DAY PASS

3 July was Christine's birthday. Lola's sister, Lola Salve, had also flown in from Toronto to visit with my grandmother. It was the perfect opportunity to get lola out of the hospital for a few hours. The only problem was that she wasn't really in the mood to go anywhere. Mary Gail and I are were at the hospital and when we told lola that we needed to start getting her ready for bed because we needed to leave, she reluctantly decided she'd like to go to Tita Grace & Tita Estrell's place for the mini-dinner party. Needless to say, she's not at all happy in any of these photos. I can't say I blame her.


We called one of those wheelchair taxis - very cool... the chair just goes right up the built-in ramp. No need to take lola out of the wheelchair and collapse it, etc. So easy.

It was nice to see everyone interacting with lola, but I could tell that she willed herself to come out partly because she did not want to be left alone in the hospital. It must also be difficut to see and hear everyone, but not be able to say or do the things she might have been able to say and do only a year ago. Lola Salve noticed right away that there was a negative air about lola. For someone who was as fiercely independent as lola, that must just suck! I think that's why she gets so teary...

She stayed for a couple of hours, but she just didn't look comfortable, so we called the taxi and headed back. Lolo didn't understand that she had to go back to the hospital and desperately wanted to come with. Mary Gail and I got Lola Salve in the taxi and Malou brought lolo later on. It's tough to have seen that.