Home Visit
24 May 2003 (Saturday)
- Bethany, the headquarters building of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners (the new popular name of the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful) was quiet this morning when we left for the airport, partly because it was 6:00 AM but even more because almost all the delegates and members of the ALT + 5 had already departed. Bernie Butkiewicz drove Liz Mach and me to the Westchester County airport, and I was on my way to Louisville via Chicago. Westchester airport, for some reason, has the strictest security of all the airports I've been in around the world.
- My sister Mary and her three daughters picked me up at the Louisville airport about 50 minutes after I landed. My flight time had changed and I had forgotten to give them notice of my earlier arrival. But soon we were back in beautiful Pewee Valley with the sunshine that had been absent the past few days in New York.
Unfortunately right after we headed for the car, my mother mentioned that she thought she had had a TIA stroke in the church so we took her to the emergency room and spent the next six hours there. Finally the doctors decided to admit her for tests tomorrow which they couldn't do today because it is Sunday. They don't see her condition as serious or dangerous, though.
We spent another day at the hospital today. Mom finally got home at 6:45 PM, but basically nothing was done during the day in room 522. She had an enzyme test that proved she didn't have a heart attack, but everything else was canceled or rescheduled for other days so that finally they agreed she could come home and do everything on an out-patient basis. A bit frustrating--and boring for Mom. Here she is with daughter Mary Davis shortly before finally getting the word that she could go home.
Today was my sister Ann's birthday and some of the brothers and sisters gathered at our sister Mary's house. That's her husband Mike on the left, then Ann, and Mom.
These two days were taken up with medical tests for Mom and running around for some errands and lookiing for a few things I need to take back to Cambodia. A high point of the two days was when my brother Ray walked in, just returned from his trip to Wisconsin with his wife Tammy to visit another brother. I hadn't seen Ray since last fall, right before he got sick.
I don't have to worry too much about Mom being out on the streets. She has her friends come over for cards. Here's a picture of them hard at work. They're serious about their cards!