'Tis the day after Christmas. The Lindner family must report a very untraditional but deeply gratifying holiday.
It seems like the Lindners observed almost none of the traditions of past Christmases. More honestly, they didn't get any of the traditional preparations started, much less completed. The unaddressed cards still sit in a large basket in the living room underneath Bobbi's hospital bed, which she no longer uses but hasn't been able to give away. There is no traditional Christmas letter to write since this blog does the job far better. None of the plastic trees stored in the basement were brought upstairs. No lights were installed indoors or out (admittedly, the family orthopedic problems made that unwise).
However, there was the Christmas music. A couple of weeks ago Lew brought all of his and Bobbi's CD's into the 21st century by ripping them to a hard drive as MP3 files. Ever since he has played selections from this trove impulsively.
Not only was there no tree, but there were few gifts to to under one. The week before Christmas the Lindners each received four new tires for their cars (actually, Lew's tires were for the Airstream), so they weren't going to give each other any additional gifts.
The holiday actually began on Christmas Eve, when Bobbi's closest friend from church asked them to join in their family dinner - as has been their custom the past few years.
Christmas day dawned bright but not early for the 2 geriatrics. They left quickly for 11 o'clock church, hanging around to gossip with the priest for nearly an hour afterwards.
Back at the house, Bobbi and Lew unwrapped their remaining gifts. Bobbi's church friend, Bobbi's brother Pete and his wife, and the eldest son in Florida provided the only gifts for them to unwrap on Christmas day. But this did not result in any sort of deprivation, because the gifts had been chosen very carefully to match Bobbi's and Lew actual needs/wants/desires, rather than some conventional "gift" item. Bobbi's friend gave Lew a small statuette of St. Francis (whom Lew greatly admires) and Bobbi a hand-turned walnut bowl, a sweater, and a fruit cake. Pete and his wife gave Lew biographical compositions for his family history collection, and Bobbi a book on meditation. Eldest son Scott and his wife gave Lew a DVD dubbing of some old family recordings that had been made in 1971 on open-reel tapes, and preserved all these years. They gave Bobbi a bunch of romance books, and a meditating fountain. They also gave Bobbi and Lew each a tongue-in-cheek bright red T-shirt with a large wolf head on the back (one of Scott's parishioners gave them away as promotions for his restaurant).
The rest of the day was devoted to long-distance calls to a variety of relatives.
Now they only need to get on the stick and get those delinquent cards out.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Columbus OH
One whole month! Shame on the Lindners - derelict as usual.
To top that off, Bobbi and Lew are delinquent on their Christmas cards - which has been the case more years than not. tua culpa magnissima! (After 58 years, my Latin is more than a little rusty - add that to my culpabilities as well. Of course the internet does make it easy for anyone to look up the correct forms - but why pretend? It's miraculous that I remember as much as I do.)
Since the Lindners are delinquent on their holiday cards, it is just as well that this blog makes the hoary annual Christmas letter redundant. Otherwise that would be late as well.
MEDICAL REPORT: LINDA
Lew's sister Linda in Brenham complained of severe abdominal pain, anorexia, and diarrhea ever since approximately 6 November. She was taken to the ER (in Brenham), where apparently no one was particularly impressed. Apparently no diagnostics were run, and she was treated with just an oral synthetic opiate. Over the remainder of the month her symptoms worsened progressively. For some reason someone thought the pain might be due to the opiate itself and tried to withdraw her; Luther on the other hand thought the increase in pain might be due to the withdrawal. On the 11th of this month she was in the hospital in College Station. The medics there discovered that she had a recto-vesicle fistula and scheduled her for a CT scan on the 12th. She went to (successful) surgery the afternoon of the 13th. The evening of the 15th Liz called Lew with a message that Linda wished to speak with him, but Linda lost all control and began screaming, etc. Luther later explained that he believed Linda has suffered additional brain damage in the past 2 years, and he was considering transferring her to a more intensive-care facility in College Station-Bryan.
MEDICAL REPORT: BOBBI & LEW
Both Bobbi's and Lew's backs improved slowly during this period, to the point where Lew began fantasizing about vacationing in Florida again. There is no explaining Lew's improvement - but who is going to argue? Indeed, everything was looking up until last night, when Lew went out to the darkened Airstream he had just brought home, took a header (the slight motion of the trailer on its wheels is very disorienting), and strained/sprained his right shoulder. Hopefully the inflammation will go down soon.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Bobbi and Lew continue to live through their computers. Fortunately Lew keeps his data on flash drives and external hard drives, so when the operating system was corrupted earlier in November, losses and disruption were minimized. In order to further facilitate that system, this month Lew removed the hard drives from all his old broken computers and installed them in enclosures that permit him simply to plug them into USB ports. So he now has nearly 2 terabytes of HD storage available to him, all but 250 gigabytes of which is always off line and therefore not accessible to cybercrime. The 250 gigabytes which do go on line are used to store data that is public - applications and music. Of course one can still have one's personal data stolen from the databanks of commercial organizations that one has patronized (remember Sony and BAC?), but that sort of exposure can and should be minimized.
