Home Health Care Helps Family With Cancer, Death
Everyone laughed at the blonde jokes, even if they weren’t politically correct. And the laughter helped.
“Dad could hardly breathe, but he had to tell me a blonde joke that a nurse had told him,” Sally Anderson says. “Dad was always looking for a good joke.”
Dean Wolfinger died May 3 at age 67, three months after he had been diagnosed with renal cancer. A home health service kept Alice, his wife of 40 years, from crumbling.
“I don’t know how people get by without help,” Alice says. “Once we knew the diagnosis, I knew I needed someone to talk to about the pain.”
After a lifetime in Osburn, Idaho, Alice found support everywhere she turned. But the greatest relief came from Marianne Hull, Alice’s friend from school days. Marianne runs Loving Care and More, a Shoshone County home health service.
“The name fits,” Alice says. “The ‘more’ especially.”
At first, nurses came to the Wolfinger home twice a week to check on Dean and encourage him to do the things Alice couldn’t get him to do.
He slept in a reclining chair because it hurt to move out of it into a bed. Alice knew he’d be more comfortable in bed, but she couldn’t bear seeing him in pain. So she left him alone. But nurse Mary Alice Jones got him into a bed where he was happier.
The nurses cared for Dean but they also coddled Alice. They listened to her, hugged her and laughed with her. The day Dean died, Alice sat by his side as a nurse took care of death’s details.
“It’s OK to put everything in their hands,” Alice says, allowing herself a few grateful tears.
Alice, Marianne and the nurses still laugh over inside jokes, private stories and memorable moments with Dean.
“The situation was about as bad as it could get, but they made it easier on me,” Alice says. “They were part of my family.”
Higher calling
North Idaho will seem like the tropics after Bonners Ferry High School junior Betsy Faber hits the Alaskan ice fields this summer. The University of Alaska chose Betsy to join the Juneau Icefield Research Project.
It’s just as impressive as it sounds. Only 15 high school students in the nation were selected. They’ll study geology and glaciology with graduate students and researchers from around the world.
Too bad Betsy has to relinquish her Boundary County Junior Miss title to join the expedition. She just has too many talents. …
Tubs o’ fun
Remember Tom and Kelly Sullivan, the couple who turned a dilapidated east Coeur d’Alene shack on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive into a coffee-house? They had big plans for Tubs Cafe, named for the hot tubs it eventually would include.
Red tape swamped the tubs for a while, but the Sullivans didn’t despair. They took out their frustrations on their back yard, hacking out weeds and digging up rocks until the place looked right for an outdoor beer garden.
Their Blues Garden will open today complete with music until 9 p.m. Stop by and celebrate with the Sullivans and the hundreds of friends they’ve made since opening Tubs.
Anniversary annals
The stories Coeur d’Alene’s Women’s Center expects for its 20th anniversary might be tough to read. The center wants clients - typically abused, hunted and terrified women - to write about their experiences at the center.
Anonymous writers are fine. Send stories to The Women’s Center, 2201 N. Government Way, Suite E, Coeur d’Alene 83814.
What Panhandle anniversary is overlooked? Note its significance for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; or send a fax to 765-7149, call 765-7128 or send e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo