We were headed for a vacation at a resort outside of Reno,
Nevada where we were to meet son Jim and girlfriend Joyce. It unfolded much differently than expected.
Jim was to get us at the airport at 3pm. He did not arrive. After 90 minutes and no phone contact we checked with the resort, leaving our
cellphone number, and even checked with local police. After another 90 minutes the resort called to
inform us that the local hospital had called to say that Jim was in the
ER. We called, the ER said he was alive
but battered from an auto accident. We
spoke with him, learned that his car had crashed into a guard rail on I80, 30
miles away and he was helicoptered to the hospital.
We rented a car and drove to the hospital. Jim was out of xray and we learned that his
pelvis was fractured in 6 places he was in pain and was being further
evaluated.
We left the ER and proceeded to the resort.
As we write this on August 15, two plus weeks later, he has
had surgery, somewhat recovered and has been transferred from the acute care
hospital to the rehab hospital in Reno.
The next day Jim did call us and asked that we go to his car
and retrieve his belongings. A highway patrol officer had visited him and
filled him in on what happened and how to find out about his car. So after some phone calls we drove to
Truckee, CA. The car was badly damaged
in the front and a total loss. We pushed aside pieces of sheet metal and got
his stuff. We headed back to the hospital;
as we arrived we got a call to hurry Jim was going in to surgery and that he
wanted to speak with us. We did and soon
met his doctors. They had decided to put
a screw across the top of the bone to join the two halves and the joint at the
top.
It was successful. He
was moved to Intensive care where he spent 6 days, mostly to deal with concerns
of internal bleeding and pain. Then he
moved to the orthopedic floor for 5 days.
He needed to tolerate a wheel chair before they could move him to rehab,
which has happened, and we hope that he will go home to CA after three weeks of
rehab.
About Reno. It is a
medium city in the NW corner of Nevada in the high desert at 4300 feet. It is cold in the winter and hot in the
summer 90 to 100 days, 50 to 60 nights. I80
connects Reno with San Francisco and New York, as does Amtrak. Being Nevada,
Reno has small and large casinos everywhere and advertised houses of ill repute. There is a downtown with normal shops and
restaurants. There are many shopping
malls, some very large. Casino dining is
a major feature of the landscape; we ate several times in casino restaurants
with very high quality offerings, large portions and reasonable prices.
We spoke with some locals who patronize the casinos. They love the food and the gambling. One casino has a drawing at Saturday nights
for $10,000! And they have loyalty cards!
Most of the housing we saw was condo or apartment and some
middle class single family houses on small lots. The transition from city to
desert is really abrupt at the edge of town.
There is as mining industry in the mountains and a lot of
military bases and a few national parks and forests.
Old classic cars seem to be a focus.
There is a Shakespeare festival and a symphony series. There are nearby ski areas.
Everybody seems very friendly.
So we visited Jim every day, with
Joyce after she arrived later in the week.
The hospital is very big, well
organized, and apparently very good.
The resort was very nice, oriented
to being a base for local tourism. Most
people come from California or Nevada and love it.
We flew in via Los Angeles and out
via Houston. So we flew over lots of
mountains and the Grand Canyon.
The car rental was upgraded to a
Chrysler 300. It is a classic gangster
car and not seen much in the East. It
was appropriate to the scene and we loved it!
The flight home was fine, except
that we didn’t get to bed until 3am.
