By Sharon Pajka
PROMPT—No one noticed ...
August
27- Dad calls with uncertainty in his voice.
Dad asks for help.
Mom screams in the background
54 years of marriage faded in her mind.
This is the last day she is home.
28- Mom is moved from urgent care to a medical hospital.
Her meds are wrong.
Mom has a UTI.
Mom seems scared.
I am tired while I Google-search what to do.
September
2- Mom is moved to rehab.
I cook for Dad.
I order a food service for Dad.
I meet with the finance office.
I am tired while I Google-search what to do.
11- Mom contracts COVID.
She is quarantined.
Doctors tell us nothing.
Nursing staff tell us nothing.
They all seem tired while I Google-search what to do.
13- I set up appointments at Morningside,
Harmony House,
Heritage Green,
Hanover House,
I learn about incontinence,
Visual hallucinations,
Falling,
Disrupted sleep,
Lewy body.
22- Insurance will not cover rehab.
They will not cover the ER.
They will not cover transportation to memory care.
I call a van service and tell Mom and Dad it is okay.
They seem old and tired while I Google-search what to do.
Sharon Pajka, PhD, is a professor of English at Gallaudet University. She is the author of Women Writers Buried in Virginia (2021) and The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe: Graves of his family, friends, and foes (2023). On the weekends, you can find her in the cemetery giving history tours or volunteering, as well as running the Virginia Chapter of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Sharon writes from Mechanicsville, VA.
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