Carol Ann Brown, 71

My friends, let us pray for the family of Mrs. Carol Ann Brown and David W. Smith, her brother. She passed away today, May 2, after a long life of struggle with illnesses. She had been admitted to the hospital for several occassions since January last year - broken hip, had her intestines reattached, brain surgery for an experimental treatment for an ailment, etc.


David and I visited Carol Ann last week at St. John's Home, where she was sent after she was given treatment at Strong Memorial Hospital. She was on a feeding tube. She also had an infection. However, the bacteria was resistant to most antibiotics, including Vancomyacin. She had macular degeneration.


Today David was called in to the hospital where Carol Ann was taken because she was in unstable condition. David picked up her son, Mark, to attend to her mother while she was in guarded condition. David talked with Carol Ann's daughters who are based in another states to inform them about their mother's condition.


I felt guilty when David picked me up today because I was grumpy. But the fact is, I didn't know that Carol Ann has passed away. I was so pissed by the bus driver who stopped near the Kodak building, coming from Brockport, because he said he was 8 minutes ahead of his schedule. The police came and checked on us. Apparently, the Kodak people called them to check out what's wrong with the bus. Unfortunately, that made me miss the No. 7 bus that drives to Pittsford. The last time I missed the bus was when Hillary Clinton visited Rochester and they had to do a re-routing of vehicles. God knows how I hated that moment. I also missed the bus two months ago when a snow storm hit the City. Well, to go back to the gruelling moment today, I called home downtown and left a message to David and waited for the next bus to arrive. Well, a whole 30 minutes wasted. Good thing it wasn't raining or snowing or I would have screamed. When I arrived at Wegman's I called home again, but David was not home. So I waited for a good 45 minutes again. I was ready to walk home when he came. We didn't go directly home but to Strong. I didn't know then until we picked up Mark from the Emergency Room entrace. And you know Strong isn't a small place. It is 50 times bigger than our private hospital in Bacolod (and they're adding more wings!). When David and Mark talked about Carol Ann, that was when I learned about her death.


I would have cried in the car because I remembered my father who passed away two months ago. I remember screaming and crying over the phone when my mother informed me about my father's death.


I extend my condolences to David and Carol Ann's children.