Putin's Criminal Invasion of Ukraine

 

A month and a day after Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine, I presented this topic to a highly interactive audience of nearly 100 people at the Philosophy Club of The Villages, FL. This Blog posting outlines some of the highlights of my talk.

Philosophy Club Announcement

A few hundred people are on the Philosophy Club email list. They received the following description of my talk: 

"Friday, 3/25    Ira Glickstein         Putin’s Criminal Invasion of Ukraine 

"The unprovoked attack on the people of Ukraine by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is a serious threat to the United States and our European allies.

"The US/NATO response needs to be finely tuned. Overly aggressive action could result in direct confrontation between American and Russian forces, escalating to World War Three. Insufficient action, allowing the forceful incorporation of Ukraine into the Russian Federation, could embolden China to military action against the independence of Taiwan.

"My interest in this topic is based on my European heritage. My parents and I were born in the United States, but my grandparents immigrated from Europe. Of my four grandparents, I was closest to my mom’s dad, Louis Leibowitz. He came from a city called Ekaterinoslav (named after Empress “Catherine the Great”). That city (renamed Dnipropetrovsk and now called Dnipro) is in the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine. It also happens to be the area where the current heroic leader of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, was born! (See Leib-owitz: Putin Killing Our Cousins in Ukraine for more.)"

This is PERSONAL for me!

As noted above, my maternal Grandfather, Louis Leibowitz, immigrated to the US from Ukraine in the early 1900s. (He said he came from "Ekaterinoslav, RUSSIA", but that city, now renamed Dnipro, is in the Russian-speaking part of UKRAINE.) "Ekaterinoslav" translates to "Catherine City" named to honor Catherine_the_Great who ruled the Russian Empire from 1762-1796.

  

Louis was one of 13 siblings born to Dina and Isaac Leibowitz. He, and four of his siblings (Fanny, Dora, Max, and Zelda) were fortunate enough to make it to the US. The other eight brothers and sisters remained in "the old country". 

Louis worked as an upholsterer in the US and did well enough that he could afford to take his wife, Lena, and his youngest daughter, Ruth (my future mother), to visit relatives in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. That visit took place in 1929. 

Louis sent packages of clothing and exchanged letters and photos with family members there up till his death in the 1970s. (I remember my father wearing the shoes, shirts, and pants for a few days so they would qualify as "used" and spare our foreign relatives the punishing tariffs that would have been due if the items were brand new.)  

According to my 23andme DNA test, I have DNA relatives who have indicated that they have Ancestors from the following countries:   

United States (328) Poland (277) Russia (209) Ukraine (186) Romania (89) Belarus (78)   Germany (70) Austria (69) Hungary (67) Lithuania (59) United Kingdom (38) Canada (28)   Latvia (26) Moldova (19) Slovakia (16) Israel (11) Czech Republic (10) Argentina (7) South Africa (7) France (6). Please note that Russia and Ukraine rank 3rd and 4th. 

Thus, it is very likely that I have cousins who have been directly involved in Putin's criminal invasion of Ukraine. I believe that Putin has killed (or at least seriously threatened) a number of my cousins.

What are Putin's Motivations?

I'm not a psychiatrist (nor any kind of mental health expert), and my knowledge of Russian/Ukranian history is relatively superficial. Therefore, the following is simply my opinion based on reading and viewing Internet and press reports.

Putin, now in his fourth four-year term as President of the Russian Federation, has been the top leader of Russia since 1999. It seems he cannot get over the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the breakup of the Soviet Union, which, although it started a few years before he took national office, continued during his terms as President. (Putin was the top leader of the Russian Federation from 1999 to the present. The decline of Russia started about 1985, in the middle of President Ronald Reagan's two terms in office. It continued through the Presidencies of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.)

It seems as if Putin is determined to go down in history as some weird amalgam of Catherine the Great and Joseph Stalin!  Catherine, in the late 1700s, conquered Ukraine, and raised the Russian Empire to a pinnacle of power and glory. Stalin, following WWII, expanded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and, via the Warsaw Pact, dominated Eastern Europe.

