Life and Times

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you on behalf of Alice Mah Lee. I am her nephew and next-of-kin. She has been in the hospital for the last 6 weeks (Ottawa General). She is in stable condition but quite frail and unable to continue alone in her apartment. We have applied for the Glebe Centre, a long term care facility.

Her health problems really started last spring when a blind man ran into her on the sidewalk. She fell down and needed to use a cane for a number of months. She never regained her full mobility after that fall and seemed to loose weight. While she would continue to attend church Sundays, the church elders became concerned with her ability to live on her own and called to consult with me on her placement in long term care. While things were difficult, she did manage to continue to go to Elgin Street to visit the doctor, pharmacy, shopping and restaurants. Occasionally, if she were too tired from the outing she would take a taxi home.

On November 10, she tried to go out of her apartment to the drug store. It seems she lost her grip on the railing while going up the two steps in front of her apartment. The superintendent saw her fall and called an ambulance as her head was bleeding quite profusely. While in the hospital they noticed she had fluid in her lungs so she was not absorbing oxygen properly. They put her on oxygen but all the tests on the lung fluid have not isolated any cause. Since then she has had a lung drain put in and been on and off oxygen, as required. She spends a lot of time sleeping but always smiles cheerfully when we visit.

If you would like regular updates on her condition please email me or visit my blog:

http://oldhat-2u.blogspot.com (from any public Internet access). For those who don't have Internet, I will write you again once she is settled at another location and let you know her mailing address.