Aunt Dot


While we were at Margaret’s we found out where my aunt Dot was staying after her knee replacement surgery. She had both knees done a week and a half ago.

When we arrived on her floor, coming down the hall was my cousin Linda. She did a double take and then ran over and gave me a big hug saying “Oh my God! Oh my God!” then she backed off looked at me and went through the whole routine again. She greeted me the same way when we were here for the memorial service in June. I’m not used to such a joyful greeting but I have to admit it felt good. At least here was someone that not only remembered me but also was excited to see me. Linda asked if we knew what was going on with the family. We didn’t. Her sister Georgette and Georgette’s son, Johnny, had been in a motorcycle accident. Fortunately they were wearing good protective clothing but Johnny still fractured his femur. Georgette’s helmet actually cracked and Johnny’s was deeply gouged. Linda’s brother in law Jim (Diane’s husband) also has medical issues resulting from complications from prostate removal surgery. And my Aunt Dot had gone through some bad reactions to the drug Vicodin. She hallucinated, was combative and here’s the real scary part – she saw the motorcycle accident before it happened.

After our talk with Linda we went in to see Dot. Linda came along to watch her reaction. When I walked in the room she looked at me and got all teary. Granted she was drugged up, but the Lenart side of the family sure makes me feel good. She was so happy to see me. I don’t know why but Dot thinks I am special. Many years ago, I think at Kerry’s wedding, she told me that. So going to see her was a good idea. She told us about seeing the picture of her cat moving and seeing ants crawling all over. She vividly remembers everything about her bad drug reaction and she heard voices too.


Linda set up a Sunday brunch for all the Lenarts. That filled in the only hole in my list of relatives to see while up here. This day was going better than planned.

It turned out that my Aunt Dot experienced chest pains that evening and was readmitted to the hospital. I got a call from Linda. She said Dot was OK but that no one wanted to leave her for the brunch the next day. So we called it off.