Carolyn Ruth Hunt
Residence: 5343 Hamilton Ave, HP 2217, Cincinnati, OH 45224
513-853-2974
Website: CarolyRruthHunt.com
Dear
My life this year has been very routine, one day being pretty much like the next, and some better or worse than others, but most changes have not been for the better. The good days come from calls and visits from friends and family, afternoons with symphony and opera on WGUC, and some very caring nurses and aides. The bad days come from the lonely days and the impatient, uncaring aides, of which there are too many. Just like you hear on the national news, nursing home staff are leaving because they are not paid enough and they are having added work dumped on them. We used to have 2 aids per shift for 15 people and now there’s only 1 aid per shift for 15 people. So they have ½ the time to do more intensive work to care for me with my blindness. More work and less care. Nobody is very happy.
Healthwise, in January I had a severe negative reaction to a medication for a small UTI infection. The doctor insisted I take the antibiotic (Bactrim). I said no, I’m allergic, but he insisted. My reaction to the second pill presented in my kidneys and I got very, very, sick. Then, of course, he believed me. They had to give me a drip for 36 hours for dehydration and even though the doctor took me off of the Bactrim, I was sick for two weeks and it took me a good month to get back to normal.
I had an ischemic attack and had strange visual hallucinations. I knew something was wrong but they wouldn’t go away. I was able, through tremendous effort, to get to the eye doctor to check my glaucoma, which has progressed so that I can now only see shadows in front of a bright back light. The visual hallucinations were a normal symptom of the progression of the glaucoma and, gratefully, they have since stopped.
Generally, my energy has declined quite a bit and my neuropathy in my hands and feet has gotten worse. The medication that I take to relieve the pain from the neuropathy, Gabapentin, messes with my mind and my memory, so I take as little as possible and try to endure the pain.
My dear friend Liz Ragouzis passed away in March. Liz and I both sang in the Emmanuel Choir since 1962, and for the last 20 years she has attended the Cincinnati Symphony with me and Annette. The memorial service was held in September at Emmanuel Presbyterian and through the miracle of technology and help from Annette and her daughter Caroline, I was able to attend the memorial virtually. I was also able to visit with her son Edgar on the phone and her daughter Mary came to visit me in November.
They’ve kept us pretty much isolated until this spring. We’ve been open and closed and open and closed as COVID was caught in a resident or employee. It was December 28th when Twin Towers residents were able to get the first Pfizer vaccine. Three weeks later I got my second shot and my booster this November.
I’ve only gotten to see Willa once or twice since the COVID shutdown, once was on my 91st birthday. Willa, Annette, and Caroline visited and brought a birthday cake while Susan attended my birthday “party” virtually.
In November, Susan and Daniel drove from High Springs in North Florida towing their 5 x 6 foot trailer behind their Honda Element and loaded it up with my files, pictures, and slides from my small storage closet and room. Susan found my box of family history documents that I thought I had lost in the move to nursing care. I am really, really grateful for all of the work that they did. It was slow getting that heavy trailer back down to Florida. Those boxes will give us more material to add to the website. We’ve done a lot of work on it since last year and we’ll be adding a lot more in the coming months. Check it out at carolynruthhunt.com to see how it’s developing.
I have really enjoyed the letters, phone calls, and visits that have come throughout the year from everyone. Please keep them coming. They are the highlight of my days. The best time to call me is between 2:15 and 4 o’clock, any day.
While my life has not been great this year, I have so many happy memories from my life to dwell on, recent and distant, with all of my friends and family. My life just wouldn’t have been the same without you in it.