ADAPTING... hanging on (Part 97g)

Mondays during the Summer were proving to be a little on the slow side at work. As I remember it, we had a fall off of about 1/3 from the number of applicants we’d been handling during the Winter and Spring. Because of that I got permission to come in a little late as it was felt that John could handle the situation. I had to get Dolly and get her back home to Elle. The neighbor “baby sat” Elle for the 20 or so minutes it took. I remember Dolly being somewhat nervous and not understanding why. However, at the end of the day everything had gone well and both Dolly and Elle seemed pleased. If they were pleased then so was I!

Removal of Elle’s catheter was really important to Elle in spite of the fact that the surgeon who had performed the procedure had warned her that it would take time for her to see a difference in her incontinence. In fact, her regular doctor who removed the catheter also reminded her about it. Somewhat stubborn, like her mother, she was sure she’d notice a difference right away. and somewhat disregarded the warning. I’d told her to bring a “package“ to wear home but she insisted that she’d be fine since it was only ten minutes from the doctor’s office and home. She didn’t make it to the front porch. (The doctor had his office in his home).

Other than that she was doing really well. The problem was that she had no muscle tone at all and since the surgery had also included removal of more of the scar tissue in her bladder she was just like the baby. To save a few dollars I’d purchased some cheap wash cloths that she used in place of the sanitary pads in her ”package“. Even though Dolly had been told of Elle’s problem and the corrective surgery she’d just experienced, Elle was still embarrassed when she’d have to change. She didn’t want her to see the wet panties and wash clothes so had me hide a pail under the sink for her. I thought she was being silly but... did it anyway.

By Friday she was up to walking ten or so minutes almost every hour. I’d left Dolly with only one instruction... Elle wasn’t to lift anything... at all and she assured me that she wasn’t. As far as the race car was concerned a couple of Rick’s crew members had stopped by to see if there was anything they could do to help me fix the car. I’ll admit that I was working on finding a way to get to work on it myself when they showed up. I’m sure Elle had an idea that they hadn’t just shown up ”out of the blue” but said that she’d call Marge from next door to see if she’d come over for a few hours to let me go with the guys. There were no lights to work by so whatever we were going to do had to be done in daylight so she knew I wouldn’t be gone all that long.

The damage that I’d done wasn’t all that serious. Technically, I should have replaced some parts but we managed to straighten all the damaged ones out. I wasn’t out any money other than the beer I bought for the guys while we worked on the car. Dolly was willing to spend Saturday night like she’d done the week before if I there was a way to get her to our place. That was the hard part or so I thought. Danny, one of the Summer neighbors next to my parents had gone to the races with me back when I’d first met him. Somehow Dolly managed to convince him that he should go that Saturday night... and... oh, by the way... drop her off at our place and then bring her back. I was glad that she did but was disappointed that she wasn’t going to spend the night again.

It was another forgettable race night for me. I managed to be in the wrong place, again, when the big wreck took place. The damage was minimal but I ended up finishing in the back. Danny was really excited to be part of a pit crew and, in my mind, that was doubly good for me... I needed willing hands and if he’d come every week he could bring Dolly with him. The only real question was how to pull off racing the sailboat on Sunday.

I had a crew... Norma, but the missing component was someone to look after Elle if I went off racing. Marge was out of the question as she had family visiting. I don’t remember about the other neighbors (Dora and Cal’s wife) but Elle wasn’t too keen on them anyway. Relief came from a totally unexpected area... my two older girls. They’d had such a good time at the beach at my parent’s house when we went there to observe Dolly that they’d been begging to go back. With all the things going on for the past few weeks there was no possible way. They were beating me up so much about it when I was feeding them breakfast I decided to send them down the hall to our bedroom and Elle. As I mentioned, Elle had been doing well and, after almost two weeks of being inside, was ready for a change of scenery. She surprised me by how quickly she agreed. After a call to my parents to see if they had visitors or not I started packing the station wagon up. I had to hustle a bit because if I was going to race I needed to be at the sailing club around noon. I called Norma to tell her we’d be racing and was then on the road. I told her that I'd pick her up wanting to have the opportunity to see what was on the family clothesline. However, she said she was bringing her son down to play with Jeanette and Danny's son and would already be there. Disappointed, I figured there was still one chance when the races were over. I could only hope.

To be continued...