It does seem like kind ….
It does seem like kind of a silly thing to be doing on a Friday morning, but I have to start sometime on my column. Actually it is the first writing of the new year as last week’s was written in the waning days of 2021. And like I said, I’d kind of like to forget that year.
Later on this morning they tell me I have a doctor’s appointment. I don’t think there is a doctor here, so it is kind of scary to think I may have to go outside. Time will tell.
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I was telling a story the other day that went back a lot of years. Our newspaper association always held a winter meeting at Stevens Point. We met at the Holiday Inn and many of us came on Thursday evening and didn’t leave until Sunday. We really didn’t care what the weather was.
However it always seemed to work out to be about the coldest weather of the winter.
A guest at our meetings was generally the president of the National Newspaper Association (NNA). This year he was from Kentucky and remarked about our 20 below weather. He said in Kentucky, when it gets down to zero, everything shuts down and we huddle around the fire to stay warm. Here it is 20 below and your school buses are running and business seems to go on as normal.
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Well, now that was different. I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment, just an appointment with the Heart Failure Center. A van came and picked me up at the Rehab Center and away we went. He delivered me right to the clinic door and there were lots of helpers around to get me in. Someone wheeled me down to the center and I met with the nurse, Jolen, who assured me things were going well, but come back in a month.
Then it was back to the lobby and the hunt began at looking for the van to take me home. I was getting lots of help from the lady at the front desk.
After she got things squared away she told me she was a Schoonover. I can tell you she was just as nice as her Mom.
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Did you hear about the Bear fan, Lions fan and Viking fan who were seen walking into a bar? They were on their way to watch the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.
ÓÓÓÓÓ Life never seems to get boring laying around in my bed. If I get too comfortable someone will come in and suggest we go to therapy. It is part of the program and it sure makes me feel better. But, I can tell you they really know how to put you through the paces.
Another thing I discovered was learning about the flashing light atop a tower located on the south side of 29 about half way between the Rehab Center and County Trunk P. In the daytime it flashes with a white light. After dusk it turns to red.
I was telling Sue about this one day when she called. She looked it up on her handy dandy phone/camera and what else, she came back with the answer. That is true as they believe red is too hard to see on a bright sunny day.
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Once they found the van driver I got loaded and started the trip back.
I can tell you the driver knew his way around. At Unity he turned onto County Highway K. I’ve driven that lots of times so I knew what he was up to. At County Q he headed north to N, then over to E and in minutes we were back on Highway 29 home. That is to the Rehab Center.
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As the driver unloaded me and wheeled me into the building I was a bit startled to read the new signs that had been posted regarding the new Covid-19 outbreak resulting in more shut-downs.
How can that be, I thought. I had my third shot in November and just assumed everyone else was in the same process. Yet I discover there are still many who haven’t had any preventative shots.
So what is the hang-up? What are those people without the shots trying to prove? Is it they want to get the virus? And worse yet, pass it around like free candy on Halloween?
I was telling the nurse in the Heart Failure Center about the weird situation I ran into during my stay in the hospital. She explained there is such a shortage of medical people they are bringing help in from all over the country, just to help out.
I am ever so thankful for the time Florence spent in the Health Care Center that I was able to see her every day. Or at least, every day I could make it. What must it be like to put a loved one in a nursing home and never see them again? So get your shots and let’s lick Covid-19.
