When our sons were small, they loved the book, Fortunately by Remy Charlip. I pay homage to that book using his format here to tell you of a trip that didn’t go exactly as planned…
Fortunately, I had another chance just six months after my last trip down there, to visit Redmond and Bend, Oregon.
Unfortunately, my wife and youngest son couldn’t get away from school to join me.
Fortunately, my oldest son met me and my parents (who were fortunately able to get a timeshare condo in Redmond) on his drive home from college.
Unfortunately, as I was packing up my parents’ van to drive down to Oregon, my enthusiastic Labrador Retriever knocked my mom over.
Fortunately, my mom was sore but able to continue on the trip.
Unfortunately, she had a hard time getting around the whole time we were in Oregon.
Fortunately, she didn’t mind. She was happy to have all of us together. While she rested, my son and I took advantage of the luscious mountain biking trails in Bend and we went fishing several times with my dad as well.
Unfortunately, when fishing with my dad, we never caught anything.
Fortunately, it didn’t matter. Three generations together on rivers and lakes was reward enough.
Unfortunately, even though she took it easy, my mom’s pain got worse.
Fortunately, she was able to schedule an appointment that week with her doctor back home.
Unfortunately, her appointment meant leaving earlier than planned, but we all agreed that was for the best.
Fortunately, the night before we were to leave, there was a gorgeous full moon out. So after a late dinner, I grabbed my camera and tripod and drove down to the river to get some nighttime photos of the moon (see above and yes, that is the moon, not the sun).
Unfortunately, when I returned around 10:30 p.m. there was an ambulance in front of our condo. My mom had fallen when opening a window. She broke her arm and had to be taken to the emergency room.
Fortunately, they were wonderful there at the hospital. They took x-rays and ran tests.
Unfortunately, her arm was broken in three places.
Fortunately, the x-rays also showed no broken bones in her hips or back from the encounter with my dog Ginger. In fact, the pain she’d had before that in her right leg was now gone. Ginger had healed her!
Unfortunately, my mom passed out twice in the ER. More tests revealed a critical heart issue.
Fortunately, they moved her to a larger hospital in Bend (the ER was in Redmond, 2o minutes north of Bend) and were able to get her into surgery for a pacemaker that evening.
Unfortunately, the pacemaker surgery was on the same side as her broken arm (near the shoulder) and the doctors all agreed the arm needed surgery as well.
Fortunately, they were able to do the arm surgery the next day.
Unfortunately, all of this took longer than we had planned for our trip. We had to check out of the condo, find a hotel and move our stuff not knowing when we’d be able to go home.
Fortunately, the arm surgery went well and they released my mom the next day. We drove home exhausted from four days in the ER and hospital, but otherwise grateful to be home.
Unfortunately, this “vacation” became a bit of a nightmare. Trips don’t always go as planned and some are so far outside your realm of expectations as to be almost unreal.
Fortunately, had my mom not fallen (caused, apparently by passing out due to her heart), we’d never have known about her heart condition. The doctor told us that without the immediate surgery, she could be dead by now.
Funny how God uses our “unfortunatelys” for reasons that end up being fortunate indeed…