211215 Sentinel, The Talisman

A talisman is defined as a gemstone worn by ancient people to ward off evil.

My dad wore a talisman for years to ward off heart strokes.

The talisman didn't work well. I remember getting a call early one morning from mom. She said dad had a heart stroke and was in an ambulance headed to a hospital in Springfield. Joyce and I drove into the hospital that morning and we went into one of the emergency rooms there to be with dad. I was standing by his bed, crying when a doctor walked into the room and said, “Why are you crying, he is already improving.” He has had several lesser strength strokes in the past few days.” I thought the doctor’s bedside manner could have been softer, but he was direct and to the point. That was a rough day for me.

Some time later on Valentine’s Day, I was working at Litton in Springfield. Mom had called Joyce to tell her dad had another more serious stroke and was dying in the same hospital. Joyce called me at work, but in those days calls were blocked to anyone but managers,engineers and executives. They were forwarded to the personnel office. The head of personnel at that time was a man ( a real asshole) whose name escapes me now. He answered the incoming call from Joyce, he replied that company policy at that time did not allow incoming calls to workers on the floor unless they were in an emergency. Joyce, well experienced with customer service calls, never missed a beat. She said, “Well if you consider this as an emergency, tell Bill that his father is dying in the hospital” and then she abruptly hung up the phone before he could say another word. The man from personnel scurried over to the lab where I was working and gave me the message with an apology to Joyce. I left immediately. It was a dreadful day with cold winds along with rain coming down. I got to the hospital and dad was unconscious. I was in dad's room when I looked outside the window and thought, what a dreadful day to die? But then, when is a good day to die?

Through the day doctors and nurses kept coming to mom asking her to allow them to put dad on life support. She had to refuse five or more times. That was dad’s wish not to be living via a machine. I thought one time asking mom was enough for her to have to say no, but they pestered her for reasons unknown to me. My mother and Joyce were both women that were slow to anger, but when they reached a tipping point, their eyes lit up with fire and people backed away in fear.

Dad survived that day and went home eventually. He finally passed away in 1993. He and mom are both buried in the Veterans cemetery in Springfield.