Conversations with My Son: A Diary - Softcover

Fisher, Terryann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1450229972 ISBN 13: 9781450229975

Verlag: iUniverse, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

TerryAnn Fisher never dreamed she would outlive her son. In her compelling memoir, Conversations with my Son, she chronicles her life from the day she received the phone call that would change her life forever to the moment her son Troy took his last breath. This is the story of TerryAnn and Troy and their journey together. TerryAnn's son, Troy, was diagnosed with AIDS when he applied for the Coast Guard and his mother hoped that the recruiter was kind when he revealed the blood test results to Troy. With an honest and self-disclosing style, TerryAnn chronicles Troy's symptoms, his physical and emotional struggles, and her own fears. Conversations with my Son shares one mother's poignant anecdotes with the hope that she can help others deal with the myriad of emotions that accompany caring for a terminally ill loved one.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

TerryAnn Fisher worked as a security guard at a state university while living at Grand Canyon National Park. Troy Michaels grew up in Ohio before moving to Grand Canyon National Park and then to various cities. TerryAnn now lives in the Midwest.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Conversations with my Son

A DiaryBy TerryAnn Fisher Troy Michaels

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 TerryAnn Fisher
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-2997-5

Chapter One

Terry's Diary

Sunday October 11 (the following year)

I need to vent and get past all that's happened this summer so that I can move on.

I'm sure I'm going to find this to be dull reading someday, but, then, what's a diary to be ? For me, right now, it's an outlet for the stress that I am able, finally, to see at a distance.

It's been a traumatic summer. Now I have some spare time and the chance to write down what happened so I can put it behind me. I'd like to be objective and look toward the future.

First, a happy thought: in a few days, David and I will have been married fourteen years. Perhaps now we can look forward to being quietly together.

When we moved here a few years ago, we really did, oddly, believe that our lives would continue in the same way they did at the Grand Canyon: we'd continue to go to work every day, come home at night, spend time together, and get up and do it again. It just didn't turn out that way this year.

Mom and Dad came to visit in early June. What was going to be a short, happy trip turned out to a much longer, uncomfortable stay for them when Mom slipped and broke her right hip during a sightseeing trip to a small town south of here.

Dad slipped and fell twice at the motel where he was staying next to the hospital but, fortunately, suffered only a sprained ankle.

While Mom was in the hospital, I was laid off from my security job at State University. More city police officers were brought on campus. The last seven security officers hired were given a choice of going to the custodial department or getting unemployment. I chose unemployment.

I wonder how many other people have moved someplace thinking that the job they moved for would last forever. It does help, actually, knowing that I'm not the only person who has done that, but it doesn't change my mind about wanting another job as soon as possible.

After Mom had recuperated enough to fly back to Arizona, she and Dad had to wait all day in the airport for a bigger plane to arrive. It turned out that, even though I had been told by the airline that she would not have trouble getting onto the plane, there was no lift available for her original flight and she could not climb the stairs.

There was a highlight, though ... Troy came to visit in August.

Although he looked tired and thin, he seemed to walk easily from the airport arrival gate to the car. He has always enjoyed flying, so I think it was a treat for him to be able to come for a visit.

He brought me a tea set of a mother rabbit for the teapot and two baby rabbits, one for sugar and one for milk. All are black and white and so cute. He said that he had seen them in tea set shop and "heard them calling his name", so he bought them for me. He had a nice smile with that statement. Thank goodness he has a sense of humor!

One day we went to the big mall in town and he bought me a Pocket Dragon. Its name is actually "Stalking the Cookie Jar", but I'll call it Cookie. I put it on the window sill in front of the sink.

One evening the two of us went to a mystery dinner theatre. It was held in one of the historic houses in town. The house had a big porch on the front where we had dinner after the mystery tour throughout the house. Although Troy and I were members in the audience, we were incorporated into the production as Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson. Troy was asked to give a speech at dinner as Mr. Holmes. We were both surprised. The lady across from me leaned toward me and asked if we were actually members of the play. I said no. The dinner is such a nice memory after having been upset the rest of the summer.

Troy stayed for about two weeks.

So today I am remembering those good and sad memories.

Monday October 12

It seems that maybe it really will be fall, my favorite season. It's another day of cool, fresh air.

Here I am, now sitting at the picnic table in our front yard with a glass of tea by my pad. I can sit quietly and write and enjoy the weather. There is something about fall that gives me a strange pleasant, grounded type of feeling. Fall lets me know that life is the same, season after season, with the regularity of life in general. In a strange way, it makes me feel safe. I don't know if it's the soft sound of falling leaves hitting the ground, the crisp smell, or just what it is, but there is definitely something comforting about the season, even if I can't identify it.

We have typical Midwest weather here, not as pretty as in the East or in the Western mountain areas. The colors are subtle and rather muddy looking because of the more moderate temperatures which don't seem to change much. There are still muted yellow, red, and orange leaves, though, so we do get to see some bright fall color.

Our yard tends toward green until the leaves slowly change color here and there. When the leaves finally fall the branches begin to look stark against the sky.

But the feel and clean smell is definitely fall, letting us know that winter will be arriving before long.

It's been a busy day so far. I went to the post office to mail more rsums and to the bank and to town to fill out a job application at the hospital for a receptionist position. I took a typing test at another place, ate lunch at the diner downtown, and finally came home. Rushing from place to place is probably going to be the story of my life for a while, though I can only hope that things will become better than they have been this year so far.

While I've been sitting here, a large flock of medium-sized black birds has flown down from the north. They're sitting in the trees, squawking and yelling to each other. Suddenly they'll be gone, migrating someplace else. It reminds me of an Indian belief that when a large flock of birds arrives, something bad is happening or going to happen. So far today everything seems fine; except now there's the somewhat eerie feeling of Hitchcock's movie.

My father called a couple nights ago and said that while he was lifting my mother's wheelchair into the car, one of the steel rods he had to have put into his back several years ago had broken. He will have to have the rod replaced. A friend took him to the doctor, who made an appointment for the operation on October 23. I'd like to visit them after they find out what will happen if Daddy needs to go for a long stay in the hospital. Mother will need rides to Tucson.

Troy called last night about his visit to his father and sister. He said that he had a good time, but that he was so exhausted while he was in the St. Louis airport that he forgot whether he was going to Ohio or coming from Ohio. He ended up missing his plane to Chicago. Also, he was having trouble breathing. The airline provided him with a wheelchair, though, and rescheduled him on a flight an hour later. After telling me all that he said he thinks I'm relaxed and easygoing and that it is easy to talk to me. I think that little does he know that all I want to do is scream, "I can't handle this!"

I remember when he called me at the Grand Canyon years ago and told me he had AIDS. I couldn't believe it and wouldn't admit that he would be dying someday, possibly even before me. He said he found out when he had applied for the Coast Guard and had to take a blood test. I can only hope that the recruiter was kind and sensitive when...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1450229972
• ISBN 13: 9781450229975
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 156
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland