As per my post yesterday the goal for that day was to make every attempt to go see our friend Cary Bacher as a lot of you know has been having some serious health issues as of late. Im glad to say we were successful in reaching that goal and were able to get up to see him about 4:00 pm yesterday afternoon. After a fairly challenging hour long drive to Rocky River through constant drizzle/rain we arrived at Manor Care unscathed and not too frazzled from the traffic ( Cleveland can be a handful at the best of times ). I know that a lot of his/my friends are Very concerned about his status and I wanted to take a moment for a brief first account update. First of all, Im NO doctor ( nor do I play one on TV ) Lol! so this is just Cindy Slaters and my own assessment of the current situation. As Cary has not been able to make calls or keep in touch here on FB ( he said the small I-Phone felt like it weighed as much as a brick ) we had no option but to arrive unannounced in hopes that he would be well enough to see us. Thankfully when we arrived he was awake but was quick to say that we picked a bad day to visit and that he had been in terrible pain the past day or so, Im not sure if at this stage there would be many better times to visit :( Cindy started our conversation stating that we drove the little car up here to see him, you see, for without the 89 olds that he turned us on to from a misplaced craigslist ad he came across while scouring the internet as he often did it would have been impossible for us to make this 100+ mile trek from Akron to Cleveland. The car was in the Antiques section on Craigslist, not antique cars, just antiques as in Home furnishings and the like. We were quick to thank him for that opportunity, he could have easily capitalized on it and, in my opinion could have doubled his money on virtually overnight. We were the first ones to show up in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland to see this $700 car so my expectations werent real high as what we would find when we got there. As per the description in the ad what we found was a relatively low miles ( 93,000 ) 89 Olds Cultlass that obviously had been well taken care of, garage kept for the majority of its life, owned by the same guy since 90 and had a host of new parts installed as well as a box of new and good used parts in the trunk including a good used 3-core radiator that he took from a parts car he owned. With a little work I could have turned this car for $1,500 in a heartbeat. While not a classic or a show car or even a MOPAR!! it was just what the doctor ordered for our needs as my old 76 Dodge Hippie van has seen its better days and is relegated to local use only and even if it would make it to Cleveland would cost an arm and a leg in fuel which is every bit as much as a problem as the lack of dependable transportation. We had to thank him again for hooking us up, for without many of the pics of distant events we attended this year would have not been possible. The first thing I noticed when entering his room shared with another man ( besides the obvious frail friend who occupied a hospital bed in a the hospice facility ) was a table of uneaten food sitting on the portable table beside him. He said he had NO appetite lately and that his mouth was extremely dry and it was very difficult to speak. We had figured on not staying long as people at this stage tend to have limited energy for extended visits and we didnt want to increase any pain he may have been experiencing. One of the first topics brought up was OTIS his beloved dog, he seemed happy that a kind person had adopted him and was being well loved and cared for. He mentioned that doing some task for Otis was what had triggered this set-back and that he was so rambunctious around the house that it was impossible to keep his best friend by his side :( Cary didnt go into great detail about what had happened to land him in Hospice but that complications post surgery ( infection ) was the cause, he was optimistic that it had stopped seeping and was keeping his hopes up of defying the odds and getting out of there to return to a somewhat more normal life. He was also encouraged that he had been maintaining his body weight and was looking forward to regaining his appetite and having a Shake and Fries he said the fries were pretty good at this joint, Lol! He was in pain and it was easy to see but we did manage to urge that patented Cary Bacher smile a few times from him, that was GREAT to see :) After we chatted a little more he mentioned that the nurse would be in tomorrow to change his bag and was anticipating some relief from that process. Before we forgot we reminded him that everyone was asking about him and were missing his AWESOME posts and were looking forward to his return. We also mentioned that his last post had Blown Up to use his own words, Lol! I remember to wish him a Happy Birthday and that prompted one of the smiles and a hardy Thank You He had a Happy Birthday Mylar balloon bobbing in the breeze attached to the headboard of his bed :), didnt think to ask him who got that for him, just glad someone thought enough to bring it. We wanted to take something but failed to think of anything, Cindy reminded me that just our going to see him at this time was precious enough, I agreed. By this time (about 20 minutes ) we could tell that he was in pain and was having trouble keeping his eyes open so we chose to say our parting words and extended a hand to his for a handshake, he readily took it in a fairly hardy handshake and thanked us both for coming, we told him we had spoke to his brother Craig Bacher and that he would be up to see him soon. Cary requested me to do something for him before we left, could you please ask the nurse for a tall cup of ice water ? As I saw recently with my own mother that when nothing else seems to help a small chip of ice brings some soothing relief to a dry and parched throat. We obliged and asked the nurse, we hung around a bit to witness her get the cup of ice water and head down the hall to his room. Just for the record, Cary was one of my first FB friends when I joined several years ago and quickly became my go to page for the most recent and most informative coverage of a subject near and dear to my heart, the local drag racing scene from back in the 70s and 80s of which many of my fondest memories were formed. cary was instrumental in the creation of my album here on FB of my local heros Hiner & Miller for without him and the contributions from his VERY knowledgeable friends list I would be still at a single photo and with many holes in my memories of them and their exploits in the racing scene back in the day I will forever be indebted to him for the friendship, knowledge and honesty he so freely extended to us, Thank You may Friend.....
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 12:58:46 +0000
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