Fall, Fracture, and Fear

I was in the middle of submitting our tax returns when I received a late-night call from Alvarado Hospital informing me that my mom had fallen and fractured her femur. It had been less than a week since my parents joined us for family swim time, and only a couple of days since they left for vacation in San Diego. It turned out that she had fallen at Balboa Park following a day at the zoo. After frantically rescheduling my clinic, I flew down to SD last week to coordinate her care and surgery. I spent the day reading about bisphosphonates and intramedullary nailing, sharing DZ Akin’s tongue sandwich and mish mash soup with dad for lunch, and teaching him how to use Duo and Lyft over bun bo hue at Pho Ca Dao, before flying back for work. The nail-biting ordeal continued over the weekend as we weighed blood transfusion against anti-coagulation to fight post-op bleeding, all while dealing with her uncoordinated and poorly responsive surgeon and care team. By Easter Sunday, she was finally ready for discharge, which necessitated another flight to San Diego – this time to coordinate the SNF transfer for mom and a hotel transfer for dad. I chose Jacob Healthcare Center based on its CMS scorecard and proximity to an Asian grocery store and hotel. Unfortunately, our first night at the seedy Navajo Lodge had me fearing for our lives. I stayed an extra day to move my dad to a nicer AirBnb, gather supplies from Walmart, and explore nearby dining options. Neither the ramen at Narumi Sushi nor Tajima were worth writing home about, but the banh cuon and bun rieu at Phuong Nga across the street were a good find. The rest of the month was business as usual. We celebrated Melody’s birthday at Allora’s patio, while Westley finally reached level 4 in swim class. He helped celebrate his friends’ birthdays at Peregrine playground, Funderland, and Walnut Park, where we successfully flew our kite for the first time. At home, the window glass repairs were finally completed, but our backyard shade order did not come through, as the white screen material we wanted could not be used. Instead, I put up a cheap projector screen using alumahooks, and also assembled Westley’s Ikea desk to go with his new bed. Despite trying to keep busy and preparing for ARVO, I remain anxious for my mom’s health as I plan for her transfer back to our house for recovery. 

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