What A Wonderful Man

Slice 18

The first thing I noticed was that all he had on was the gown they give you and the bracelet my daughter made him. That’s her thing. She makes hundreds of bracelets and gives them to everyone. I wear them til they disintegrate but most people (understandably) put them on politely and soon after, they become a cute little trinket some kid gave them.

He’d been ambulanced here at 4:30 AM. I showed up from the gym after work after my aunt texted asking I bring my uncle some food. He’d been on guard from the beginning and since my grandpa had contracted covid I was told to stay away. Until now. And there he was at 6:30 PM, wearing the bracelet, in the same tiny, stuffy ER room he’d been told he’d be vacating for the first time back at 10 AM.

My brother found out he had covid after already being a caretaker in their house for the week. My grandma with Alzheimer’s had been in the hospital days previous but released fairly quickly. He’s going to be here a while I think. Her issue is mental, his is not.

He was finally given this room I’m writing this in at around 8:30 last night. 5 minutes after the nurses left an alarm about 9 inches from his head began blaring. Despite asking 3 times, no one came to shut it off for 20 minutes. After being told a third time someone would be right there I stood like an embarrassed hitchhiker in the hall, hoping the stuck out thumb of a look in my eye would get someone in the neverending stream of the shift switch river to stop and help since those clocked in hadn’t the time. But they were all already in civilian mode.

When I came in today he was sitting alone with that same alarm blaring in his ear. Things are more calm the day after St Patrick’s, imagine that, and the daytime version of the woman behind the counter came immediately to stop it and explain what was going on. Family had been calling all day and the issue was that the phone was broken and that got fixed in minutes as well.

A lot of it reminded me of my job. Of the viral clips circulating now via teacher pages of parents posting affirmations after sitting in classrooms for a day due to their children’s disrespect and talking about how they now have a new appreciation for teachers. About how it seems these days parents always believe their kids first and immediately go into attack mode when things aren’t on an Ivy League trajectory at 9 years old. Not that I think educators are saving lives like doctors and nurses, but there is some correlation. And with that in mind I tried to be as polite as possible with my frustrations over the way this man I loved who was in crisis wasn’t being treated with the same amount of urgent importance I have for him.

He married into the family after my mom and her siblings’ father had died very young. He’s the only grandfather I ever knew. Pop. He was an iron worker well into his older years. Tough as hell, but super silly and loving too. He taught me a lot, and never flinched a second when I needed help from childhood into my forties. So many memories. He’s my guy. And I just know he deserves better than this.