Fragile Please Handle With Care

As I finished up what I hope is the last of the packing of things to be taken to Boston, I was struck by how appropriate all that bubble wrap and those FRAGILE stickers are today.

Back in the middle of March, Mr. W's 93 year-old father (who lives in Florida) fell while he was out to dinner with friends.  He picked himself up, dusted himself off, and told everyone he was fine.   The next morning when he woke up, his back felt quite painful, but once again he dismissed it, and went about his normal routine.  After sitting at his computer for a while, he got up and went to the bathroom, where his back seized up and he fell again onto the tiled floor.  The poor man lay there, helpless, and unable to move for FOUR DAYS until the cleaning ladies found him.  At the hospital, he was diagnosed with dehydration, the onset of pneumonia (caused by lying for so long in one position), and compressed vertebrae.  He is now at a rehab center, and is scheduled to be transferred on Thursday from there to the nursing facility at the Assisted Living community where he lives. 

Mr. W's sister Peggy has been down in Florida managing the situation, as has another brother who was nearby in a rental home for the winter.  Peggy had to fly back to Massachusetts this weekend to meet other family obligations, and brother Peter has also now returned to Connecticut.  Sadly for Peggy, once she arrived home, she began to feel very unwell, and has now ended up in the hospital herself with a nasty case of pneumonia and some sort of as-yet unidentified blood infection.

So, tomorrow morning we will be flying down south to facilitate the transfer process and make sure Mr. W's father is comfortable and properly taken care of.  We'll be flying back at the end of the weekend, because we have commitments in Boston all of next week.  Lots of fragility and the need to be handled with care in this family!