Bruce MACLEOD
Special to the Tribune
In April this year Monica Lamb-Yorski wrote a very good article on how appreciative I was to the nurses on the 2nd floor at CMH, and I have for some time wanted to compliment the transition team that helped me get out of the hospital and into the community. This involves talking about things I am not comfortable with, so I will give it a shot and see what happens.
On March 22nd I was admitted to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital for a serious infection in a wound from a pressure sore which has been plaguing me since 2012.
This was the injury that got the best of me, and before long I had to accept the fact that I would not be returning to my home again in this lifetime; I would have to move to Williams Lake after first locating an accessible accommodation of some sort. I had a sleepless night while I made the decision to move to where I could access Home Care. This would give my son John who has dressed my wound twice a day since October 2015 a much needed respite.
I had a fantastic transition team composed of Janet, Darlene and Tracy as well as the wound care team headed up by Treena to figure out how my wound care and home care could work together to keep me ambulatory. They put me in touch with Darcy who just happened to have an accessible apartment for rent, and just like that, on May 1st I found myself in a new home.
My son and daughter organized all the furniture, bedding, dishes, shelving, and moved it all to my apartment so all I had to do was unpack and put it all away which took about ten days.
So now I know what it feels like to not be in control of my own future, and to be dependent on the system we all pray we will never get caught up in. It is a huge matter of acceptance that until now, I had never quite realized how difficult.
Like most people in my situation, I am leaving behind my two dogs and my cat, my gardens, my cronies at the hardware store’s coffee corner, all of the community organizations I was active in, the friends at the seniors organization, and leaving Horsefly where I had the best years of my life as a kid until September 1958, and now as an adult since August 2006.
I realize I’m still grieving my wife who was with me for almost 49 years, and without whom I would have had a much tougher road to travel, and while I am able to get by on my own, the empty hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach is there if I let myself think about what I have lost.
I’m guessing every senior at the Village and the other senior’s retirement places with meals and Care Aids goes through this feeling of loss that I am currently experiencing, never mind the financial impact on a fixed income.
None of my stuff I need on a daily basis is covered by Pharmacare, plus suddenly I am paying a whole lot out on rent.
Everyone asks me how I like my new place; well the place is fine, but “like” is a pretty strong word. I can’t say as I’ll ever be “happy”, but I will get by, and do it as cheerfully as I can manage, the same as all my peers in the same boat.