¡Caruso!

¡Caruso!

¡Caruso!

¡Enrico, Ernesto, Robinson! ¡Por favor! ¡Por favor! ¡Le necesito ahora!
¡Venga a mí, mis queridos! Aún Enrico, el maestro de voz. Aún Ernesto, el panadero magistral. ¡Aún Robinson, el maestro de esclavo que denomina todo el suyo contrató con nombres de fin de semana! ¡Espere un minuto! Yo ni escribe ni sabe español . . .

Hold on! I cannot write nor understand a single syllable of Spanish! Even if it was on Cinco de Mayo that (there I go again!) I slipped in the bathroom and broke all those ribs!

The ER doctor at North Fulton Hospital, to which my good and clever wife insisted I go, examined me, subjected me to a CATSCAN and later said, You want the good news or the bad?

Gimme the bad, I grimaced.

You broke five ribs, he told me. 7 thru 11. Good news is you missed No. 6. Because of your advanced age, we are admitting you.

I spent the next six days at N. Fulton for observation for pneumonia. Friday night I was transferred to Manor Care Rehabilitation Center for 16 days of intense healing and therapy. I was discharged to my gracious wife’s diligent care on 25 May.

But the lady who screamed for Caruso the night of May 10 was not so lucky. She, along with my first roommate, screamed until dawn (they are probably still screaming) and sans sleep Friday and Saturday, I was transferred to another room at 3:30 AM Saturday.

There I met and got to know the perfect roommate, a gentleman named Bill Winter. I also became acquainted with a concert pianist from Hungary, a lady from Barbados, and a retired ob - gyn who had delivered the entire town of Battle Creek, MI.

Not only was roommate Bill my peer age - wise, he was, like me, a rabid sports fan. Suffice it to say that without Bill my stay at Manor Care would have lasted 216 days, despite the unending and tender care given me by Erin Landers, Daniel Wallace, Connie Deck, Beverley, Maxine Knepp, Carmelrina Adams, Kristina and Bona Ayelima, my therapists and Peachtree Hall care - givers.

Manor Care, unquestionably the preeminent institution of its kind in America, dutifully impressed me. I learned that such a place exists in every state in the union, and the one in Marietta is the flagship to which all others come to take notes and try to copy!

Sincerely, I hope that all victims of PLS, erratic balance, and falls resulting in broken bones are fortunate enough to have a Manor Care and N. Fulton Hospital ER facility in their neighborhood (not to mention roommates such as Bill Winter).

Of course, I must admit there is no place like home. Be it ever so humble . . .

A tip of the ol’ Tam o’ Shanter goes also to my kids and their progeny, as well as my in - laws and outlaws, Dave Roberts and the Savages, the Burkes and the Rhones, and all others who visited and kept in touch during my ordeal. I appreciate their concern.

But really, such a fuss was not necessary. Or warranted.


Robert A. Mills,
Copyright © June 2013, all rights reserved












)