Putin could take credit for the amazingly successful growth of the Russian energy sector during his years as President. According to Wikipedia the petroleum industry in Russia has grown to be "one of the largest in the world. Russia has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the second largest coal reserves, the sixth largest oil reserves, and is one of the largest producers of oil. It is the fourth largest energy user. ... Russia is by far the world's largest natural gas exporter. Most, but not all, authorities believe that Russia has the world's largest proven reserves of natural gas. ..."

The Nord Stream pipeline, from Russia through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine to Germany, has been operational since 2012. Nord Stream 2 is now essentially complete. It could have added further to the Russian economy.

Putin's Threats and Aggressive Actions Against Ukraine 

In 2014, during President Barack Obama's second term of office, Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine. Apologists for this violation of International Law point out that Crimea had been gifted to Ukraine (by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954), that the vast majority of Crimean residents are native speakers of Russian, and that Russia has major military installations in Crimea. NATO, and the US voiced their opposition to Putin's actions and imposed some weak financial sanctions.

Things were pretty quiet on the Russia/Ukraine front during President Donald Trump's term of office (2017-2021). However, upon the election of President Joseph Biden, Putin, sensing weakness, massed weapon systems and troops on their border with Ukraine. 

According to this Timeline of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: 

"Shortly before 06:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3) on 24 February, Putin announced that he had made the decision to launch a 'special military operation' in eastern Ukraine. In his address, Putin claimed there were no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory and that he supported the right of the peoples of Ukraine to self-determination. Putin also stated that Russia sought the 'demilitarisation and denazification' of Ukraine. He said that 'all responsibility for possible bloodshed will be entirely on the conscience of the regime ruling on the territory of Ukraine.' ... 

"Within minutes of Putin's announcement, explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and the Donbas. Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops had landed in Mariupol and Odessa, and had launched cruise and ballistic missiles at airfields, military headquarters, and military depots in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. Military vehicles entered Ukraine through Senkivka, at the point where Ukraine meets Belarus and Russia, at around 6:48 am local time. A video captured Russian troops entering Ukraine from Russian-annexed Crimea."

Amazingly Effective Response by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US/NATO

As I wrote back on March 1, 2022, (see Leib-owitz: Putin Killing Our Cousins in Ukraine):

During the last week in February 2022, Russian Dick-tator Vladimir "Putz-Punim" Putin unleashed hordes of barbaric killers in a brutal, unprovoked, criminal attack on neighboring Ukraine. 

Virtually everyone thought it would all be over in a matter of days.

Yet, under the amazingly skillful leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the brave citizen soldiers of Ukraine have, so far, effectively resisted the invasion, shooting down several Russian aircraft and killing thousands of hapless Russian invaders.

To his credit, US President Joe Biden provided lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine and moved American forces to NATO countries in Eastern Europe. However, he said “Our forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine.” He explained, “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the East.”

My parents and I are “Americans by birth” having been born in the USA. 

My grandparents are “Americans by choice” having immigrated to the USA from Austria (on my father’s side) and Russia Ukraine (on my mother’s side).

The Brighton Beach Connection 

My "hometown" is Brooklyn, NY --- more specifically Brighton Beach, which is on the bottom of Brooklyn between Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay. (See The Brooklyn Bungalow) 

During my elementary school years, I lived with my parents in a three-room apartment on the second floor (rear) at 283 Neptune Avenue. My brother and I slept in the single bedroom and my parents slept on a fold-out couch in the living room. My father was a letter carrier, but he was also handy with tools and did odd jobs around the neighborhood. 

My grandparents lived nearby in a basement apartment at 3058 Brighton Sixth Street, close to the main commercial street. Brighton Beach Avenue. My grandfather worked as an upholsterer and my grandmother ran a Knitting Store out of the first room of their apartment. My mother worked as a knitting instructor at that store. 

When I was about 11 years old, my father, with some financial help from my grandfather, paid $5,000 for a bungalow at 21 Brighton 5th Lane. It needed a lot of work. The building was 30' x 30'. It sat on a 40' x 45' lot. It had a full basement.

There were three small bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a single restroom crammed into less than 900 square feet of living space on the first floor. (Up to 1800 square feet if you include the basement laundry room, recreation room and woodshop.) Six people lived there: my grandparents, parents, and my brother and me. (By comparison, my apartment at Freedom Pointe Independent Living is over 1100 square feet. It has two bedrooms, two restrooms, a living room and a kitchen.)

I remember the first time I entered the bungalow and experienced the 6" hump in the floor of the centrally located living room. Fortunately, my father knew an Italian guy who knew about floor beams and joists and posts and such. He also had floor jacks to lend us. My father, with some help from me, installed new floor beams and jacked them into place, supported by wood posts on the concrete floor. That flattened the Living Room floor, but also cracked much of the plaster drywall, which had to be repaired and/or covered by wood panels. We also learned a lot about plumbing and electrical work as we got that house in shape.

I was fortunate enough to qualify for admission to Brooklyn Technical High School, one of the four special high schools in New York City at the time. (The others being Stuyvesant, Bronx High School of Science, and the High School of Performing Arts.) So, instead of walking to nearby Abraham Lincoln High School, I got to ride the BMT (Brooklyn Manhattan Transit) train about six miles to the top of Brooklyn, within sight of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan.

When I reached college age, I qualified for admission to the City College of New York. So, I got to ride the BMT train all the way into Manhattan! If my first class was at the North Campus, I'd change for the Interboro Rapid Transit (IRT) at 42nd Street and get off at 137th Street. If my class was at the south campus, I'd get off at 34th Street and take the Independent Transit (IND) to 125th Street (the "Main Street' of Harlem). 

When I reached the age of 13 (in 1942) I could get "working papers" and a job selling Good Humor Ice Cream and Orange Drink on the beach. (Of course, I worked prior to that age, helping my father at his odd jobs, my fraternal grandfather at his news stand, as well as at a neighborhood shoe store.) 

The photo below shows the boardwalk at Brighton Beach as it exists today. Facing towards the water, it appears very much as it did when I was a kid.

However, facing away from the water, it is quite different. The first thing I notice is that there are more high-rise apartment houses than there were when I was a kid.  The second thing I see is that some of the signs are in Russian!

Here, close to Brighton Beach Avenue, is a more startling example! 

And below, a recently published news account from The Times of Israel. Brighton Beach is now called "Little Odesa" after the city in Crimea. And Brighton Beach has been overrun by Russian-speaking immigrants. "NY's Brighton Beach seaside neighborhood is a thriving enclave of Jews who moved to the United States in the 1970s, '80s and '90s as refugees from the former Soviet Union."

Oh, and that Brighton Beach bungalow my father bought for $5,000 back in the early 1950s? I checked Zillow and it is currently valued at $540,000 !!! 

What does that bungalow have to do with the topic at hand: Putin? Russia? Ukraine? Why did I mention what it is worth now?

Well, it is because of the Russian-speaking Jewish refugees from Ukraine noted above. Over the past few decades, they have flooded into Brighton Beach, sparking a demand for luxury apartments. The old buildings are worthless, but the land they sit on, when converted to apartment buildings, is worth over half a million dollars for a 40' x 45' foot lot!

Unfortunately, my parents sold the bungalow in the early1980s, when they moved out to San Francisco, so they missed most of the increase in land value. 

How Does This Tragedy End?

Many different endings may be imagined. 

The best would be a return to the status quo anti-bellum. A scenario where some combination of Russian oligarchs and rational military leaders depose Putin or force him to call off the offensive military action and return Russian troops to their bases. Perhaps, this would include the return of Crimea to Ukraine as well as a requirement that Russia pay for the destruction wrought on Ukraine. 

The worst would be for Putin to continue this awful war, and using some combination of inhumane military tactics and, perhaps, tactical nuclear or chemical/biological weapons, take complete control of Ukraine. Putin would set up a Puppet Government. 

A further terrible consequence of this type of success for Putin's criminal invasion of Ukraine would be to encourage other evil players on the world stage to follow suit. China’s Xe Jin Ping, watching closely, might emulate Putin’s tough stance that worked against Ukraine. Xe might forcibly challenge the independence of Taiwan.

Most likely, some compromise will be struck, returning Ukraine to a status that will end the active fighting for some number of years. 

Any such compromise will have to take the follow "ground truth" into account, namely the percentage of the population which speaks Russian natively in each area of Ukraine, see the map below.  Furthermore, all sides would have to agree to an internationally supervised referendum in each Oblast (district) on whether to remain in Ukraine or become independent.

