Charlotte, NC…The First Visit…The Ambulance!

January 16, 2014


Peggy and Helen

From Troutville, VA (a little north of Roanoke, VA) our overnight stay to Charlotte, NC is just a couple of hundred miles away. Our sister-in-law lives there with her step mother. Her kids also live in the area along with grandkids. Peggy gets out of work at 1:00 pm. It would be a relatively short ride for us to meet her around 2pm.
Leaving Roanoke area, the sun was shinning, but very cold. At 23 degrees, the Red Roof Inn proved to be a good choice last night. I-81 snakes up and over many mountains with a continuous rise in elevation. For the first time since leaving Berlin, NH, we actually had snow on the ground. Not much, but a trace to an inch. The highway was bone dry. In some places, the valleys below were a site to see.
I knew from past experience that I should fill up the gas tank as the prices in North Carolina are high. I paid $2.92 a gallon! A price that I have not seen in several years. A quick lunch at Arby’s and we were getting close to Charlotte. I decided to alter the GPS route and take a beltway around Charlotte. It would be 10 to 15 miles longer, but it also eliminated a lot of city traffic.

Ann ready for operation

About fifteen minutes from our destination in Charlotte, Helen got a phone call from Peggy (our sister in law). She said that her step-mom, whom she lives with, had just fallen and needed to go to the hospital. We arrived just as the ambulance was leaving with Ann, the step mom. Helen and Peggy left for the hospital and I stayed back to hold down the fort. Seven hours later the girls, including  Ann, showed up with the news. Ann had fallen on a bag of groceries by the outside of the front door. She had a cut above the right eye, bruised palm and the broken arm with the arm pulled out of the elbow socket. They couldn’t  operate because the operating rooms were all booked. The doctor called the following day to say that he could do the operation at another hospital about twenty miles away. On Friday, the four of us headed for Carolinas Medical Center Pineville. I must say this is by far the best hospital I’ve ever been in. There are large waiting rooms with large screen monitors that give you up to date info on the patient. We were given a patient number and then could follow her from pre-op, to operation to post recovery. When a smiley face appeared that meant that we could go in and see Ann. The volunteer aids would come right over and escort us to  Ann's location. Great service! Oh, Ann came through the 3 + hour operation very successfully. See her metal implants in the photos. Now, I’m all for adventure, but who would have  guessed that we would be in a hospital with a family crisis. Ann stayed in the hospital Friday night and came home on Saturday. She is doing fine for an 82 year young lady. We decided that Peggy would have her hands full on Saturday, so we said our goodbyes and left mid morning.
That is what we did and saw!