Meetinghouse
Sally Mackenzie, Brunswick: The longest climb
I felt a presence in the room. I screamed when I turned to see my husband standing there with a grim grin. Grim because of pain; grin because he had made it all the way up 14 stairs and crossed the hallway to stand in his study. This was May 1, 2018.
On Feb. 15 that year, he had been hit by a car while we were walking in a crosswalk in Tucson, Arizona. The car and driver were never found. We aren't entirely sure what happened, but Cal lay 70 feet from where I was. He had a broken left leg, a broken right arm with skin peeled off exposing bone, several broken ribs, broken vertebrae and wounds to his lungs, back and face.
Sally Mackenzie is a former high school teacher and then professor at the University of Maine and a resident of Brunswick.
As a result of the accident, he had had eight surgeries and had been given eight units of blood. He spent time in four hospitals and endured a daylong medical jet trip from Tucson to Maine. He was seen by too many doctors, nurses and occupational and physical therapists to count. But after two months he was home in our very own mini-hospital. I acted as head nurse, with the occasional visit from a physical therapist. He slept in a hospital bed and spent days in a wheelchair or, when he had the strength to shift, a sofa in front of the TV.
That morning I had left him downstairs in the hands of a physical therapist who concluded her visit by praising his progress and saying that in a month he would definitely be able to attempt the stairs. Never one to give up when challenged, Cal told me he stared at the stairs for a good 20 minutes before he started to climb them, being careful to put most of his weight on his good leg even as he held on to the handrail with his bad arm.
A miracle, yes, but not a surprise, considering this was a man who persevered through many physical and psychological challenges in his life. Yes, he had quit teaching when he received a harsh cancer diagnosis a few years before, and he had quit playing basketball when it was clear that his 6-foot-5-inch brother was always going to get the rebound. But he had cultivated determination as a fisherman, a soldier, a scholar, a teacher and, not least, as my personal fixer of all things mechanical and especially things produced by Apple.
He remembers nothing of his time in the trauma and rehab hospitals in Tucson. I remember every bit of my fear and anxiety. When he had regained consciousness but was still intubated, he made a walking motion with his left hand and seemed to ask, Will I be able to walk? With no evidence to support my assertion at that point, I assured him he would. And he did and does. With a slight limp, he walks every day. But he now takes my hand when we cross a street.
Grit, Meetinghouse
Past Meetinghouse Topics
Instructions - December 2022
Games - November 2022
Decisions - October 2022
Borrowed - September 2022
Up all night - August 2022
First Impressions - July 2022
Broke - June 2022
Guests - May 2022
Grit - April 2022
Mischief - March 2022
Quitting - February 2022
New Kid - January 2022
Overheard - December 2021
Ghosts - November 2021
Old Friends - October 2021
Hometown - September 2021
Moving Day - August 2021
Keepsakes - July 2021
Mistakes - June 2021
Siblings - May 2021
Gardens - April 2021
Haircut - March 2021
Rural Life - February 2021
Silver Linings - January 2021
Surprise - December 2020
Reunion - November 2020
The Attic - October 2020
Locked Out - September 2020
After The Storm - August 2020
Inheritance - July 2020
In The Driver's Seat - June 2020
The Last Time - May 2020
Forgive Me - April 2020
A Fish Out of Water - March 2020
Let's Go - February 2020
Ask Your Mother - January 2020
How to submit to:
On the first Sunday of each month and every Thursday for the rest of that month, we will publish stories by readers on the following topics:
"Maps" – deadline for submissions Dec. 30.
"Style" – deadline for submissions Jan. 27.
"Bikes" – deadline for submissions Feb. 24.
Submissions should be roughly 200 to 500 words in length. Please include your name, hometown and a daytime phone number for verification. Also, give us a one-sentence description of who you are, and a digital photo of yourself or something that speaks to the theme of your piece.
Stories can be emailed to [email protected]; or mailed to Meetinghouse, Portland Press Herald, P.O. Box 1460, Portland, ME 04104-5009 (mailed photos should include a return envelope).