Head East, Old Man

Trey Smith

After two nerve-wracking days, Della's condition is starting to improve. Initially, the doctors thought she might be suffering from congestive heart failure, but later determined it was just a bad case of pneumonia compounded by a sinus infection. The doctors have told Della that she most likely will be released from the hospital late this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Once she's released, she will be on strict orders for bed rest for several days. Since it is almost impossible to stay down when you must fend for yourself, I am taking the train early this afternoon bound for Bingen-White Salmon. If all goes as planned, I will drive Della back here to South Bend on Friday. With Della back home for at least one week, I can make sure she stays down. I will prepare her meals, make sure she drinks plenty of fluids, keep her humidifier filled up and on plus do the shopping and run any needed errands.

One of the main reasons this infection got more severe than expected is that, though her doctor had told her to stay down for several days, she had to do all the activities I listed above. Not only that, but since she wasn't running a fever, she continued to go to work. AmeriCorps volunteers receive very few personal days during their term and are expected to perform their service unless deathly ill. This is why Della continued to troop off to Head Start most days.

It is fortunate that this coming week is White Salmon's Spring Break, so she won't miss much time in the classroom, but she will miss a week in which she is supposed to be doing alternative service hours. This is unfortunate, but her return to relatively good health is our first priority.