to be rushed to the hospital that same evening, because she had difficulty breathing, and had become unresponsive.

This time was different though, and she never really got any better. She was trying, even sitting up in a chair on Sunday, but I guess that was just too much for her frail body to endure any longer.

It’s hard to believe now, that up until this all started, just before Thanksgiving, she was easily getting around the house, making her own breakfast and lunch, feeding the cats, and even playing bridge once a week at the senior center.

We could have insisted on “heroic measures”, as the hospital staff referred to them, but that’s not what Sylvia wanted, and I don’t think it would have been right, even if she hadn’t made her wishes known beforehand. No one should be forced to linger on with little or no hope of getting better.

Chloe and Morris will miss you Sylvia, as we all will.

Things have just not been going well lately.

Sylvia’s back in the hospital. She had trouble breathing Monday evening, and was unresponsive, so she was moved from the skilled nursing facility to the hospital. She then had to be put on a dopamine drip, as her blood pressure dropped to virtually zero during the night.

So now we’re just waiting, not knowing exactly what to do. I spent about an hour with her yesterday (I’m just not good in hospitals), but Edie spent most of the day with her, and will go back again today.

There is definitely nothing harder than watching someone deteriorate so rapidly, and unable to do anything. Especially someone who still has their wits about them.

On top of that, business is slowing down at work. The plant only worked Monday this week, and on only one order. Hardly worth the effort [and cost] to fire up the boiler.

But worst of all, it’s 41°F outside this morning. That’s the coldest it’s been in quite awhile, and just when I was getting used to the decent weather. I know it will be a little warmer along the coast, but that doesn’t make it any easier to get motivated for a bike ride, which seems to be about the only thing that helps take my mind of everything that is going on.

Oh well, what are you going to do?

I’ve done a lot of things in my life, and been to a lot of places, and I really haven’t had too many regrets. Sure I’ve made mistakes [lots of them], but for the most part they have all been forgotten. Except for one thing. Ok, maybe two.

The one decision I’ve regretted the most, is not having gone to my 40th high school reunion four years ago. I had actually planned to go. I even made airline and hotel reservations in Pittsburgh, but at the last minute [for some unexplainable reason], I changed my mind, and instead went to Italy.

Now in retrospect, that was just plain stupid. I wasn’t impressed with Italy, and besides, Italy wasn’t going anywhere. I could have gone there anytime, but a 40th high school reunion, that only comes around once in life, and it can’t be repeated.

That’s why, regardless of how much I don’t relish the idea of going to Ohio this summer, I know I can’t let Edie miss her 40th high school reunion either. No sense both of us having the same regret. So we’ll both be going. And who knows, it might actually be a hoot!

My second regret is never having gone to mainland Japan. It might be hard to believe [I know I have trouble believing it], that I spent a year and a half in Okinawa (a 2 hour plane ride to Tokyo), and never got there. I traveled to Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan while in Okinawa, but never made it to mainland Japan.

Fortunately Japan [like Italy] is still there, so I can rectify that situation.

Now if I can only convince someone of the need for a 45th high school reunion, I might be able to put my first regret behind me as well.