Here's how the headline read a little over a year ago on September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 - NewsOK.com Main Headlines
EDMOND — A 90-year-old Edmond woman is in critical condition this afternoon after being hit by a car while getting her mail, police said. Adelina Benne was hit about 1:30 p.m. by a car driven by Delbert Maxwell, 84, Edmond Police Department spokeswoman Glynda Chu said. Benne was walking across Bryant Avenue when she was hit. Maxwell tried to stop, but couldn’t, Chu said. Benne was taken to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Maxwell did not receive a ticket.
My mom called me at work at 2:25pm that day. My dad had driven my Uncle Earl to the hospital behind the ambulance & mom had ran home to close up the house & to call me. I immediately left work & went to pick her up then we headed to the hospital. Oh what a day that was... it was just a blurr in a way. A bad dream... a really really bad dream. Not that I would ever tell my mom this, but I honestly don't even remember driving us to the hospital. My body was driving but my mind was scattered somewhere else. Seeing Aunt Adelina laying on the stretcher in the trauma room covered in blood, screaming in pain... I just wanted to collapse.
I've been to the emergency room & hospitals for many many different family members & friends over the years... but this time felt different for me. My Uncle Earl & Aunt Adelina have been very close to me my entire life. They built a house directly behind my parents house when I was around 8 years old. Even before they moved, I would spend the night with them & go to church with them on Sundays. They've always treated me like their very own child. When they moved, I pretty much lived at their house as much as I lived at my own.
Aunt Adelina started teaching me how to play the piano when I was 7 years old... she was an extremely good teacher, but after years off & on of playing, the piano just wasn't for me. I can still play, I learned allot from her, but the violin always had my #1 interest. She was originally from Venezuela & speaks fluent Spanish & even tried to teach me Spanish when I was growing up... but... the Spanish didn't really stick with me. I regret that now, I wish I would've tried harder to learn, studied more. Uncle Earl & Aunt Adelina are extremely special people in my life, they mean the world to me. They've been like parents to me my entire life.
I held myself together for the most part of that day, I knew I had to be strong for my mom & everyone else. My Aunt was yelling in Spanish about how much pain she was in & begging for someone to give her something, it was allot for us to handle. The Dr's only gave her a little medication for pain, because they didn't want to give her to much & her blood pressure drop. They tried explaining this to her, but since she has Alzheimer's, she couldn't remember what they had told her, so she kept asking. When my Uncle walked over to the stretcher, leaned over to try & comfort her, then started telling my Aunt how much he loved her & that we were all there... I lost it. I had to step out of the room for a few minutes to put myself back together.
I've never seen one tear fall from Uncle Earl's eye my entire life, never. The look on his face, the swollen watery eyes, I could see the hurt, the love, everything all happening at once. It tore me up, I felt like someone had put a huge weight on my chest & I couldn't breathe.
After many x-rays, cat scans & all the other tests they did, the Dr's came in to tell us exactly what the results were. Thankfully her head scan came back fine - no internal bleeding. She had a broken nose bone, but apparently it was broken in a good place, nothing was blocking her ability to breathe through her nose, so they put some stitches in it & it would heal in time. Her right ankle was broken, the bone sticking out. Her left femur was broken really bad. Her pelvic area was broken in several places along with her right hip.
After hours of debating, the Dr's finally took her to surgery for her right ankle around 10pm that night. At that point in time, they didn't feel like her body can handle to much surgery - so since the bone was sticking out of her ankle, that was their #1 priority. The surgery went fine & the Dr said her ankle wasn't quite as bad as what they had originally thought, which was good news. They moved her from the trauma unit to surgery, then from surgery they moved her into ICU where she stayed for about a week. At her age... they were afraid to do to much at one time. The Dr's have said that after her stay at the hospital she would have to be moved to a therapy unit to live for several months. They told us she will be unable to walk for awhile... if ever again. She had a long recovery road ahead of her & it was going to be a painful process.
I had to leave the hospital around 5pm that day because I had to go take care of grandma & she needed her shot. I hurried though... then ran home to feed Abigail & get her situated, then left & returned to the hospital again. I think I was gone about an hour & half.
Around 9:30pm that night I finally took mom home to drop her off. She was tired I could tell. It had been a long day for everyone. After Aunt Adelina got out of surgery, my Aunt Oneta called mom to give her the update on how everything went & then mom called me to let me know. That was around midnight.
After dropping mom off at home, I headed towards my house... I got lost, like I somehow managed to get confused about where I was at, what street I was on, everything. Then I lost it, I had a break down. I decided at that point it was in my best interest to pull over & stop so I could put myself back together. I ended up pulling over at 1st Baptist Church parking lot... weird but true. All my train of thought was gone for some reason. How does that happen anyways? I scared myself, literally. I've lived in Edmond my entire life & I was driving down Bryant & I had no freakin clue where I was. After a few minutes of sitting in the parking lot of the church when I realized where I was actually at... I just cried. The thought of me not knowing where I was when I should've known, that's just jacked up.
Well now it's been over a year... Aunt Adelina was moved to a nursing home after she went thru recovery at a special therapy hospital for several months, where she's been most of the year. After focusing most of my attention on my grandma at the beginning of the year & then losing her in March, I found it difficult to go visit Aunt Adelina at the nursing home. As sad as it is to say, I haven't seen Aunt Adelina since I went to visit her in the hospital over a year ago.
It's been a hard year & I will admit that I've been affraid to go see her. I can't explain it, but it's just been hard for me. She's always been so special to me & a special part of my life growing up.
Today we are celebrating her 90th birthday at the nursing home & having a small come-and-go party for her for family & friends. I've debated about going since my Aunt Oneta told me about the party. I was hoping that Fred would be here to go with me & since she hadn't met him, I was hoping to introduce them, but unfortunately he's in McAlester & can't be here. I called my mom last night to talk with her & I told her that if she had planned on going to Aunt Adelina's birthday party today, I would take her. So now... after over a year of not seeing her, I'm going to get to see her today. A part of me is excited but another part is still scared about going & a little emotional.
Aunt Adelina is an amazing woman. She's one of those happy people, who loves everyone with no boundaries. She would bend over backwards for anyone & she's always given 150% of herself when ever she can. She's so full of knowledge & experiences in her life, coming originally from Venezuela where her extended family still resides. Growing up I always thought she should've been a teacher, because she just has that special way about her that you want to learn from.
Happy birthday Aunt Adelina, I love you.
This is one of my wonderful Christmas presents I got this year! It's similiar to the Magic Bullet Express except not near as expensive.
