Best Laid Plans

This day was all planned out. First, I was going to P.T. at 10:45. Dick and I were going to drop Jana at the airport at 12:30 and wave bye bye. Then Dick and I were going to go out to lunch.

Well, remember what Burns said about best laid plans? ("The best laid plans o'mice and men gang aft agley." [To a Mouse by Robert Burns, on ploughing up her nest, November, 1785])

Around 9:30 a.m. I got a panicky phone call from Betsy at Concord. She felt that Mother was worse and needed to see her doctor. I cancelled out of the P.T and headed for Concord Place. After various phone calls to Thirlby Clinic, it was decided to take Mother to Munson Emergency. Ann and Betsy helped me load Mom into the car, and the greeter at the Hospital put her in a wheelchair while I parked. Dick and Jana were left on their own to go to the airport.

We arrived at the E.R. around ll a.m., and it turned out to be a long, long afternoon. There were blood tests, X-rays, and various other tests. The final diagnosis is dehydration caused by flu-like symptoms. We talked to two doctors (an E.R. Doc and a Hospitalist), two nurses, two cleaning ladies, and one very accomodating volunteer.

In a prime example of polar opposites, the woman in the next bed was in the E.R. because of a drug overdose - actually drugs plus a mere pint of whiskey. And I was really glad that Mom is hard of hearing, because the language from the other side of the curtain was not exactly pristine.

Mom was finally put into her room at 5 p.m. The nurses on West 4 were just delightful and charming. Mom felt like Queen Victoria with all of the attention they lavished on her. It was paradise after the long, dull, uncomfortable hours in the E.R.

In the meantime, as more evidence of well laid plans ganging agley, as of 4 p.m., Jana was still in T.C. Her 1:30 takeoff never happened, and we still haven't heard the end of that story.

The moral of this day's story is Stay Flexible.