(1/ ) “In April of 2020, I had a heart attack. It was the start of the pandemic. Relatives weren’t visiting, I couldn’t get to church, and I was just in the house by myself anxious about what was going on in the world. It was early on a Sunday morning. I wasn’t in pain, but I felt something unusual, like a fluttering in my chest that wouldn’t go away. I called my doctor and he told me to come in first thing Monday morning. When I woke up, I was feeling a bit better but went in anyway. They did an EKG, and the doctor called the cardiologist. He told me I needed to see one right away and gave me the address for Christian Northeast Medical Center. It was just a short distance away so I drove myself straight there. When I walked in, I was still having the fluttery feeling. I signed in and they told me I would be seen shortly. Well, I was sitting there for maybe 15 or 20 minutes and all of a sudden I felt this awful pain in my back and my shoulders. I didn’t know what was going on. I told the nurse and she took me back to the doctor’s office. He immediately saw what was going on and gave me two little pills to take. He said, ‘Miss Hunter, you’re having a heart attack, so we’re going to have to do a medical procedure.’ I was kind of out of it and told him, ‘No, I don’t think I am.’
He repeated, ‘We’ve got to get you to the hospital to have an emergency procedure.’ When I got to the surgery emergency room I was just kind of panicking. I hadn’t had any hospital procedure since my son was born 40 years ago. Before I knew it they had done the surgery and gotten me to recovery. I had a clogged artery so they inserted a stint in my chest. I was moved out of the ICU, but nobody could come to see me. It was very isolating. But l felt so blessed that I was in the doctor’s office when I had the heart attack. What if I had been driving?
For follow up I saw the doctor for no more than a year. But he was, very busy and was about getting the patients in and out. Then the office changed their policy so they were providing care at a cost upfront. If you paid, you would get preference for appointments but I wasn’t in a position to do that. That’s when I got information about Dr. Gurav’s office. He’s been taking care of me since. So far I’ve had a few complications, like heart palpitations, but I’m doing okay. Plus the dose of medicine the first cardiologist prescribed me slowed my heart rate down so low I was dragging. I didn’t have the energy to do anything. Dr. Gurav reduced the amount I was taking to half, and it made a difference. I’ve had a few stressful times since then, but I’m just thankful to be here.”
“After my heart attack, my daughter bought me a laptop so we could do Zoom. She lives in Virginia, and couldn’t visit because of the pandemic. My sisters and my church members would call to check in on me. I was just really thankful for the internet service. Our church services went online, which helped you feel connected. I had gotten accustomed to my youngest son coming over every Sunday for dinner.
I had a friend who dropped off a plant on the porch. That was really nice.
A lady who I worked with. I had worked for social services as an in-home service worker. I had no idea. Had never done it before. I always liked helping people. I wanted to do something after my husband passed, it was April of 2012. I’ve been here going on 13 years by myself. Maybe two or three years later I started to work a part-time job. I was looking for something to do. I would have rather stayed in the field I was working in, but I applied to a few jobs and they told me I had too much experience. So I was going to the library with me and my briefcase, folks started thinking I worked there. Just to be doing something. Then a friend suggested, ‘Why don’t you do in-home services? That would be something you could do part-time.’ I really didn’t know. I contacted the agency and was interviewed. I was telling them I hadn’t done it before, and she was asking me about what kinds of things I’d done. I told her I worked in social services well over thirty years, and then I took care of my mother when she was diagnosed with cancer. I had retired the month before that, so I was available to take care of her. My two Younger sisters were still working. My mother didn’t want to go to a nursing home. She wanted to stay in her own home, so my brother and I took care of her around the clock. It was just amazing that I was available. I took the time. So during the day, I was at her house between 8 and 8:30 every morning until 5:30 or 6pm. I didn’t consider it a job. I was taking care of my mother. So I was explaining this to the owner and she said, ‘Well that was work experience.’ And I’m looking at her like, ‘What?’ And she told me that the experience I had taking care of her qualified because that is basically what I would be doing. Someone told me once, ‘Dorothy, you know you can get paid for taking care of you mom.’ And I said, ‘No, I couldn’t do that.’ My mother qualified to to receive the services, but I just wouldn’t feel right. So I didn’t do that. But I appreciated the information she gave me.
(2/ ) “When I was a child, I lived with my aunt for several years. She had two sons who were grown and out of the house, so she asked my mother about me living with her. I was nine years old, and I stayed until I was fifteen. It was a different lifestyle for me. My mother didn’t have a whole lot, and there were six of us kids still at home. Her only income was from public assistance and it was limited. At my aunt’s I had my own room and was able to go to a nice school. My mother lived on the near Southside, and my aunt lived in North St. Louis. The schools and neighborhoods were different. My mother didn’t drive, but my aunt had a car. She and her husband both worked. They owned their own home and their neighborhood felt like a real community. At fifteen, my mother and stepfather separated, so she needed me to come back home. It was hard for me. I left what I had grown accustomed to and I didn’t fit in my own family. My older siblings thought I was odd and not as hip as they were. And my younger twin sisters thought I was their cousin. I wasn’t as close to my mom as I wanted to be and was always fighting for attention and affection. I was forever trying to fit in, to find my own way. I learned later that they assumed I thought I was better than them because I had lived with my aunt.
I got married when I was 17. He was 23. He seemed kind and gave me the love and attention I was looking for. But I was so young and naive. After I had my fourth child, he left. It was me and my children living in the Darst public housing across from where Peabody is now. It was there I met my second husband. He lived at one end of the housing complex and I lived at the other. He was a sweetheart. He had gone through a first marriage, too, and had four children. So we had a lot in common. Because of the trauma I experienced during my first marriage, I wasn’t trusting. I didn’t want to have a relationship with anyone. I first saw him at the school where my oldest child went. I was always involved in the PTA and he was there for his children. He started working for the housing authority and somehow was assigned to my building. My sons, who were preschoolers at the time, would talk to him while he was working. He was in the process of training for maintenance work, and one day, he came with another worker to my house to fix something. He asked me for my phone number and I said, ‘I can’t. I have children!’ But it didn’t stop him. He asked again, so finally I gave it to him. We would talk on the phone and he’d ask to come over and I said, ‘No.’ I tell you, he had patience because we talked on the phone three months before I let him come visit. We were married in 1975 and had 37 years together before he passed.”
“I was always trying to be close to my family. And when my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I got a second chance. It was April 2011, and I had just retired. My two younger sisters were still working, and my mom didn’t want to go to a nursing home. So my brother and I took care of her around the clock. During the day, I was at her house by 8:30 every morning until 5:30 or 6 pm. She was still able to go to church every Sunday, but she got to the place where she didn’t have the strength to do things for herself.
And whenever she felt up to going out she’d say say, ‘I would like to go somewhere.’ She loved Cracker Barrel, so when I suggested that I couldn’t get her dressed fast enough. We’d have a nice lunch, and I think it did her good to get out of the house. Most of what she did was lay around and watch television. I got some spiritual CDs for her to listen to to keep her encouraged. I would fix her breakfast and lunch. Make sure she got her medication. Give her baths. Whatever she needed, I was there. She was ninety years old right before she passed.
My mother was very caring. She was a smart lady, but she never really worked. But she was the mother who was always home. You never had to worry about what you were going to eat. Even when times were hard, she always did without so we had things.
