| Dear | December, 2020 |
My last letter covered 2018 and a short note about 2019 saying it would be my last. But by the love and grace of Susan Giles, I am able to tell you about the highlights and lowlights of 2019 and 2020.
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On Sunday, January 27, 2019 I got hit with a severe diverticulitis attack and had to call 911. As the EMTs wheeled me through the living room I remember looking intently at Willa locked in her cage looking mournfully out of the door of her crate. We locked eyes and I was off to the hospital.
My diverticulitis attack meant an excruciating colonoscopy and endoscopy and five days in the hospital. They brought me back to Twin Towers rehab where it was determined I could no longer handle even assisted living. In my Patio Home, I fought like crazy to stay out of assisted living: so hard I had to skip it entirely. At the end of April, 2019, I was moved into “Skilled Nursing”. I have one large 18’ x 18’ room and a large bathroom, already furnished with a dresser, armoire, and hospital bed.
Annette, with the help of her daughter Caroline, was left with the monumental task of cleaning out my patio home. Some things got saved, others went to storage and some things got thrown out, lost forever. Annette also helped me find the things I needed to furnish my room like a recliner lift chair and a small desk that I had hoped to be able to use more than I have. She also helps me get supplies that I need and in so many other ways.
Willa got adopted by Annette’s daughter, Caroline, and got to visit me once in a while until COVID hit.
In August 2019 Susan drove up from Florida and spent a week organizing important papers and pictures and taking an inventory of my stuff. She also helped me decorate my room with pictures and posters from plays that I’ve done, as well as my favorite paintings and memorabilia from my life. Although I can’t see it with my eyes now, I can see everything in my memory.
In October, my Munier family drove in from Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, Utah to visit me and cleaned out the storage shed with the rest of my stuff to be shipped back to Las Vegas. It was wonderful to see Robin, Suzanne, and Joe with his two children, because two weeks later, November 1, I went completely blind. They drove 30+ hours non-stop from Salt Lake City, visited for two days and then drove straight back home non-stop 30+ hours. I was so happy to be able to pass on family heirlooms during their visit.
My volunteer helper, Lori, worked with me between September 1 and the middle of December to help me send out my Christmas cards last year. And then COVID hit. On March 11, I left Twin Towers at noon to go to the eye doctor. When I came home at 4 o’clock, Twin Towers had gone on complete lock-down and I’ve been confined to my room since then.
The morning of my 90th birthday was spent with Susan (virtually), and some Twin Towers nurses, aides, and other employees who sang Happy Birthday to me as a birthday cake from Annette and flowers from Susan arrived. Susan also gave me a subscription to an online music service, and I spend Saturdays and Sundays relaxing and re-living my favorite musicals and operas using the Google Home speaker and Android phone that she set up for me earlier in the year.
Monday thru Friday evening I keep my mind alert by listening to MSNBC news and working on my memoires with Susan Tuesday and Friday afternoons.
If you do computers, I hope you will go to my website, carolynruthhunt.com, and see what we have done so far, not just my life, but for family history back into the 19th Century.
My phone number is 513-853-2974 and I would enjoy hearing from you. With COVID, things are so crazy around here, the best time to call is between 2 and 4 in the afternoons, except Tuesday and Friday when I’m talking to Susan.
We’ve just had the election and hopefully our government will get back to normal, being less like a reality TV show featuring a lying dictator and more like a serious democracy.
I hope all is well with you. I give many thanks to Susan Giles, who has done all of the actual work to get this card and letter sent out.
Carolyn Ruth