Thursday late, our friends, Gary & Vonda, he 80, she 77, arrived in Bullhead City from South Bend, Indiana, on a junket flight paid for by the Riverside Hotel. 4 days, 3 nights room included, round trip flight, free. Vonda was thrilled by the prospect, Gary less so, as he is having more and more difficulty getting around, though not disabled. The two are as dis-alike personality-wise as a loving cat and a vicious dog. We spent Friday with them. Saturday morning, Vonda called, Gary had been sick all night with chest pain. By noon Saturday, he was in ER. Confirmed heart attack. Today, Sunday, scheduled to return to Indiana, he underwent triple stent surgery. We spent much of the last day of 2017 at the hospital. Their son, Jared, and his lady friend, had accompanied them on this charter. They left tonight by air, bound for South Bend, Indiana, will drive Gary's SUV home, amidst near-zero temps. with snow. Riverside Hotel acknowledged Vonda's request regarding their being unable to fly back, and gave her a room for tonight and tomorrow night. How we feel for her! We will drive her tomorrow to pick Gary up at the hospital, and she and he will hash out the details of their planned return home. He wants to rent a car, and drive back home immediately; she wants to remain here about a month longer. (wise choice, but chance = near zero.). Given the unknowns regarding Gary's health status, 3 new arterial stents, the severe weather threat possible across northern Arizona and New Mexico, we think his hard-headed defiance against recuperating here is inexplicable. That's Gary. Vonda has given up on defying him; lost cause. How this pans out, we'll see in the next few days. Frank EDIT: Happy New Year Wishes to our visiting friends, despite the disparaging turns of events.
What a nightmare! Hope they get home okay but that's scary. Happy New Year @Frank Sanoica ...I hope their new year starts better than it ended.
Just echoing what the other said.... horrible , and frightening situation for your friends...and I hope their son got home safely too...
oh Good Lord... that's horrible.. he's only a similar age to my daughter, and I can't imagine how the parents must have felt to see their son have a heart attack so young..much less 2.. but thank you for the update Frank, we can only pray for the well-being of the entire family..
Life is not always a bowl of cherries, is it? And the best laid plans of mice and men don't always work out. Hope things get better as days come and go. How's the overhead rack coming along?
@Von Jones Thank you, so much, Von. Appreciate other's feelings beyond any way I can express it here, only words. Frank
@Bill Boggs Well, the overhead work is rather "suspended", I guess. Priorities. Do the most-needed stuff first, the lesser-needed awaits conscription. Frank
Update. My wife secured flight for the two back home to Ft. Wayne, direct non-stop, but out of Mesa (AZ), 300 miles from here. Flying in to Ft. Wayne is no piece of cake, everything must go through either one airline's "hub", or another, meaning connections in Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth, or Chicago. Allegiant Air flies direct non-stop Phoenix-area (300 miles southeast of us) to Ft. Wayne, very reasonable fares, except that Mesa airport is very obscure and remotely-located. Thus, a rental car will take them to Mesa from here Friday, overnight stay down there somewhere, leave Mesa Saturday 1PM. Right into Ft. Wayne, instead of the South Bend original destination, 70 miles from home. Ft. Wayne airport is ~ 20 miles from their home. These folks are 77 and 80 years old, remember. Sound mind, and nearly-sound body, but, Jeez, think how taxing this sort of thing is for the old. I give them A+++ for their spunk and veracity. The guy had a heart attack. His wife is, was, beside herself, understandably, yet with just a bit of help from us they weathered the storm. Thanked us repeatedly. Our response was, if the tables were turned, they'd do the same for us! Frank
Sure hope things go good with both of them. My wife and my personality and interests are so similar, it can be scary. She has been there for all three surgeries I had and helped me thru the Rehab as well. She is definitely a "God-Send"!
My husband and I were as different as night and day but we shared LOVE. Who wouldn't be there for someone they loved? I was there for his surgeries, chemos, radiation therapies and the last year of his life being bedridden. I had hospice helping me for 6 weeks and then he died. I learned how to change a colostomy bag and all the other bags and how to change his sheets while he was still in the bed. You do what you gotta do. I spent a lot of time in Hospitals visiting him...his last stay he was in ICU for 2 weeks in San Francisco and then 2 more weeks in a regular room. We were a 4 hr drive from SF and it wasn't easy. The days I went from Fresno I stayed at a scary motel at the bottom of the hill from the hospital. Other times I would do day trips from my daughter's house because she only lived 2 hrs from SF. Although my husband didn't have to ever be a caregiver for me since I was never even in a hospital, I know he would have done it without question. That's what love is all about...good times and bad.