Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
At the end of the last diary, Marianne was stuck upstairs, waiting for her right knee to get good enough for stairs. A few days later, and that part of the Folsom Fall was healed-enough. The fractured left elbow was still strapped and painful. No two-handed tasks. That's my job.
Speaking of medical complications, we learned from the oncologist that her chemo will be delayed for the two weeks after the fracture. The pills act by interfering with rapidly-dividing cells, such as cancerous ones, but cell division is also key to bone healing. It's all connected.
We are trying to re-establish "normal". The shift from normal to (partially) disabled and distraught happened in a split second. Beyond the immediate actions up in Roseville, it brought about a number of half-buried concerns about aging in general. We are both 78. We live by ourselves in an old, two-story home, with no relatives next door. Sooner or later, we need to transition, but where and to what situation? We don't have the million dollars it would take to move near daughter Gabby, unless we abandon most other activities. Nice travel, for example.
We have visited friends in transition care facilities and, while seemingly great for them, we did not feel ready for such a step. Post-fall, are we now? I don't think so, but ...
Might we consider a 55-and-over community of single-level homes? Maybe, but where? Fresno is just too isolated from family and long-term friends. No one visits. Understandable, I suppose, but where might it be different (and still affordable.) And do we need to relocate before, or after, the next disabling event?
Advice accepted.
Meanwhile, what are we doing? Socially, neighbor Jerri has visited a couple of times and that was especially good for Marianne. It will take some time before she can re-join her Zumba buddies. And art? Still limited to one-handed sketches. Not satisfying.
Yesterday, I manged two "social" events. First, I joined the biweekly "Geezer Zoom" organized by my old University of Portland fraternity. As usual, there were reports of aging events, but also the encouragement of recovered events. In at least every other meeting, someone recites the old saw: "Aging is not for sissies." True enough.
In the evening, I attended a gathering of the Better Blackstone organization, a local community-involvement group we had been a part of, pre-Covid. The mission had been to push for improvements along Fresno's old north-south main road and it was encouraging to be able to point to a few points of improvement. Too often, we are drawn to the miles of junky car shops, tattoo parlors, dollar stores, and such. I was reminded that change will take time. In think it is easier for younger people to have the required patience. The calendar is not favorable to others of us.
Otherwise, I am distracted by puzzles and YouTube. My chosen topics have daily developments I need to keep track of: electric transportation; the Ukraine-Russia war; US politics; historic food preparation; geography and geology. Hopefully, this keeps my head working.
The geology bit allows me to vicariously travel to Iceland and the current series of eruptions. Of course, I'd prefer in-person photography of spectacular travel destinations, but we do what we can.
Meanwhile, I trust Marianne's arm will heal enough for her to rejoin the ranks of active painters. And, after that, Zumba dancers.
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne