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AI: Well, in, as your mother's health was declining, you also had, you had another accident yourself, a couple of years before your mother passed away, I understand. Was that when you had a slip and a fall on some steps?

PB: Oh, yes, that was... I had rented our regular house, and I was living in the small house that was on the same property, which I had hoped my parents would move into, but Dad passed away before we were able to move, move him in there. So I was living in the little house, but the mail was on the porch... the paper, I guess, was on the porch, so I went to get the paper, and I slipped on the porch, and I hit my back, I went right off the porch and I hit my back on the stairs. And then I slipped down to the foot of the stairs, but I thought that my wind was knocked out of me, and I lay there for quite a while, but it started to rain, so I thought, "Well, I got to get back to the house." So I don't know how I got back, I must have got up and walked, walked to the house. And I got on the phone and I called my neighbor, and that was a Chinese family that lived across the street. And they came right over, and they were gonna take me where I wanted to go, and I wanted to go to the chiropractor because I thought I had the wind knocked out of me and I'd be okay. But they took me down to the chiropractor, and... let's see, when was that? Wasn't far. Anyhow, they took me there, and he started working on me, but I was in such pain that I was crying, and he said, "Oh, maybe you have broken ribs. I think you better go see your own doctor."

So then they loaded me in the car and they took me home and they said, "You lie down on the bed while we take a grab, bite of lunch." So as long as I lay perfectly still, I didn't hurt. But as soon as they finished lunch, they took me up to Dr. Suzuki, and soon as he looked at me, he said, "I think you have a broken back." So he says, "Gonna x-ray you right away," so he x-rayed me and he said, "Yes, you have a broken back. You can't be moved." So his office was just very close to the hospital, Providence, he says, "We'll have to call an ambulance to take you to Providence." So they took me to Providence, and I must have passed out, because I didn't remember anything after that. But Mrs. Young, this Chinese lady, said she stayed with me and fed me and everything. But I didn't remember any of that, and I was in the hospital for a long time, because they had to keep me in bed, and I couldn't be moved until they made a brace for me. They didn't want to put a cast on me, they said they'd make a brace for me. So I was in bed all the time until they made the brace, and then I was allowed to get up, but I had to learn to walk over and everything, since I'd been in bed for so long, I couldn't, I'd forgotten how to walk. Took me quite a while to be able to get walking again.

AI: What a difficult experience of having to go through all of that, and then really learning to walk again, slowly recovering.

PB: Yes, and one thing I'll never forget, that my mother -- when you first get out of bed, you can't, you can't get up and try to walk or anything, you sit on the edge of the bed and dangle your feet. And my mother came to see me and she felt my feet and she said they felt sticky. She said, "They must not be bathing you right," and she told my sister to get a pan of water, and she pulled up a chair alongside the bed and she washed my feet. And I thought that only a mother would do that.

AI: That's right. Must have been a very difficult time for you.

PB: Yes, it was, it was, it was a real hard time for me, because took quite a while before I could walk or do anything. I had to wear the brace for six months, and during that time, my husband left me and went to California. He didn't tell me he quit his job at Boeing. I think that he figured I was going to be a cripple, and he didn't want to be stuck with a cripple, so without telling me, he had quit at Boeing, and when I called Boeing, they wouldn't tell me anything. It's just private, it's a private matter as far as they were concerned, and he didn't leave me any money or anything. And when I finally found out that he wasn't coming back, I just had to decide to change my whole life. Because there I was alone, and I had the broken back, and I couldn't do anything. And these Chinese neighbors, Mr. Young took me to the hospital and took me every day -- or anytime I had to go to doctor, they took me to the doctor, and they took care of my needs for me. And they're gone now except for Mrs. Young, who, I think she had her 101st birthday, and she calls me every year. She can't write any longer, 'cause she says she's unable to see. So she calls me on the phone. They're wonderful friends.

AI: Well, so you had another shocking experience with your husband leaving you and going through divorce again, and then really changing your life, having a new phase of your life.

PB: [Laughs] Yes, had to start over again.

<End Segment 68> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.