Kick-Ass Kinda Girl by Kathi Koll

Author:Kathi Koll [Koll, Kathi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2018-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

Smiling through his challenge—forever the optimist

Early one Sunday morning after having been in the ICU for a few weeks, one of Don’s main doctors, Dr. Robert Shpiner, called me and asked if I could meet him in the cafeteria. My heart sank. Please no, I thought. Please no more bad news.

I could have asked any number of willing family members or friends to accompany me, but for some reason I felt that I needed to go alone and face whatever he was about to say to me. My gut said it wasn’t good. Dr. Shpiner was sitting at a table towards the back of the room. I took a seat across from him, and he uttered those dreaded words. “Does your husband have all his affairs in order?”

I was shocked at what I was hearing. This was UCLA. This was the place my husband felt confident in. They were going to fix him, save him. Why was Dr. Shpiner saying these dreaded words to me? Following my life-changing discussion with Dr. Shpiner believing Don wouldn’t last long, days rolled into weeks and then into months. Don defied the doctors yet again. He was gathering believers.

I never thought about our next step. I wasn’t counting the days, weeks, or months that we had been at UCLA. Time didn’t seem to exist. One afternoon, Dr. Vespa took me aside and said, “It’s time for Don to move. He’s stable, and we can’t do any more for him. We’re not a convalescent hospital.” I had no idea what to do. He scribbled a few suggestions on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

I was stunned. He wasn’t fixed. Where were we going to go? I called our good friend Dr. Ken Horacek who had been a sounding board to me from the start. He had a few suggestions, but few places take patients on a respirator. Our close friend Jim “Watty” Watson, who had been a source of strength to me and Don, visited one place for me, but afterward he called and said, “No way in hell can DK go there.” I was at my wit’s end. Don had no idea the dilemma we were facing, and I didn’t think it was wise to share it with him.

Two of my best girlfriends, Nettie Dart and Chery Horacek, Dr. Horacek’s wife, volunteered to visit some prospective places with me. There were only two that were willing to accept Don. The three of us climbed into Nettie’s car and took off. The first place was hesitant when they heard Don’s condition. The second was a little more willing and tried to console me by telling me that every afternoon Don would be wheeled into an arts and crafts session that they were sure he’d love. Arts and crafts, I thought, they have to be kidding. My husband, who a mere three months ago was traveling the world and running a successful business, was going to spend the rest of his life watching someone making teepees with Popsicle sticks?

The three of us walked to the parking structure.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.