The next two days drastically changed in terms of the focus. We were very grateful we were in Rochester to be helpful, as well as Patti’s sister. Paula was back from her leg cabin to get some dental work done and so she was available. And then the main stay was Patti’s brother, Perry. He lives three blocks away from Mom and is her primary caregiver. He does an amazing job.
The next two days consisted of taking shifts of spending time with our mother at the local hospital. There was a whole variety of doctors and providers and social workers and anesthesiologist who needed to come and meet with her and create a care plan. It was decided that on the ninth she would have a surgery getting several pins and screws put into her ankle. The main concern was, she could not put any pressure down on that leg with those fractured bones moving around. There was lots of pain and it was a pretty confusing process. It’s not easy as an elder to be in pain and in the hospital. Especially with so many people coming in and out of your room all night.
Patti, Paula, and Perry worked together as a team splitting shifts to have time there with Mom.
The plan also included once she’s released from the hospital that she would need to go to a rehab care center rather than return to her home right away. This is very disappointing to her, but she is going to need to be in a wheelchair and get serious rehab. So there are lots and lots of steps that needed to happen working with the social worker and finding who had openings and making plans.
The surgery happened first thing in the morning of the ninth and went well. So following an opportunity to be at the hospital a little bit when she was out of recovery, Perry, and Paula supported Patti and Dick continuing on our way, as was our original plan. We needed to start our journey home which will happen over the next week and a half and include about 3000 miles.
Early afternoon on the ninth brought us to Minneapolis. We could see a variety of signs that clearly linked to the struggle with ICE earlier in the year. South Minneapolis, where we are staying, was a the heart of ICE action, including where they killed two people. We will visit those sites over the next few days. We found our Airbnb home in where we would settle in for several days of resting and visit visiting friends.
The visit to Rochester didn’t end the way we had hoped. But we were grateful to be able to do our part in helping to care for Patti‘s mom as well as to do some things like cleaning the house and clearing out the refrigerator since she was going to be gone for a while. Oh, it’s so hard to be so far away from family as we all age.
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