By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 27, 2023 – At the onset, let me state that this is a very personal commentary. As a devout Roman Catholic, a religious commitment instilled in me growing up as a young boy with my grandparents Ben and Mabel Elliott at Stanyard Creek, Andros, when I get out of bed each day the first thing, I do is thank my Lord and Savior for granting me another day on his earth during my morning meditation.
This morning I included a special “thank you” to my Lord and Savior for blessing me with a wonderful son, Dwight; daughter-in-law, Donna; and two loving and caring grandchildren, Jania and Marco.
I currently have a mobility problem as a result of repercussions from two hip-replacement operations (2012 and 2013) that have gotten progressively worse over the past year, and yesterday I had 9am appointment with my doctor at George Washington University Hospital. I no longer drive because of my disability, and getting to my appointment on time clearly represented a challenging problem, given past experience with catching a taxi from my Southwest Washington apartment complex.
My son Dwight and his family live in Cheverly, Maryland, approximately 11 miles from D.C., and once again he demonstrated his love for me in a meaningful way by tackling the morning traffic to come to D.C. in in time to get me to my appointment by 8:30, as I was instructed to do by hospital authorities. What’s more, when we arrived at the hospital, I thanked him profusely and told him that I would catch a taxi back home, but he insisted that I call him when I had completed the medical examination.
Dr. Christina M. Puchalski has been my physician at George Washington University Hospital from first tenure at the Bahamas Embassy for four-plus years before the change of government in May of 2017 and my diplomatic status was revoked. Under my previous contractual agreement as press, cultural affairs and information manager at the Embassy, my medical expenses were covered by insurance, which is not the case under my current contractual agreement with the Embassy.
Fortunately, because I have been a naturalized American citizen since 1982, Medicare covers 80 percent of my medical expenses, which makes my doctor’s visits more financially manageable. This is indeed good news financially, given the fact that Dr. Puchalski has referred me to two specialists – an Orthopaedic Surgeon and a Physical Therapist – for additional treatment.
But back to Dwight’s insistence that I call him when I was ready to go back home. He was at work, about an hour from the hospital, so I placed a call to him after seeing Dr. Puchalski while I was in the Diagnostic area getting the blood tests done, and I only had to wait outside the hospital for about 15 minutes and was back home shortly after 1pm.
As I noted, I shudder to think how difficult it would have been keeping my doctor’s appointment without Dwight’s assistance. God has indeed blessed me that he is such a loving and caring son, and I have always regretted the fact that I was not involved in his life until he was around 12 years old growing up in Nassau. Subsequently, however, we developed a very close father-and-son relationship, especially after he graduated from St. Augustine’s College High School in 1983 and came to live with me to attend Howard University.
Before he came to Howard, I moved out of my one-bedroom apartment at 738 Longfellow Street, N.W., into a two-bedroom apartment in the same building do that he could have his own bedroom and our father-and-son relationship really cemented into a strong friendship.
After his college years, he decided to remain in D.C. and subsequently met and married my daughter-in-law Donna.
God has indeed blessed me richly, and his blessing is reflected in my son and his family.
