❤️HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
I guess it’s time to Post – it’s been two month since my last Post sending birthday greeting to Barrie. Because we hope to be busy toward the end of the month, an early birthday shoutout (2/23/24) to TOM HAWKINS. So time for catch up with a nice New Year’s tribute followed by the Odyssey (and “odd” it is) of Bill and Barrie’s Homeless Tour.
I know that New Year’s has come and gone, but watch and listen to the crossover Norwegian soprano Sissel ring in the new year.
On December 1st, Bill was in day 39 (of a total of 51) at Gulf Coast Hospital Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for the repair and rehab of his fractured ankle. But we knew that our Bell Tower Park home closing was scheduled for December 1, and that change of possession was scheduled for December 20. So while Bill was lolly-gagging at the hospital, Barrie was hard working on the packing of our household goods (HHG) for their first destination – storage – pending their ultimate (sometime) destination, “The Home on Po’ Farm Road”, a/k/a The Oaks at Cypress Cove Continuing Care Retirement Community. On December 20, storage of our HHG occurred, and we became “homeless”.
On December 22, at 6:46 am, Bill was discharged from the hospital, and the two of us (Barrie and “boot”) headed to the airport to catch a 9:00 am flight to Houston. We spent 5 wonderful and delicious days with Greg and family in Montgomery, TX, including a one-day side trip to San Antonio and its Riverwalk, capping the holidays for us. We flew back to Fort Myers on the 27th and spent the first night of “true” homelessness at a Residence Inn.
The next day we began our epic journey of seeking to “share a couch” with friends present and past whiling away time awaiting completion of our home at the Oaks. Our first stop was in The Villages, specifically the home of Peter and Julia Coughlin, meeting up with Rich and Carol Occhuizzo for a Tarpley’s Tavern reunion.
Then on to the St. Augustine where we were to stay for the month with Roger and Nina Pitkin, navy pals for more than 40 years. In addition to the visit, Bill was looking forward to January 16th when his ankle was to be freed of the “boot” by a St. Augustine orthopedist. A (not so) funny thing happened, however, at the visit to the orthopedist’s office. The ankle was x-rayed once again, a nurse assistant (CNA) took Bill to the exam room, the physician assistant came in and looked everything over, and pronounced Bill bootless. That’s when the action (fun) began. The CNA could not get Bill to stand up, Barrie said I was catatonic, and she convinced someone to call EMS. EMS was across the street at Flagler Hospital, and arrived in about two minutes, strapped me in, and slapped on an IV. Off to the ER where the diagnosis was originally dehydration. By the time Bill was in a bed in the ER, the IV had done its job, and I could communicate OK. Later the diagnoses were changed to syncope (fainting) and chronic orthostatic hypotension. As a result, Bill was admitted to Flagler for testing on the evening of 1/16, discharged on 1/18. They are hopeful that a change to blood pressure med (primarily the diuretics) will help with the orthostatic hypotension issue. Upon discharge, Bill was doing fine, notwithstanding a hideous nagging cough.
The nagging cough continued for Bill back at Pitkins, so off to St. Augustine Beach urgent care where he was diagnosed as presented, a nasty cough. An X-Ray was clear, and we departed the Pitkins for The Villages and the home of Gaylon and Nancy Herndon, with a week’s worth of lasex and prednisone to tide us over.
Bill’s cough continued at Herndons, so it was off to Brownwood Urgent Care for more testing, leaving with a diagnosis of walking pneumonia and a new drugs. Not to be out done by Bill, Barrie presented to Brownwood UC for a sore throat and sinus iinfection; unanimity achieved. Bythe time we arrived at our next homeless camp at Barrie’s sister’s home in our old neighborhood in Fort Myers, Barrie was on the mend and Bill’s cough had abated, but (of course) a new sickness arrived at the scene; Bill had a compacted colon (full of it) that was treated at the ER at Gulf Coast Medical Center.
END OF PART ONE