After returning from our trip East on Tuesday, we had Wednesday to get things here at home a little bit back to whatever normal is. It was an early bedtime Wed. evening and another good sound sleep in our home bed.
That was until around 1:00 am on Thursday morning. There was a loud knocking at our door, but it took a while for our deep sleep minds to realize what was happening and then to get up and go to the door. I ask through the door "who is there?" and the answer, "it's the police". It was a nice local police officer that ask if we knew a woman named Wilma Purvis. Of course we do, what's wrong? He said that she was in a hospital in Tahlequah, OK. He showed me a sheet of paper with that written down but said he couldn't pronounce the name. 😏 He told me the name of the hospital and took our phone number as someone from there would probably be calling us. She had told them that we were her "to be notified" next of kin.
I made a couple of phone calls and talked with a doctor at the hospital that was attending to her and told him that we would be down the next day as soon as we could get there from central Missouri.
It was back to bed but with a disturbed mind there was little sleep. Fortunately Jo was able to get back to some good sleep but I just caught a few winks while thinking about what we were going to do. I got up at 4:00 am knowing we had a long drive ahead of us but took some time to plot our course on the computer before waking Jo up to get started. Woke Jo up at 5:00 and we were on our way.
It was a 6 hour drive and we got to the hospital a little before lunch time. Found her plugged into a heart monitor with leg pumping boots on. A doctor came in to give us the full details of her condition that was mostly in agreement with my expectations, Alzheimer's and dementia with a UTI. The discharge directions were, no more driving, 24 hour supervision, and to see her doctor for further medication recommendations.
She told us stories about her car that were disturbing but proved false. She thought it would need some repair before driven again. She had apparently driven through two tanks of gas and when she stopped was at 1/4 tank. Her car was at a convenience store on the edge of town where she had apparently passed out which is why the emergency team had been called to take her to the hospital. The hospital helped us find her car and after her discharge I drove her car with her beside me while Jo drove our car and followed us back to Springfield.
Thursday night we trusted her to stay in her house while Jo and I found a Motel as her house's extra bed (sofa fold out) just isn't a bed to sleep on, we tried it once and nevermore. Then today we had her pack up some of her clothes and things so we could bring her up to our house while we found her a permanent place to live with assistance.
She has loved her house and it's location for many years but the 24 hour supervision just couldn't be made with her there. Her lifestyle was going to be totally different wherever we found for her to live be it in Springfield or elsewhere so we decided it was best to bring her near to us so we could visit more often than a 2.5 hour drive would allow.
Again it was me and Wilma in her car with Jo following along behind. Jo doesn't really like to drive but she had to make this long trip from east-central Oklahoma to Springfield and then on to our house.
Now after getting her settled it will be a long bit of taking care of her belongings in Springfield and all of her other affairs so our July trip is being canceled to allow for plenty of time to manage those affairs.
Our next trip on the books is for September but after we get these other details worked out who knows what we may work out to put the camper to use.
I'm just glad that she wasn't seriously injured with this jaunt but I'm also glad that this tragedy made a life changing decision for us.
The details of her Wednesday's journey will never be known even the new dent in her right front fender. We're just totally happy that she wasn't injured in a more serious way.
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