Late in the afternoon on the third day of waiting for Lou’s urologist to call, Lou received a call from the rental car company.
It turns out, our SUV was due back to the rental agency three days ago! I couldn’t believe it had been a month already, but when I checked the rental contract, sure enough. It was due back the day we checked Lou into the ER. We had completely lost track of time! We’d been in such an intense kind of survival mode since before we even left Sarasota that things like dates or days of the week were hardly ever on my mind.
Turning in the rental car late was a minor problem in the grand scheme of things. There was a pricey penalty, and that wasn’t good news, but we could take that hit. The major problem was that we rented the truck in Tampa, Florida, and we were currently in Waconia, Minnesota! And the rental agency we used was not a national company, and so we couldn’t just turn it in to an office in Minnesota. It had to be returned to the Tampa office.
There was no other option.
After working the phone for a few hours, Lou was finally able to get the right kind of manager on the line to help us. Lou explained the basics of our situation, and told this manager that he was experiencing a medical emergency. Lou then asked the manager if we could extend the rental agreement for another week or two. The manager explained that he would love to help us, but when you rent a car for more than 30 days, it technically turns into a lease — which has all sorts of different restrictions. But he would enact some kind of special medical emergency override on our contract as long as we could get the car back to Tampa within the next three days.
Whew! Thank goodness, right? (Not so fast, Pollyanna…)
We, of course, didn’t mention to the manager that we were actually in Minnesota… And, according to our GPS, we were exactly 1,321 miles (and 22 hours and 37 minutes) away from the Tampa rental car drop off. (Erg.) And to make things worse, it was late afternoon when we were making this adjustment to our agreement, and promising to return the car within the allotted time.
So by the time Lou received the extension email with the new terms and conditions, I noticed that the car was really due back in Tampa in more like two days instead of three because there was a 3:00 deadline on the “third” day. (No!!) So this left us with only one solution: I had to drive the SUV back to Florida. Immediately.
By myself.
I remember my body buzzing with emotions about this horrible news. How could I leave Lou at a time like this? He needed me, and quite frankly, I needed him! But it was obvious that Lou couldn’t travel in his condition. He was way too sick, and, we were still waiting to hear when his appointment with the doctors would be. He had just endured all of those awful tests, and we needed to find out the answers to all of our questions. We had to see this through. So Lou had to stay, and I had to go. There was absolutely no way around it.
We talked about asking Judy or Dave to ride back with me, but I really needed them both to stay with Lou. He’d need someone to take him to the ER if things got worse, and, what if the urology office called? Lou would need their help to get back to the medical center. Plus, we’d already imposed too much as it is. I couldn’t ask one of them to ride with me. And there was no time to enlist one of our sisters to help — I had to get on the road right away if I was going to make that drop off deadline.
So I rallied… And, I came up with a plan.
I used a pair of scissors to adjust the length of Lou’s catheter tubing so he could strap the bag higher up on his leg. That way, he could reach down more easily to empty the bag without lifting up his leg, and, he wouldn’t have to ask Dave or Judy for help. (Oh my gosh — how awful that would’ve been!) Then, I spent time organizing the bathroom.
I stacked three neat piles of dude diapers on the tank of the toilet so Lou could easily reach them, and I then placed some of the new cleaning wipes I bought on the side of the sink so Lou could keep Judy’s bathroom clean. I made sure every surface sparkled like a diamond before I packed up my toiletries. I wasn’t sure if I’d be returning to this house any time soon, so I figured a super deep clean would be the most I could do.
Next, I tried to quickly reorganize all of Lou’s clothing so he could get what he needed without bending around too much. The catheter placement was brutal for Lou, and even the simplest movements would cause the tubing to painfully jam into his bladder. I was getting so used to doing everything for Lou that the thought of leaving him on his own was overwhelming. So I just stuck to creating little ways to make everything he’d need to do for himself as safe and easy as possible.
Finally, I packed a small bag for myself. I remember feeling so full of fear, but I was doing my best to channel that fear into a rigid determination. Dave and Judy promised to take good care of Lou — just as I knew they would — and Lou said he’d call me every few hours to make sure I knew he was fine. I’d also be the first person to know when the urology office called to schedule his appointment. It was the best Lou could do to assure me that he’d be fine on his own.
