That's what friends are for!

My friend, Shirley Nowak called me this morning.She sounded
in distress, and her voice was not very audible. "I need your
help" she said. "I've fallen on my porch outside"
"I'll be right there" I said.
She called back and told me she had Kaiser Heath HMO coverage and she had just called Kaiser and made an appointment for this morning at 11:30 a.m.


I hurried and got dressed and whizzed out the door. As I got partway there, I received a phone call from Brian, an EMT. "We are taking her to the emergency room at Medina, meet us there." She had called "911" before I could get there. Good thing!

So I drove over there and arrived about 10:00 a.m. I sat with her until 2:15 when I was allowed to take her home. Some bruises and a torn off fingernail (they sutured it back, hopefully the acrylic nail covering the actual fingernail will hold it in place, and the nail will seed itself and grow a new nail out. They were concerned that she had been coughing
since Friday and was not any better. Exrays showed nothing substantial like breaks or fractures
however, they wanted to put her on antibiotics for the respiratory problem.

I went back to her house and got her coat, hat and more substantial footwear and brought
it back to the hospital for her to wear home. Then I drove to Kaiser in Strongsville to get her prescription filled, and then got her something to eat.

All in all, a pretty productive day for me. A sigh of relief when we found nothing serious.
Her son in Kentucky called her and insisted that he could come up and stay with her, and even drive her to Ky. so they could take care of her. "No thanks" she said. "I am fine here, I have Judy"!

When I was leaving her house she said "Thank you and maybe I
can do the same for you sometime".
"No thanks, I said, I'm not interested in falling and calling for help".

I think I will pass on that one!

(photo above is of Shirley receiving an award from the Arabian Horse Association at the National Championship Show in Albuqurque a couple of years ago as she was inducted into the
"Arabian Judges Hall of Fame")