Nine Lives

My sister, Shirley, has been much been bedridden for over three years now, after a fall, a broken femur bone  requiring surgery  and a rod; a second fall and surgery; two or three emergencies with her lungs and breathing condition.  Until she got some kind of contagious infection, she could go to the dining room for meals. Five or six months now, she has been isolated in her room.  All visitors have to don gowns and gloves to see her.

Last week, her oxygen level was in the 70’s, she had a fever and they feared the end was near. The hospice nurse, who happens to be our sister Lucy’s grandson-in-law, told Keenan, her son, that Shirley’s visiting days are pretty much over.  Hospice gives you more options than the nursing home can, by law, so her children called an emergency conference phone pow-wow and decided to keep her on oxygen but not treat the pneumonia with antibiotics. The Nursing Home had already started her on a new antibiotic for the infection so they continued with that.

DeRay and Eddy stopped by to see her on their way to Vegas on Saturday. Imagine our surprise, when DeRay had her talk to us. Verla happened to be here. Her voice was cheery. I can’t tell you how that lifted my spirits. I thought I was ready for her to die because she has always been an active, energetic person and three years is a long time to lie in bed.  To hear her voice and see how glad I was to talk to her, made me realize I how thankful I am that she’s still here.

The next day, Keenan, called and said that his mother had miraculously recovered. Her oxygen is in the 90’s, her fever is gone; she’s alert; and did I want to talk to her? Oh my goodness, yes! “Shirley, I think you have nine lives!” She talked about the rain and about DeRay stopping by. He didn’t even gown up. He just walked in.

As we hung up, she said, “Love you, Jeanette.”

Calling me by name, after her brush with death, melted my heart.

As I was telling this story to Brooke and Karlton

when they stopped by as they were

out teaching Karlton to drive a stick-shift,

Karlton asked what life she is on now.

“About seven, I think.”