We started planning for a month in Florida a year ago. My wife, a retired CNA, has endured multiple surgeries in the last decade, and a well deserved respite in South Florida was long overdue.
What was supposed to be a three day drive from Maine to Florida turned out to be a trip from hell. We made it to South Carolina on the second day, but as we left the motel, due to a malfunctioning elevator, we took the stairway. Then came my wife’s misstep and the subsequent fall...headfirst down four steps onto the cement landing. Seeing the love of my life lying crumpled and broken at the foot of the stairs was the most agonizing moment of my life.
When the paramedics arrived, I explained the complicated nature of my wife’s condition. She has two artificial knees, an artificial hip, stainless steel scaffolding in her spine, and a neck fusion. It took them 30 minutes of cautious maneuvering to get her on a stretcher and into an ambulance.
The prognosis was extensive tendon and ligament damage to both legs, a massive hematoma on her right ankle, and an unbelievable amount of bruising, and a six to eight week confinement to a wheelchair. They had administered narcotics for the pain which subsequently caused extensive vomiting.
We were 1200 miles from home, but still 700 miles from our prepaid month in a South Florida rented house. The most logical choice was to continue south as quickly as was prudent.
We only made it 150 miles that day before vomiting and incontinence forced a stop at a motel. When I went to check in, I realized that I had lost one of our two credit cards during the melee, and my wife’s bank card had been canceled due to ‘suspicious activity’ on the account. We hadn’t notified the bank of our trip, and the out of state transactions had triggered a hold on the account.
Here we were, 1350 miles from home, 550 miles from our destination, my wife sitting in her own urine, covered with vomit, and the desk clerk wouldn’t rent us a room. I had over a thousand dollars in cash but it wasn’t enough, we needed a credit card or no room.
Finally, after a call to a friend who used their credit card to book a room over the phone, we were allowed to stay.
Two more days of driving with my wife in physical agony finally found us at our destination.
Throughout our three days of driving after the injury, whenever we had to stop, there were people who went out of their way to show compassion and help us in any way they could. From expressions of empathy to holding doors, offers of help and support from total strangers was the rule. Nothing in my 69 years of life on this planet had come close to the love and appreciation I felt for those beautiful strangers.
My wife had spent her entire working career caring for those in need. From nursing homes to hospice care for the dying, she was there for her patients with love and tenderness. Many times she sat and held the hand of a dying person who had no one else, forgotten by family, lonely in life and alone in death but for her. That’s how she wore her body out, tugging and lifting the frail and broken bodies of those who came into her care.
We both have had the privilege of being on the receiving end of a similar degree of loving kindness. We both know how it is to be vulnerable and afraid, but comforted by the incredible beauty of the average person.