reflections – Page 44 – Go Retire Psychiatrist

My Mother

Sometimes I think about my mother, Ruby, who died 15 years ago. She reared me and my brother Randy. Those were hard times. She had a sense of humor but the years wore on her, making life a burden. She was a lifelong resident of our hometown.

Jim Amos
Ruby Amos

In early life, she worked as a waitress. She often spoke with great pride of her ability to carry more hot dishes barehanded from kitchen to table than anyone else she knew.

She was an avid card player. If you couldn’t remember what tricks were played in a game of 500 — Ruby had you for lunch.

She lived in the heart of the downtown area on Federal Avenue for decades — and loved every minute of it.

She enjoyed the noise of traffic, the city waking up, the city eating lunch, and the city having a hard time going to sleep at night.

She lived high above the street, and didn’t mind the stairs at all, even late into her seventies.

Ruby loved going out for coffee. She was a great talker, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing a good joke. She knew that sharing troubles and laughter were both healing. In her own way, she reminded us to cherish our blessings wherever we found them. We will remember.

I am very lucky to have some snapshots of my family, and even luckier to find one of her smiling brightly. She suffered to put it simply. Religious faith helped. We went to church regularly for some time. My father never went to church as far as I know, but for some reason, at one time I remember there was some hint that he might attend Sunday service with us. A new pastor had taken over and I remember he said flatly that he would never allow some “Black buccaneer” in his church.

Over the years, I’ve thought about whether the pastor’s emphasis was on my father being black or just a buccaneer. He was both. Anyway, he never showed up and that’s just as well because he surely was not welcome.

At Christmas, we used to get gifts of fruitcake from members of the church. I think that was one of the first times I learned how to lie from my mother who didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings who was making a gift to us during the holidays. I hated that fruitcake so much; I can’t even begin to tell you. But I told anyone who gave that stuff to us that I loved it.

Television was about the only entertainment we had. We used to watch Ed Sullivan, Lost in Space, and all those other shows you can see on MeTV nowadays. We used to play Old Maid with a pretty creepy deck of cards.

Mom could climb a lot of stairs without any problems, well into her eighties. I climb a lot of stairs too as a C-L psychiatrist in the general hospital, and I’m well into my sixties. We’re alike in many ways.

One of the differences was that she could play cards better than I ever will. I’m just not so good at remembering what cards have been played. However, I try and my wife and I occasionally play a game called Schnapsen, in which remembering what’s been played is critical to winning. I lose more than my share of games.

Mom was a fast walker. We often walked from our house to Central Park downtown, which was quite a distance. We didn’t have a car, so walking was the only way to get around. I take after her because I’m a pretty good walker. Ask any trainee who rotates through the psychiatry consult service.

When she got very old, her health worsened and her nerves got the best of her more often than not. I remember she made me promise I’d never put her in a nursing home. I did promise—and I eventually had to break it.

Mom and I were very much alike. I treasure our differences.

My Brother

Sometimes I think about my brother Randy, who died 19 years ago. His last days were made immeasurably easier by the caring staff at Hospice of North Iowa. He worked at a local artificial ice company for many years. He died when he was 43 of cancer, before either of our parents died.

Jim Amos
Randy Amos

He will always be remembered for his generosity, kindness, and infectious sense of humor. A sense of humor ran in the family, despite hardships. He had a raw, honest, and often boisterous passion. We treasure everything he gave us.

Even the courageous way he let go of his life was a gift. He died as he lived, in the arms and in the hearts of the people who loved him.

I learned a valuable lesson about that. On his last day in the hospice, I was determined to be with him up to the moment he died, staring down death in his face. I’m still not sure why I wanted to do that.

Then a couple of his long-time friends stopped by to see him. Death watch was interrupted as we visited in his room. I faced them, reluctantly taking my eyes off him. They talked to me, sharing their memories of him while he was alive. I soon became painfully aware that there were many who knew Randy in ways that I did not know. He was a dear friend and even a surrogate father to many.

They talked; I listened and learned. I lost track of the time. When there was a break in their discourse, I quickly turned back to Randy. He was already gone. He had slipped away while his friends, his other family, were sharing something with me far more important than my death watch. I learned more about humility that day than I can recall learning ever since. There is a brick in the driveway of Hospice of North Iowa on which is etched the message, “He ran his race.”

Randy was a track man in school. He could outrun just about anyone. He was also pretty fast on his gold flake Schwinn Stingray bicycle. I notice there are vintage Stingrays going for thousands of dollars these days. He could fishtail and wheelie like nobody’s business.

My father used to say that the only difference between me and Randy was that he could cook and I couldn’t. There were a few other differences.

Through an unfortunate circumstance that I still don’t understand, Randy was my patient on our Medical-Psychiatry Unit in the late 1990s, shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. I would never have done this by choice, but it seemed there was no one else to cover the unit at the time.

He was delirious, probably from an accidental overdose on opioid pain medicines during a difficult stage in his cancer treatment. It’s really not possible to describe the conflict I had about being both his brother and his doctor. It should not have happened—but it did. He didn’t recognize me. He mumbled. He twitched. He drifted in and out of awareness. I knew all the signs; I saw delirium every day in the hospital.

But this was different because this patient was my brother. I will never forget. After that, I had a much better understanding of what families goes through when they witness delirium in a loved one. I will not miss this part of my job when I retire.

Randy was my best man at my wedding in 1977. I bought him a nice pocket watch, which was buried with him. I do not visit his grave not because I don’t love him, but because I would rather remember him as he was.

My Father

Sometimes I think about my father, who died about 17 years ago. He was known in his neighborhood as “Johnny Hots.” He moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he was in high school. He enlisted in the Navy when he was in the 11th grade and served his country during World War II.

Jim Amos
John Amos

His obituary also says he was happiest when he kept busy. After he retired he helped with maintenance of the apartment building where he lived during his last years. He liked working crossword puzzles. He also had a pretty good sense of humor and liked to laugh.

I like working crosswords. I like to clown around and laugh. And I like to keep busy. I was never in the military although I tried to enlist. That didn’t work out.

He talked about the great time he had in Milwaukee. He said it was the best time of his life. My wife and I vacationed there a few years ago. It was fun. One of the residents interviewed for a C-L Psychiatry fellowship at Medical College of Wisconsin recently. She was wondering about places to site-see so I made a little video about it for her.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

He was a talented carpenter and built our kitchen cabinets. I remember struggling a little in Shop Class to make a wooden dice pencil holder. Mr. Rodomeyer, a man built like a bull, called my class the biggest bunch of characters he’d ever seen.

That was back in the days when the boys went to Shop Class and the girls went to Home Economics (Home Ec). Maybe that’s one of the reasons I don’t do so well in the kitchen. Anyway, that’s what I blame it on.

However, my father was pretty handy in the kitchen and could cook up a tasty barbecued anything.

He walked everywhere and he walked more slowly as he got older. I have always walked pretty fast. I think I picked up that habit when I was a young man working for land surveyors. When I walk around the hospital and up and down the stairs, the trainees tend to lag behind me.

I didn’t see much of my father while I was growing up. We have a few things in common. I am thankful for our differences.