On the 13th and 15th Lew had his first days since June to see patients in Dayton. Regrettably, the agency there is almost entirely defunct. With staff shrunk to (apparently) only 2 employees, its case load too has shrunk to only 6 clients on psychotropic meds. Furthermore, these residual clients are the most chronic from the old case load and have been on the case load 10-40 years, and on the same medication regimens for more than a decade following repeated attempts to further reduce their doses. No new medication patients have appeared for some years now. While this situation in part represents changed policies on the part of the agency, it more fundamentally reflects the fact that the state of Ohio has withdrawn nearly all funding for Deaf services: direct, indirect, and even training.
During the current period Bobbi continued her religious work. She continued to volunteer as the chaplain at corrections' Frazier Health Center, even though the state cancelled her contract a couple of years ago (along the rest of the contract employees). And she has become quite active in her own local church, assisting with a variety of fund-raising activities, attending mass daily (Lew accompanies her to all of the signed masses), and frequently reading the lessons.
In order to preserve any possibility of traveling this winter, it was necessary to have the Airstream inspected and serviced, and to fill one of the propane tanks. But the coach had not been moved in nearly 2 years, so before it could be towed anywhere safely it was necessary to top up the pressure in the tires. Lew's old air compressor had gone to heaven, so he replaced it with a more effective one - then made an appointment at the factory. Bobbi escorted Lew as he drove the coach up to Jackson Center on the 30th, while Paul escorted him when he brought it back yesterday - just in time for last night's performance. Ah well!
To top that off, Bobbi and Lew are delinquent on their Christmas cards - which has been the case more years than not. tua culpa magnissima! (After 58 years, my Latin is more than a little rusty - add that to my culpabilities as well. Of course the internet does make it easy for anyone to look up the correct forms - but why pretend? It's miraculous that I remember as much as I do.)
Since the Lindners are delinquent on their holiday cards, it is just as well that this blog makes the hoary annual Christmas letter redundant. Otherwise that would be late as well.
MEDICAL REPORT: LINDA
Lew's sister Linda in Brenham complained of severe abdominal pain, anorexia, and diarrhea ever since approximately 6 November. She was taken to the ER (in Brenham), where apparently no one was particularly impressed. Apparently no diagnostics were run, and she was treated with just an oral synthetic opiate. Over the remainder of the month her symptoms worsened progressively. For some reason someone thought the pain might be due to the opiate itself and tried to withdraw her; Luther on the other hand thought the increase in pain might be due to the withdrawal. On the 11th of this month she was in the hospital in College Station. The medics there discovered that she had a recto-vesicle fistula and scheduled her for a CT scan on the 12th. She went to (successful) surgery the afternoon of the 13th. The evening of the 15th Liz called Lew with a message that Linda wished to speak with him, but Linda lost all control and began screaming, etc. Luther later explained that he believed Linda has suffered additional brain damage in the past 2 years, and he was considering transferring her to a more intensive-care facility in College Station-Bryan.
MEDICAL REPORT: BOBBI & LEW
Both Bobbi's and Lew's backs improved slowly during this period, to the point where Lew began fantasizing about vacationing in Florida again. There is no explaining Lew's improvement - but who is going to argue? Indeed, everything was looking up until last night, when Lew went out to the darkened Airstream he had just brought home, took a header (the slight motion of the trailer on its wheels is very disorienting), and strained/sprained his right shoulder. Hopefully the inflammation will go down soon.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Bobbi and Lew continue to live through their computers. Fortunately Lew keeps his data on flash drives and external hard drives, so when the operating system was corrupted earlier in November, losses and disruption were minimized. In order to further facilitate that system, this month Lew removed the hard drives from all his old broken computers and installed them in enclosures that permit him simply to plug them into USB ports. So he now has nearly 2 terabytes of HD storage available to him, all but 250 gigabytes of which is always off line and therefore not accessible to cybercrime. The 250 gigabytes which do go on line are used to store data that is public - applications and music. Of course one can still have one's personal data stolen from the databanks of commercial organizations that one has patronized (remember Sony and BAC?), but that sort of exposure can and should be minimized.
On the 13th and 15th Lew had his first days since June to see patients in Dayton. Regrettably, the agency there is almost entirely defunct. With staff shrunk to (apparently) only 2 employees, its case load too has shrunk to only 6 clients on psychotropic meds. Furthermore, these residual clients are the most chronic from the old case load and have been on the case load 10-40 years, and on the same medication regimens for more than a decade following repeated attempts to further reduce their doses. No new medication patients have appeared for some years now. While this situation in part represents changed policies on the part of the agency, it more fundamentally reflects the fact that the state of Ohio has withdrawn nearly all funding for Deaf services: direct, indirect, and even training.
During the current period Bobbi continued her religious work. She continued to volunteer as the chaplain at corrections' Frazier Health Center, even though the state cancelled her contract a couple of years ago (along the rest of the contract employees). And she has become quite active in her own local church, assisting with a variety of fund-raising activities, attending mass daily (Lew accompanies her to all of the signed masses), and frequently reading the lessons.
In order to preserve any possibility of traveling this winter, it was necessary to have the Airstream inspected and serviced, and to fill one of the propane tanks. But the coach had not been moved in nearly 2 years, so before it could be towed anywhere safely it was necessary to top up the pressure in the tires. Lew's old air compressor had gone to heaven, so he replaced it with a more effective one - then made an appointment at the factory. Bobbi escorted Lew as he drove the coach up to Jackson Center on the 30th, while Paul escorted him when he brought it back yesterday - just in time for last night's performance. Ah well!
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