Home Sweet Home

We got home from Dallas last Saturday evening and let me tell you, the best thing about that whole day was getting to sleep in my own bed. I swear, every time I get on an airplane I am convinced that the seats are smaller, with less room in the front and to the side than ever. The last time I flew it was to Dallas, and the way I feel now, I don't think I'll ever fly there again. (Sorry Nancy).

I have been inundated with phone calls and every one asks, "Did you have a good time?" My answer......."No." Of course they want to know why so I start out telling them that the first three and a half days were great, even though we didn't get to visit with my niece, Nancy, very much. She was so busy. The phone rang off the hook. It was either about her estate or the wedding. She is finally getting everything sorted out as far as her estate is concerned, but it's never really over, I think. I have told Dick that I am going to be very mad at him if he dies before me, even though our "estate" is very small.

I will have to say that the wedding was wonderful. David, the groom, had never been married and he was 41 years old and Nancy's "baby". His wife, Karyn, is such a lovely girl and we feel he really has a wonderful life ahead of him. The wedding was held in the Dallas Art Museum which is in downtown Dallas and it is a beautiful, very large place. We had to walk from one end of the building to the other, and I was beginning to feel sorry that I hadn't brought my wheelchair, but thankfully, they had one to loan me, so Dick got his exercise that night pushing me around, first to the wedding itself, which was beautiful. Then the reception was at the other end and was held in a super large place with a big stage for the band. The ceiling was very high and our nephew, Fred, got some pretty neat shots by going half way up the stairway to take some pictures. Of course, every time he turned around, he was taking photos with his really nice professional camera. The catered dinner was amazing and the wedding cake consisted of multiple small, super delicious cupcakes shaped like a large wedding cake. Terrific idea, I thought. We moved our chairs over a bit so we could watch the dancing and from that point everything went downhill for me. The band played a nice slow dance so Dick and I danced it and when he brought me back to sit in my wheelchair, I started to sit down (or so I thought) and for some reason, instead of sitting down, I must have lost my balance and I started to go forwards. I threw my left arm out as I was falling in that direction, and I landed on that hard floor on my left side. A few of the men wanted to try and help me up, but I told them I just wanted to lie there for a minute until I could take stock of my physical condition. I hoped nothing was broken. Finally, I let them help me up into my wheelchair and fortunately I didn't have to wait a super long time until it was time to leave. Of course we were one of the last ones to go and had to go through the ceremony of them throwing rose petals as the newlyweds as they exited the building. It was much prettier than rice. They brought the car around to me but not before my discovering that I had lost the center diamond in my wedding ring. I was doubly sick but Nancy assured me that David would fix it for me after he got back from the honeymoon. In fact, he did get to look at it, because I discovered it before we left the dining room. We did go right home and I went straight to bed. I was really hurting but I was so exhausted that I did sleep. The next morning I could hardly get out of bed and my ribs hurt so badly and my upper thigh had a huge bruise . I told Dick that I thought I had better go the the ER because I was having trouble breathing. I wanted to make sure that nothing was broken or that my lung hadn't been pierced. We got straight into the ER (not like here, where sometimes you have to wait for hours unless they feel you need to get in immediately) The doctor who took care of me was so nice. I told him that I had a grandson about his age who was in medical school and he seemed very interested and asked, "Which medical school ?" and I told him it was UC Irvine and he said, "Oh he must be very smart!" I bragged a bit and had to tell him that Todd was a straight A student. But I also told him that Todd was older and was 29. He said, "Oh that is how old I am." He looked me over and said he wanted to take Xrays and when he came in after getting the results he told me that I was very lucky that I hadn't broken anything. He was quite amazed that I didn't at my age. He also said I must have pretty strong bones. I have a huge hematoma that will not be healing any time soon, and he told me that I was going to be sore for a long time as sometimes when ribs are as badly bruised as mine are, it can hurt as bad as when the ribs are broken. He sent me home with instuctions to ice everything and wanted to give me pain medication. Of course I had to tell him I was allergic to all that stuff, so I have been having to tough it out. I can tell you that plain Tylenol doesn't even begin to make a difference.

Well, that is quite enough about my drama. Needless to say, I am extremely grateful that nothing was broken and I know that it will just take time. (I am still applying frozen gel packs daily and having Dick rub me nightly with Biofreeze. Thanks to those of you who recommended it). My gosh this had gotten way too long. Please forgive my not editing this. I am afraid that I type too fast and am prone to make mistakes, even though I am really a very good speller. I'm just too tired to sit here one more minute! Later..............................