Friday, February 18, 2005
JUNE AND JULY....1987
Mom wasn’t feeling well the first part of the month and I was becoming more concerned as time went by. Although she was checked routinely at WC I decided to take her to the doctor at his office. She had fluid around her lower lungs and an irregular heartbeat. Dr. Smith gave her a good going over, a shot and some medication. I brought her out to the house and kept her the rest of the day….then took her back to WC. She continued to feel better after that.
John, Barb and LJ were visiting in Kansas City and arranged to meet us in Springfield for a day of visiting and gadding. We packed as much as we could into the time we had and then they drove back to KC. Warren’s sister wasn’t doing well with her cancer treatments and her four girls planned a family surprise party for her in July.
In all honesty, I was beginning to feel the stress of mom’s failing health, Warren’s off-the-wall medical emergencies and working full time. Thrown in with all that was constant company, dinners, church activities, and trips for funerals or illness in our families. The humidity of June made work unpleasant to ride around in vehicles all day with few of them having AC. I was looking for a way to lighten up or I knew I would soon run out of steam.
Mom had to have a lower GI series at the hospital in West Plains the next week. I worked but went to see her after supper and she looked better out of her eyes and seemed to be feeling better. June 25th we heard that Jackie Gleason died ….I really hated that. He had been one of my favorites for years. He was a very funny man but also a good actor in the serious roles I saw him in and equally good at directing music. I just loved the guy….his gregarious nature made me laugh. Inch by inch many of my favorite people were disappearing….it was a sad time but the beginning of lessons to be learned about departure.
Before the month ended we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary, Jonathan, our grandson, was involved in a car wreck ….rear ended by a young girl, and his cousin turned his dad’s pickup over and was in the hospital a few days. Not long before, he had performed an excellent driving test with me as the Examiner…..it happens all the time. Kids go through the motions knowing they’re being tested but the minute that driver’s license is in their hands they go wild. Every so often a kid was killed just weeks after a driving test. Scott was one of the lucky ones.
Warren had more symptoms of Bell’s Palsy so went to the doctor and was given steroids and an eye patch to use….since we caught it early it didn’t have the serious effect of his earlier case. He bought tickets for our trip to Seattle which would be coming up later in the month of July. John finally had the surgery on his left eye and we were relieved to hear it was over and went well. It would take some time to know the full extent of improvement.
On the 23rd of July we flew to Seattle for the surprise birthday party. We hit a snag in Phoenix as the radar went out in the control tower and instead of a 2-hour layover we were there for five. We were concerned because Louis and Gail were picking us up at Sea-Tac and we were hoping they were informed of the delay. By the time we arrived we were relieved to find they were still there…..they took us home and fixed a good supper and we spent the night.
The next morning Warren’s brother-in-law came to pick us up and we had a pretty drive on out to Issaquah….a bevy of relatives had already arrived and Dee looked bad but was in high spirits. The cancer had taken a toll on her but you would never know it. She laughed and enjoyed the hilarity the guys produced with competition in games and story-telling. The next day the guys all went fishing together and had a ton of fun. We gals put Delores in a wheel-chair and took her to a quaint little village where houses had been restored into shops and had a good lunch. We didn’t do a lot of shopping because it was an expensive area.
The next day was Dee’s 57th birthday and we knew it would be her last. We were a group of about 2-dozen and the day was very special. That evening Jim took us back to Louis and Gail’s…….we had a fine supper and early the next morning we said goodbye to Louis…..Gail dropped us at the airport on her way to work. We didn’t know it but it would be our last visit to Seattle…….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
John, Barb and LJ were visiting in Kansas City and arranged to meet us in Springfield for a day of visiting and gadding. We packed as much as we could into the time we had and then they drove back to KC. Warren’s sister wasn’t doing well with her cancer treatments and her four girls planned a family surprise party for her in July.
In all honesty, I was beginning to feel the stress of mom’s failing health, Warren’s off-the-wall medical emergencies and working full time. Thrown in with all that was constant company, dinners, church activities, and trips for funerals or illness in our families. The humidity of June made work unpleasant to ride around in vehicles all day with few of them having AC. I was looking for a way to lighten up or I knew I would soon run out of steam.
Mom had to have a lower GI series at the hospital in West Plains the next week. I worked but went to see her after supper and she looked better out of her eyes and seemed to be feeling better. June 25th we heard that Jackie Gleason died ….I really hated that. He had been one of my favorites for years. He was a very funny man but also a good actor in the serious roles I saw him in and equally good at directing music. I just loved the guy….his gregarious nature made me laugh. Inch by inch many of my favorite people were disappearing….it was a sad time but the beginning of lessons to be learned about departure.
Before the month ended we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary, Jonathan, our grandson, was involved in a car wreck ….rear ended by a young girl, and his cousin turned his dad’s pickup over and was in the hospital a few days. Not long before, he had performed an excellent driving test with me as the Examiner…..it happens all the time. Kids go through the motions knowing they’re being tested but the minute that driver’s license is in their hands they go wild. Every so often a kid was killed just weeks after a driving test. Scott was one of the lucky ones.
Warren had more symptoms of Bell’s Palsy so went to the doctor and was given steroids and an eye patch to use….since we caught it early it didn’t have the serious effect of his earlier case. He bought tickets for our trip to Seattle which would be coming up later in the month of July. John finally had the surgery on his left eye and we were relieved to hear it was over and went well. It would take some time to know the full extent of improvement.
On the 23rd of July we flew to Seattle for the surprise birthday party. We hit a snag in Phoenix as the radar went out in the control tower and instead of a 2-hour layover we were there for five. We were concerned because Louis and Gail were picking us up at Sea-Tac and we were hoping they were informed of the delay. By the time we arrived we were relieved to find they were still there…..they took us home and fixed a good supper and we spent the night.
The next morning Warren’s brother-in-law came to pick us up and we had a pretty drive on out to Issaquah….a bevy of relatives had already arrived and Dee looked bad but was in high spirits. The cancer had taken a toll on her but you would never know it. She laughed and enjoyed the hilarity the guys produced with competition in games and story-telling. The next day the guys all went fishing together and had a ton of fun. We gals put Delores in a wheel-chair and took her to a quaint little village where houses had been restored into shops and had a good lunch. We didn’t do a lot of shopping because it was an expensive area.
The next day was Dee’s 57th birthday and we knew it would be her last. We were a group of about 2-dozen and the day was very special. That evening Jim took us back to Louis and Gail’s…….we had a fine supper and early the next morning we said goodbye to Louis…..Gail dropped us at the airport on her way to work. We didn’t know it but it would be our last visit to Seattle…….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
