Saturday, February 15, 2020
Whatever Happened to Ray Sanchez
“Funny how a little misstep can lead to six weeks of agony. I slipped and broke my right hip. The family took me to Providence Hospital where they repaired my broken hip. Then they sent me to rehab at MonteVista for three weeks. I was feeling great. They sent me home and then I contracted pneumonia, which is common among broken hip patients. They say I’ll need another month of recovery so I don’t know when I’ll return to writing columns again, but I hope it will be soon.
“Love my readers. Bless you all.”
Dad wrote his first “column” since he fractured his hip, and he asked me to post it on his Facebook, his raysanchezbooks page, and anywhere else I wanted… There it is.
I was updating Dad’s close friends and posted two of the columns he had written before his fall during his stay at the rehab center. The day he came home from rehab he immediately wrote an update similar to the one I just posted. The spelling wasn’t the best, the words were the same, but the punctuation and grammar needed editing. This is a remarkable improvement.
After a doctor visit two days before the orthopedic appointment, his primary doctor prescribed something for his depression. I gave it to him last night. He woke up around two and called for me. He had a nightmare and his leg felt hot and it was spinning around and fell off. I comforted him, put some Eucerin on his calf and massaged it. He felt better and went back to sleep. He was upbeat all day and the first thing he told me at breakfast was to post the column he had emailed to the editor of the online paper. I couldn’t do it until after lunch because Dad had a brainstorm.
Dad wanted to go for a long drive. I told him I had to go across town. Mom, Dad and I got in the car, drove there but the business I had to got to was closed on the weekend. We stopped at Grandy’s and picked up his chicken fried steak without gravy and drove back home. Mom talked to Dad all the way home and asked him how he was feeling. Pointed out landmarks, the skyline, the view of the mountains in the distance and when we passed the golf course he used to go to, he let out a sigh and was very quiet. My father played golf three days a week before he fractured his hip. My brother was at home and had the whole house to himself. How I long for one day when I am alone.
Mom and Dad took a break when they got home for about 30 min. They got up and ate their lunch, then watched a movie on the TV in the living room. I went on a Sonic run for their Junior Burgers (no cheese). Dad wanted Johnny’s Barbecue Sandwich, but they were closed. The rest of the night was fairly quiet.
My father has established a routine. He goes to bed with Mom about 7:30, wakes up about 2:00 and asks for his pain medication, but we give him Tylenol instead. He goes back to sleep until 5:30, gets up and shaves and goes back to sleep until 7:00-8:00. When he went back to , he slept on his side with a pillow between his legs and his legs. The doctor had told us what steps to follow but I had to remind Dad. I told him he should stop socializing and listen to what the doctor says so he can remember what the instructions are. Dad’s memory is great and he remembers facts and dates (doctor appointments) and is in the process of establishing a new schedule.
I love my Mom. She has been trying so hard to stay on top of things, to keep Dad alert and happy. My mom, for whom I’ve been a caregiver for 1 1/2 years, has returned to the Mom I knew during my childhood.
