RECUPERATION #4 -- Guardians

When I became ill in Calgary the night after we arrived in June to begin our working vacation with family there, it was Lorraine, my dearest love and closest guardian, who drove me to Emergency, got me into a wheelchair, negotiated the necessary reception information, and had the presence of mind to say to the examining physician that my haemoglobin had dropped over the past couple of years.  I never would have thought of that – all I knew was the acute pain in my abdomen – and we would likely have waited quite a bit longer before they got me on a gurney for the CT scan that determined where that pain was coming from so that the experts could fix it.

From that early morning situation in Foothills Medical Centre Emergency until this evening, nine and a half weeks later, when the same guardian whispered in my ear that I should wake up because my brother was coming over to play crib, she has been there always, from the very beginning,  my number one, my love, my nurse, my angel.

And she hasn’t been the only one.  Our kids, our adult children, who came to Calgary because I was ill and formed a protective web around me, were also my fierce close guardians and remain so even if they cannot always be sitting at my bedside or rowing the boat with me or holding my hand on the couch as we reminisce.  Their sweet songs and jokes and reminders about pills and smoothies and EFT sessions and the love in their eyes has consistently sustained me (and helped me to laugh at myself in this illness dilemma!).

I have tried to describe to others the close and close-knit layer my family created so immediately and so easily out there in Calgary and how they held me, this small presence in the hospital bed who was often not very sure where this all was going, together when I needed to be held together.  I haven’t spent a long time thinking about what might have happened in the absence of their presence, but I do know that I would have felt lost and wandered much longer.

I could write much more here, talking about the rest of the guardians – one of them could well have been you – who have asked how I'm doing, brought comfort and stories, stuck needles in me, said whatever words they find to say in moments of great doubt and worry, made me laugh, sent me messages, made food for me, helped take care of my family guardians (especially Lorraine, the number one caregiver/guardian in this picture), launched my boat, planted a garden for us, and just showed how greatly you care.

You are my guardians and I do owe you!

Big time!