One possible "compromise" that Putin might accept is depicted in the following map. Russia would get to keep Crimea plus all (or the major part) of the Donbass, as well as a "land bridge" between that part of Ukraine and Crimea. 

 President Zelenskyy has pleaded for a "No Fly Zone” to prevent Russian aircraft from continuing their airborne attacks on Ukraine, He would also like to have the MIGs offered by Poland.

Much as I would like the NATO/US to provide this type of aid, I'm concerned that if any US or NATO aircraft shot down a Russian airplane, that could trigger WWIII.

A Final Word From 19-year-old Ira in 1958

During the Discussion period following my talk at the Philosophy Club, I put the following image on the screen. It is a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times (the self-proclaimed "Newspaper of record") dated September 5, 1958, from Brooklyn (actually typed by me in our Brighton Beach bungalow).

The only thing I would change is to replace "Formosa" (meaning "beautiful island" in Portuguese) with the more current "Taiwan".

Can Mail-In Voting Be As Secure As In-Person? There COULD BE An App For That!

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of Americans chose to vote by mail in the 2020 election, Why expose yourself to this awful disease by waiting on line to crowd into your voting location when Mail-In Voting is so much more convenient and safer?

In previous years, my wife, who was helping to care for our daughter in a different state, had good experiences with Absentee Ballots. So, for the 2020 election, we both applied for Mail-In Ballots and, for the first time in my life (at the age of 82!) I voted that way. 

The ballots showed up in our mailbox weeks before Election Day, giving us plenty of time to mark them in the comfort and privacy of our home, and seal them in the provided envelopes. I was pleased the envelopes included a security shield to prevent anyone from seeing how we voted without opening the envelope. There was a place, on the outside of the envelope, for my signature. 

We could have mailed our ballots, but we chose to drive to the County Office and hand them in in-person. The voting official who took our ballots checked that the envelope had been properly "signed, sealed, and delivered". I believe I saw her slide the envelope into a machine that applied a time-stamp, and then she slipped it into a secure ballot box.

Security of In-Person Voting

My experience with In-Person Voting, both in my original home state (New York) as well as where I live now (Florida), was that I had to be registered in that voting precinct, show a government-issued ID, and sign the voting roll, where my signature could be compared with previous examples. The registration process was quite secure.

In recent years here in Florida, voter registration has required a drivers license (or the equivalent government-issued document for non-drivers or persons who have given up driving) that meets the requirements of the REAL ID Act passed by Congress in 2005 (see Real ID Act - Wikipedia). 

My wife and I moved here from New York almost 20 years ago. She ran into a bit of a problem getting a Florida drivers license because the first name on her birth certificate ("Viola") did not match the one she has used since she was a school-girl ("Violet"). She used a recent US passport to prove she was a US citizen under her current name. 

Thus, In-Person Voting in Florida is pretty secure! It requires Proof of Identity (and citizenship):

• Possession of a government-issued REAL ID card,
• A face that matches to photo on the REAL ID card, and
• A mailing address that matches the one on the REAL ID card.

Security of Mail-In Voting

To get a Mail-In Ballot for the 2020 vote, I had to be a registered voter, fill out and sign an application form, and receive the ballot at the registered mailing address. 

Violet's Heroic Struggle and Passing

This is the seventh in my "Virtual Sitting Shiva" series of Blog postings of memories of Violet (Stark) Glickstein, my dear wife of 57 years, who sadly passed away November 27, 2021. [The first posting in this series is Here]. 

Our Political Views

The photo below was taken the day Violet and I were married at a synagogue in Brooklyn, NY, on June 14^th1964. It shows us at our rented apartment in Scotch Plains, NJ. Amazingly, the "JUST MARRIED" sign, fashioned and firmly attached to my car by my brother, Lee, was still intact after crossing state lines at full speed! [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]  

Please notice the "AuH₂O" in the left corner of the rear window. You probably recognize "H₂O" as the chemical formula for "water" (two Hydrogen atoms connected to a single Oxygen atom). You may not recognize "Au" as the symbol for an atom of Gold (from Latin "Aurum"). 

So, taken together, "AuH₂O" stands for "Gold Water," a not-so-subtle indication that I supported (Republican) Senator Barry Goldwater in his 1964 effort to unseat incumbent (Democratic) President Lyndon Johnson.

