The Right Place

Sometimes in life you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and at others providence has a different plan.

Yesterday I was sitting in the sun in front of Tully's enjoying the stunning afternoon weather and a woman who was my mom's age said hello. I smiled back and returned the greeting. We exchanged some pleasantries and I invited her to sit and share my table. She must have needed a friend because she talked my ear off for over two hours. Mind you she wasn't a crazy nut-job, but the wife of a pastor who needed a friendly ear.

I honestly wasn't doing anything, I had no where to go and could tell that simply by listening to her I was giving her something. Her story telling ability was wacky - she would start in on her story and then give me ALL the back story on the people- which meant it was hard to follow. I am afflicted with that a bit in my verbal story telling and will try to remember that it's hard on the listener.

In the end when I finally had to break away, she hugged me and thanked me for listening. You're welcome talking lady.

Today in a last minute decision I opted to give away my matinée tickets to the Ballet. I've seen this particular show a couple times and it is great, but since we attended the Ballet Tuesday an are going again Friday my heart wasn't in it. I've capitalized on my free time by having a leisurely lunch with friends, started tentative planning for the 40th birthday blow out (save the night of August 9th folks, I'm buying drinks) and by taking a nap.

I was enjoying the mid-day shut eye when the phone woke me up. The caller id was St. Joseph's Hospital (Aunt E's home for the last 3 weeks) so I picked up (I only screen calls from unlisted numbers.) On the phone was E's doctor and we were able to spend about 30 mintues discussing her care, her current status and the plan of action. Had I been (asleep) at the ballet, I would have missed the opportunity to speak with the doctor when he was in a place to give the attention and focus that resulted in some serious decisions that I feel good about. Talking with the nurses is good, but with the exception of the first gal they have all been a little sugar coated with their opinions of her status. I appreciate the positive attitude, but when making decisions I need to hear both sides of the equation.

The end result, if you're interested, is that E has been placed on a DNR. We'll still pursue the course of antibiotics and will discuss the surgery with the neurosurgeon in three weeks, but if she has an MI then we will let nature take its course. The doctor said that if she had an MI the chances of bringing her back is almost none and if they were "successful" that the impact to her brain function would be (his word) catastrophic. This wasn't a hard decision.

The decision about the neurosurgery will be harder, and I told the doctor that I would prefer to come up and have the consult with the neurosurgeon in person. I'll make some phone calls this week to see if I can't get some time with him.

Lastly, (and totally off topic) I dug out the stash of flip-flops for the spring and summer season and am devastated - a slight exaggeration- to discover that most are too big. Damn the smaller foot!