Sunday, October 30, 2010

Just when I thought nobody was reading the blog anymore, four friends over this past week said they had checked it and were eager for an update on the old man. So, here goes, folks.
It's good news: Tommy is still working his way through his nine lives. And we are finally enjoying our "summer"...I say that because the actual summer months proved to be yet another trial for us. Within weeks of Tommy getting home from his two months in rehab following the spring gall-bladder crisis, Tommy had a totally unexpected "heart event" while pedaling on his exerciser. This culminated in another ambulance ride, with me following in my car behind--this time, all the way to Washington Hospital Center in D.C.--to get two stents installed in Tommy's lower anterior descending artery (the artery that is also called "the widowmaker"). (The cardiologists at the major regional hospital in Salisbury, Md., where Tommy was taken first, said it was too dangerous to try to do the procedure there.) We were supposed to be two nights in D.C. and ended up being there five nights. It's a terrific hospital, but the experience was exhausting for both of us. Thank heaven our good friend Amy Smith lives only a mile down the street and welcomed me with a chilled glass of white wine every night around 9 when I stumbled in. While I sat staring at the kitchen wall, she rustled up homemade burritos for me...and listened to me babble. I keep saying it--thank heaven for our friends.
When we got back home, Tommy began another stint of home health care, plus we had weeks of juggling his new drug regimen with the help of the home-health nurse, appropriately named Angel. We got through it all with the help of Gaie (who drove out for a week to help me get back on my feet), Tommy's wonderful Dr. Giddins, my brother Marshall, and Patti and Irv.
Now things are on an even keel once again. I tell Tommy that he's like an old classic car that's being restored; everything is getting replaced and pretty soon he'll be like new. Getting the stents in his artery has definitely made a difference in his awareness or whatever the word would be; we have longer conversations and his episodes of confusion are less frequent.
So, at this point, Tommy is working his way back to where he was in the early spring, before the first of the two unplanned hospital visits. This means that he walks (with walker and me helping) to the dining room every morning, and he pedals daily (although not as vigorously as he did before the stents were put in). We often go out in the afternoon for errands. We have a wonderful woman named Billie who hangs out with him once a week while I go out.
This week, Marty Wolfe visited for the first time since last Thanksgiving, and he told Tommy that he seems much improved since his last visit. Thanks, Marty.
Oh--and on November 4, Tommy turns 75! We'll have an open house for him next Sunday, with the usual suspects stopping by. Give him a call this week--he would love it...302-539-8079, or drop him a card (P.O. Box 1427, Ocean View, DE 19970). And come visit!