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Care Partner
of the Month
-September/October Helaine was in very bad shape. I was still not sure if she would ever come home. Her right side was totally paralyzed, she had trouble swallowing, she couldn’t speak, and she was on a special diet. She couldn’t understand the simplest of words. She was very somnolent; that is, dazed. She stared in confused bewilderment if things did not move very slowly and quietly. I remember walking past the Social Service Office in the hospital. I was crying after being told by one of the doctors that Helaine might also need a liver transplant. I was dizzy. I had to sit down. I stumbled into the office where the social service person casually handed me a box of tissues. That was it, a lousy box of tissues! I wondered what it is that social service does. Perhaps the name should be changed as it was not a social place and it seemed that they did not offer any services. No one was there to comfort me. No one put their arm around me or told me that it would be alright! My ex-partner Sonny was there from the beginning, he never missed a beat. I get teary eyed now when I recall how Sonny brought the jewelry repair jobs to the hospital every Wednesday and Saturday night. He laid the jobs out on the bed and reviewed them with Helaine. She has no recollection of this today. He did not expect a response but it was his way of praying for her and refusing to accept that it was over. May God bless him!   |
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