Taking the Train to MaryJane

For the last few weeks I've been taking the 7 train to Grand Central Station, then the 6 train to 103rd Street in Manhattan to visit my dear friend, MaryJane, who is still in Mount Sinai Hospital.

MaryJane is my 85 year old next-door neighbor and a transplanted mid-westerner.  We have been neighbors since 1997, when I moved into the building I live in presently.  She was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  I never knew there even was a Grand Rapids, MN until I met her.  She has short, wavy salt and pepper hair, fair skin, and the clearest, blue eyes I've ever seen on anyone in person.  She's smart...an avid reader, poet, author, animal lover.

She always seemed to me out of place in New York City.  Although she has resided in New York City for many years, her kindness and pure, good-hearted nature always stood out.  She would literally give someone in need, the shirt off her back, the food out of her mouth, or anything else they needed, and has done so, for me on many occasions.

She and I shared conversations and laughs over juicy burgers, sushi, or the occasional fish and chips washed down with a Guinness.  MaryJane is the type of person who can find joy in several dried leaves on the ground swirling in a circle on a windy day, or a fluffy white cloud that is bunny-shaped.  

That's why it's been so sad and hard to see her in the condition she's been in since she had her surgery around 2 weeks ago.  She had a "whipple procedure" which her doctors all seemed to tell her she needed in order to live longer and have a good quality of life...I haven't seen the improved quality yet.  The incision site is not healing the way it should be and she was in pain today.  Although she was on a liquid diet by mouth last week, she is now receiving nutrition intravenously.  She is sometimes confused and asks what has happened to her.

She never had any children, but she does have a team of friends, and we're doing our best to support her, visit her and show her our love.