CAR IS STEAMING AND I AM FUMING

     Little by little life normalized. Roberta seems to be in comparatively good health. Her wound bothers her a little, but only superficially.
 An advice nurse strongly suggested that I take Roberta to her Primary Physician. She even called Dr. Massen's office and insisted that they give us an appointment. A nurse called me back and said, we can come, as she put it: "Tomorrow (Friday), at 11."
   That evening Sonny and Serina went shopping. I hate it, when the phone rings, while the kids are out. Many times it means trouble!
     Their car stalled. After a while it turned on again, but on a hill near the house it began to shudder, and by the time they came home, smoke (or steam) billowed from under the hood.
     Which meant, another trip to the "car ER" for me!
     It also meant, I'd have to do some creative thinking in order to allow Taka to go to work and us being able to go to Roberta's and my appointments - all with one vehicle!
     Sonny drove Taka to work the next morning. I called the tow truck and followed it and my little Honda to the garage. Fortunately, I was free in time to get home, get Roberta dressed and for her to take a few sips of coffee before we left to the doctor's office.
     We made it on time, but after waiting for about 50 minutes (!) a nurse came out and said, the appointment was for next Friday!

     The advice nurse got us that time slot in the doctor's schedule, because Roberta hit her head in a fall, and you never know with this type of injury, if there would be nasty consequences. What sense does it make to make her appointment for a week later? Besides, she is 82 years old and had to sit in their highly uncomfortable chairs for almost an hour before someone deigned to tell her that, she was wasting her time!

Dr. Massen and his office workers

      I like Dr. Massen. I think, he is a good diagnostician and has the charisma necessary to help people. But his office workers! They misplace information, delay doing their duties toward patients and always have some feeble excuse, like: "We are very busy this morning" or "I know, I was supposed to call to a specialist for you, but I went on vacation!"
     Dr. Massen had to leave and couldn't see Roberta. We left (I - fuming!).
   

SUDDEN GUESTS

Mary's kid

     Roberta fell down and hurt herself on Sunday. On Tuesday we, usually, go to Mary's house to play mahjong. This week I had doubts, whether Roberta would be able to endure more than three hours out of her bed and next to Mary's very energetic and loud ten year old son, who is Roberta's partner in the game. Fortunately, she told me herself: "I don't think, I can stand that much excitement!"

     Serina also begged off from going there, so I went alone. The past week was very stressful, and I looked forward to de-compressing with my friends (more like acquaintances, since we only see each other on that one day a week).

     We just sat down at a mahjong table, when Sonny called. "I have a surprise for you" - he said - "Roberta's grandson came to visit her with his wife!"

     Roberta lives with us for three years. She has a daughter and two grandchildren in our area, who didn't make any attempts to not only see her, but even just to communicate with her. And now this guy chose the moment to come, when she is injured and my house is a mess!

     No, I didn't want to drive back home in a panic, torturing myself with the thoughts of what the visitors might think of us! I stayed at Mary's instead, torturing myself there!

     At home I put my best smile on and went to see Roberta. Her guests were gone already. She said: "I almost fainted, when Aaron came in my door!" 

Aaron is not her grandson from our area! He is the grandson, who lives with his family in Ohio! At first, I thought that, Roberta got confused again, but she was not.

     That was a different story! Although three years is too long for the children and grandchildren to ignore the woman who raised them (Roberta raised five of her grandkids, three of whom take part in this story), still, Aaron had a better reason for it, due to the distance between Ohio and California! I never expected to hear that he was the one who came over! Roberta also told me, they wanted to take us out for breakfast next morning. 

     Aaron and his wife were very nice. They are young and have a two year old boy, Ethan. He is a real charmer! At first he was shy, but eventually, seeing that his parents felt at ease, warmed up to us. He startled us by laughing with a deep voice, whenever we laughed, then began to flirt with Roberta and me, hiding coyly behind the table and then popping up again. All he says yet is: "Ah!!!" for "yes" and "Na!!!" for "no", but he seems to know exactly, what he is talking about!

     In other words, I fell in love! He has the bluest eyes I've ever seen and a disposition of someone, who knows, he is cherished by all.

     We chatted easily, while eating our breakfast. Roberta did well. She allowed me to put a kerchief on her head to hide the injury, so that she wouldn't scare the boy.  But she, I think, might've scared and saddened Aaron,because she often forgot, what she just heard and mixed up the names of her children. How sorry I am for him!

I say, Roberta looks like a mix
 between a buccaneer and Mother Teresa!

THE VALLEY OF THE WORSE

That's just an illustration:
our living room is not
that bad

     On Sunday morning I was making breakfast, when I heard a heavy thump. Thinking that Chickie overturned something on the table, I yelled at him, but in my heart I already knew, it wasn't him. I ran to the living room, where Roberta sat on the floor, holding hand to her bloodied forehead. She tripped over a wire and fell, hitting her head on a door handle.
     Emergency Room, here we come again!
     As I walked into her room, Roberta lay with her head swaddled in bandages and a cervical collar on her neck.  It took the usual 5-6 hours in the ER for her to be thoroughly examined, poked and prodded. Fortunately, though the wound looked terrible, she had no cranial damage, but still managed to get a spinal fracture. It sounds worse than it is and will heal soon.
   

 My dad fell down in his room, had an intra-cranial bleeding and died in the hospital. More and more I become aware of the possibility that, Roberta might suffer similar fate. Seeing her in a hospital bed with a big wound on her forehead put me in a state of terrible worry. I walked out to get a drink of water and bumped right into my friend, Asale! 

MaMa Asale

     She was there also, because an acquaintance of hers was in trouble. I guess, both of us experienced similar feelings of apprehension, because at once we fell into each other's arms and cried: "Oh, I'm so happy that you are here!" 
     We had a small interlude of comforting each other, and then she was gone. It was enough, though, to remind me: we are not alone in this world. 
     Roberta is at home now. The poor lady has a huge boo-boo on her head, but we both understand: it could've been much, much worse.