Irena

I woke up early this morning with a phone call from Irena, a 76 year old friend I met through the church I attend here. I had lunch with her yesterday after church and she informed me that the doctors here diagnosed her with lung cancer. She already had part of her one lung removed nine years ago also due to lung cancer. At 9 pm last night, she made the decision to return to her country of Australia for the proper therapy/treatment.

Her call to me this morning was to inform me that she spent all night packing and that she flies out today at 2. There are only two flights weekly from Buenos Aires to Sydney and her doctor in Sydney insisted she catch today's - giving her no time to get her things in order here.

This is where I come in. After a chaotic morning getting her to the airport, I took over control of her apartment, including the resident poodle and bird. Fortunately, she left me a short list of phone #s of her close friends and I was able to get someone to temporarily 'adopt' the animals. Later, I had to talk to her portero (superintendent) to inform him I would be managing the apartment, paying her bills and weekly maid service, and handling all other tasks associated with the apartment until further notice.

She is not due to arrive in Sydney until tomorrow night at 6 (BA time) so everything is in limbo until I hear from her. What a day this has been. To cheer her up upon her arrival, we took a photo of her friends from the church fair extending their wishes for a speedy recovery.

Today I also realized how important friendships can be. Doug and Jaime made what could have been a much more stressful day much easier for me to handle. Thanks, guys.

I'll end this post with a quote I came across earlier:

"We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival."

-- Winston Churchill