Last Friday we asked what he had wrought; less than 14 hours later he announces he is positive for COVID 19 and less than 24 hours after that he is on Marine One headed for Walter Reed! As the Director of Infectious Diseases at University of Nebraska College of Medicine says, keep washing your hands and wearing your masks because the chances that the rest of us will be immediately airlifted to a nearby hospital, pumped full of experimental drugs and surrounded be teams of top notch physicians is fairly slight!
As the weather here in Omaha has been cool with highs in the 50’s during the weekend, we spent evenings out under our new patio heater, enjoying the luxury. Although the week is to get warmer, we finished the weekend semi-preparing for cooler weather as Mark would be out of commission for helping after Wednesday evening. We enjoyed our weekly Eggs Benedict on Sunday and some homemade chicken salad from a compliant Costco chicken later. For Sunday dinner we ordered some home style Runza-type sandwiches( renamed “Aksarbens”) from our friend Colin Duggan’s Kitchen Table Restaurant, along with a dinner helping of his homemade lasagna. We dropped off some sandwiches and lasagna to Abigail and then rushed home to enjoy the meal. We enjoyed another load of caprese salad as a way to wipe out some of our tomato stockpile.
Monday, as the COVID survivor made a triumphant flight back to the White House and ceremoniously removed his mask in order to enter and infect more of his staff, we worked around the house readying for Mark’s upcoming surgery. Monday morning he had a teleconference with the nurse staff to update his medical information. In the afternoon, we had a surprise visit from Zoë, Iris and Esmè who brought Mark a homemade poster, covered with leaves, wishing him good luck. We then placed an order for Reuben Egg Rolls and a club sandwich to take to Deb and Tim Duggan’s patio for an evening dinner.
Deb’s Tuesday Drinks night was canceled due to illness and some prior commitments, so we worked in the yard until cocktail time, first driving down to the local service station to pick up Mark’s 2004 Subaru, which was in for a rebuilt starter transplant. We came home, tired and hungry, so wiped out the balance of the lasagna together with a salad and homemade dressing, topped with blue cheese.
Wednesday, Mark made his final visit to his co-gardeners at Hospice House and then we spent the rest of the day readying for the coming rehab. We pulled the box springs from our bed, thereby lowering it by 9 inches to allow for easier access, and switched sides (a real change after 35 years!) We pulled all the small area rugs to avoid tripping with the walker, and we watered the lawn in anticipation of the head handyman being out of commission for a time. Deb baked a brace of Apple pies for dessert and beyond; and our friends Lee and Howie stopped by for LaCasa pizza on our patio, but we ended early in order for Howie to get home in time for the vice presidential debate.
Thursday morning dawned with the sun shining brightly and Mark feeling jittery. Deb loaded him into the car for the drop off at the OrthoNebraska Hospital. Due to COVID, she is not allowed in the hospital nor can she wait during surgery; she headed over to Abigails’ to do some canning of pickles and peppers while waiting for the phone call announcing the outcome of the surgery. The surgery started at 10:30 and was done in 90 minutes. Mark was in his room and wide awake by 1:30. By 3:00 the nurses had him up and taking a few steps with the walker. Physical Therapy staff showed up to review his exercises, which he dutifully did while in bed.
Thursday night sleep was typical for a hospital stay, up every few hours to make sure the patient hadn’t died. Inability to roll over in bed because of the hip was also a problem. Finally fully awake at 3:30 A.M., he listened to Morning Edition until staff came in at 6:30 to help him out of bed and into the bathroom. Purposely skipping dinner the night before, he was ravenous and ordered a huge breakfast of turkey sausage, mushroom and Swiss cheese omelette accompanied by wheat toast, coffee and apple juice. very good if basic.
Meanwhile, back at the Ranch (houses), Abby finalized her refinancing with a notary and now will be not only debt-free (except for that pesky house payment, which is $100 lower), but will be able to put a deck on the back sooner rather than later. She definitely learned something from her parents even if it was only using your assets to finance your lifestyles. Deb had an uneventful evening fielding phone calls from all of Mark’s friends and relatives, assuring them that, yes, he had lived through it and promising that she won’t kill him over the next 6-8 weeks.
Friday morning the surgeon stopped by to say how easy and great everything looked. He had told Deb the afternoon before that Mark had great leg musculature and so would have a very easy recovery! Occupational Therapy, and physical therapy, with getting dressed and learning to negotiate steps went smoothly, and Deb arrived at 10:45 to ferry her hobbling Hobbit home. All is well and recovery begins.
As usual, wash your hands, wear your mask, keep socially distanced, and if you haven’t already, get those ballots in soon. Only 25 days until the election.
