Goodbye Shattuck

Monday, July 20

Last day at Shattuck! All the nurses who won’t be here tomorrow have come in to say goodbye, and the night nurses, Krystal and Tina, brought in strawberry shortcake to celebrate her moving on. When I say the night nurses are great, I mean it, they have been sweet and kind and caring. They manage to do everything right on time, follow all the orders, check to see if she is comfortable, and take care of what has become a very busy floor. I actually have felt for the last week that I could go home at night, but whenever I’m not here, I am really uneasy. Don’t know what will happen when I have to stay home while she is at Meade.

We took a walk/ride around the hospital this evening, went outside for a little bit and it was still quite warm, but they lock the doors at 9 so we had to come back inside. It was quite pleasant sitting on the front patio, under a spreading redbud tree watching the semi trucks and pickup trucks and occasional motorcycle go by, listening to the cicadas, and watching the clouds build to the north.

Looks like another rough night for the state, the storms just keep moving through. Two-inch hail and 70 mph winds. Sideways rain so thick you can’t see 20 feet away. Only one of the last three storms has hit Shattuck, and it was the first one. Each storm has been more intense that the last, and tonight they are predicting tornados as well. And then they go and have an earthquake! Of course it was only a 2.2, but who expects earthquakes in Oklahoma.

Story time! So … they had an earthquake here several years ago and our nearest neighbor was the only one injured. Ethel Pope felt the jolt and couldn’t figure out what happened so she went to the basement to see if it was the furnace. She fell down the stairs and broke her arm.