Of course, Violet, who had recently earned her Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Chemistry, knew the chemical symbology of "AuH₂O". She was also well aware of my political leanings which had been fully disclosed during the year we dated. Violet generally agreed with my politics through the first two decades of our marriage. Indeed, in the 2008 Presidential election video linked below, she says (at the 49-second mark) "I was a Republican until 1992, a Conservative Republican." 

Please click HERE to view a short video that highlights Violet's support for Senator Barack Obama with mine for Senator John McCain during the 2008 election.   [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]  

 Loving marriage overcomes political differences - YouTube 

[How does a Jewish boy from Brooklyn come to have right-leaning political views? See HERE for details of how my political views were shaped as a reaction to the ultra-leftish atmosphere of my alma-matter, the City College of New York (CCNY). I've always considered myself a Classical Liberal, advocating for civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on economic freedom, on the order of John Locke and others of his era. In today's political environment, a Classical Liberal would tend towards the "Conservative" side in most areas.

That is in contrast to Social Liberals who endorse a regulated market economy and race-conscious "affirmative action" to expand the civil and political rights of "under-represented minority groups." 

Colin Powell, a Bronx boy whose years at CCNY overlapped mine, also became a Republican. He earned his degree in Geology a couple years before I got mine in Electrical Engineering. Following a distinguished record as an Army officer, he served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Secretary of State. Had he heeded calls to run for President, I would have supported him, not because he happened to be Black, but because of his superior qualifications.]

Our Final Year Together

2021 turned out to be an especially difficult year for us. Violet’s fatty liver disease progressed to cirrhosis of the liver. (Not from drinking alcohol – Violet drank even less that I – but from her diabetes).

She had what is called Ascites. Violet's liver was leaking fluid into her body cavity. That fluid caused her abdomen to expand and her ankles and feet to swell, making it difficult for her to walk. 

The treatment for Ascites is paracentesis, which is poking a hole in her abdomen and draining fluid (around 3-4 liters or approximately 6-9 pounds each time). I drove her to a medical facility for paracentesis every week, and to physical therapy a couple times a week to strengthen her muscles and help reduce the swelling.

Each container holds a liter of fluid (about 2.2 pounds) that was removed from Violet's abdominal cavity, by a procedure called "paracentesis". 

In May, Violet lost her ability to walk any significant distance. I purchased a folding transport chair (like a wheelchair, but with small wheels). Violet was strong enough to be able, with some help, to get from a couch into that chair, and out of the chair into a car seat.  

A potential treatment for her condition is called “TIPS” surgery (see Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt). This involves placing a shunt in the portal vein near the liver. I watched as Dr. Eric Schwartzberg examined the situation via sonic imaging during a paracentesis. He told us he had done several dozen TIPS procedures successfully. However, he added, Violet had “occlusions” {blockages} in her veins, and, of the half-dozen TIPS patients with occlusions, only two had been successful. “So,” she replied brightly, “I’ll be the third”. Alas, it was not to be. The odds were against her. Sadly, her TIPS procedure, at Leesburg Hospital on 14 September, was not successful.   

On 16 September, two days after her failed TIPS procedure, Violet slid out of bed in the middle of the night and landed on the floor in our Freedom Pointe (FP) apartment. With my help, she attempted to get back on her feet, but we were unsuccessful.

Fortunately, FP Independent Living provides 24/7 security with at least two employees on duty. At least one person is at the Concierge desk in the FP lobby, and at least one additional security person is on duty to help. In response to my call for help, a wonderful night security woman came up to our apartment and, very skillfully, helped Violet get back on her feet.

Our Final Weeks Together

Less than a week later, on 20 September, Violet got out of bed around 2am to get a snack for herself. On the way back to the bedroom, holding the snack in one hand and a foam cup with soda in the other, Violet’s foot slipped out from under her, and she landed on the floor of the living room, waking me. We were unable to get her on her feet. So, I laid the couch cushions on the living room floor, and Violet slept atop them.

We knew she had an early morning appointment for a paracentesis procedure at Lake Sumter Imaging, and I was worried she would miss it. Happily, by morning, Violet had recovered sufficient strength such that I was able to help her back up on her feet and transport her in time for her appointment.

