30 - Sunday, January 31, 1993 - North Shore News

A lesson in comeuppance

THERE HAVE been times in my life when | had serious doubts that anyone was really in charge. Chaos laced with indifference seemed the paramount force‘at work.

Eleanor Godley ages

Yet for the long haul, when you cast back over the years, the patterns coalesce, the connections, tenuous as hope, come clear, and you have to marvel.

There is no such thing as accident. The uneven course of life is so described for lack of, nerve to acknow!- edge cosmic presumption.

So when the concrete jumped up and ambushed me, I didn’t think of it in

terms of a corrective exer- .

cise. J thought of it in terms of a pitiful ‘‘why me?’ It’s been during the ensuing pain, _ frustration that I’ve begun to realize I needed a lesson in comeuppance.

«. ve been. having a. nice

old age, see?

Sleeping well, my faculties mossy with the years, but functioning. Able to walk where fancy and my arteries. agreed was suitable, and having this little job of work to do each week, keeping’ me_ involved and. curious.

Pretty lucky.

But only coasting on the top. An observer; not a participant. I. saw the canes and the prosthetic devices. I “ pushed the wheelchairs and ‘fetched and carried. Ready

boredom and_ sheer.

THE VINTAGE YEARS

any time to soothe and cater to and try to rally and

‘all the time the angels knew

I hadn’t the message.

That’s. why they were fed up with me and. delivered the shove that would get me

on the inside.

really got

To be injured or stricken with the palsy is one thing; to be old and in that condi- tion multiplies the dependency, emphasizes the infirmity.

You’re thinking, ‘Well, of all people, she has all the numbers, she’s got all the pamphlets, all she has to do is look at the list.’ I did. I looked at the list, but I'd

fallen on a Saturday morn- ing.

[ assumed that Monday would be my first chance to arrange for help at home.

Monday I started to call, It was Thursday before | made a connection — and then only through a periph- eral assistance of which I was unaware.

I was practically gibber- ing by this time after Home Support for four days could only report ‘‘unavailable’’ or. '“in a meeting.’? Then so‘neone would say, ‘‘Any message?”’

Yes.

Help.

Why isn’t this initiated in the emergency departure? “Will you need help?’’

The hospital has already set up its own marvelous quick response team for serious injuries.

Those patients: go home with an escort who stays overnight and observes and arranges for beyond. It costs, of course, but no matter what degree of care one gets, it costs.

The quick response brings with it peace of mind and slams. the door on_ the ‘What will I do?” blues.

Well, they say I fell through the cracks.

Let’s hope those cracks aren’t just papered over, but get properly filled and sanded to save tripping up the shaky aged and infirm, before the next hard winter.

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