The following day, 21 September, I had an early morning appointment for a medical procedure with my urologist. I got home a bit after 11am and found Violet on her butt in our Guest Bedroom. I could not get her up on her feet. She called for help and a couple of workers from the Maintenance Department came quickly. They called the FP nurse who checked Violet’s vitals. Her blood pressure was very low, so the nurse called 911.  

The EMTs arrived very quickly, put Violet on a stretcher, and transported her to the Emergency Department at The Villages Hospital, just across the street from FP. Our good friends and fellow FP residents, Bunny and Bob Adler, accompanied me to the Emergency Department. (The Adler’s are retired from medical careers, he an eye surgeon and she a maternity nurse-practitioner). However, due to Covid restrictions, only I was allowed into her room, ED11. Her blood pressure was in the 70/45 range, lower than "normal" 120/80.

That evening, I updated our daughter Lisa, who lives in Andover, MA. I also alerted our good friends and fellow FP residents John and Diane Griffin. Using the "Color Note" app on my cellphone, I began documenting Violet's interactions with the nurses and doctors, a project that resulted in many pages of quite specific information. Bottom line, Violet had serious liver and kidney problems and needed the services of good doctors in those areas.

The following morning, 22 September, Violet was admitted to the hospital and moved to room 3604, where I visited her. Parking a car at the hospital can be a problem, with either a long walk from the parking lot to the entrance, or a long wait for the shuttle service. I noticed there was a golfcart parking area quite close to the entrance, so I began using our golf cart for my twice daily visits.  

The doctors told me she had either septic shock or hypovolemic shock. Lisa's reaction to that news was that it seemed to be treatable. Violet was cared for at the Hospital until 2 October, when she was well enough to continue recovery at the skilled nursing Healthcare Center on the FP campus that we call "Rehab". I'll leave out many specific details, but the following days and weeks were rough for Violet.    [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]  

Lisa and Ira in "Full-PPE" (Personal Protective Equipment) as we visit Violet at FP Rehab. On the right is my collection of stickers, confirming that I passed the Covid temperature screening at the Hospital (strip with date) or at FP Rehab (sticker with name).

Brief Summary of Hospital to Rehab and Cycle Back Again

Cycle #1 -- 9/21/21. 911 call. Hospital ER room 11, 9/27/21 Hospital room 3604, 10/02/21 FP Rehab room 122.

Cycle #2 -- 10/06/21. Hospital room 2212. 10/14/21 FP Rehab room 133. [Lisa visit 10/14/21-10/17/21] Violet's cellphone and Libre blood sugar sensor were somehow lost during the move from Hospital to Rehab. Thank goodness Lisa was able to get them replaced relatively quickly. Violet seems much improved. She is moved to nicer room 154. 

Cycle #3 -- 10/20/21. Hospital room 2408. 10/27/21 FP Rehab room 133 again. 11/04/21 Moved to nicer room 151. 11/09/21 We treat Rehab nurses with 3 dozen bagels, cream cheese, and lox! [Michaela visit 11/13/21-11/14/21] 

Our good friends and fellow FP residents, Bob and Bunny Adler and John and Diane Griffin, visit Violet at FP Rehab through the window of room 151. (Individual visits were limited due to Covid restrictions, so Violet and her visitors communicated by cellphone and saw each other through the window of her room.) The building in the background is The Villages Hospital, just across the street from FP Rehab.

Our Final Week at Home

Tuesday, 11/16/21, Violet was released from FP Rehab to FP Independent Living! Home in our own apartment! 

Our friends at FP are mostly married couples who have been very generous with their time and emotional support for me in the trying months of Violet’s critical illness. They helped me retain my sanity as she was admitted to The Villages Hospital, discharged to skilled nursing at the FP Rehab facility, and then cycled thru Hospital and Rehab three times until she returned to our apartment in the Independent Living building. 

Looking back, what turned out to be her final week at home was a glorious time. Violet was warmly greeted by fellow residents and staff as we ate our big meal of the day in the Dining Room, and as we passed through other public areas. 

We hoped the doctors had come up with the proper mix of medications that, along with weekly paracentesis, would enable Violet to live a more-or-less normal life at FP for some number of years. We scheduled regular visits to our apartment by physical therapists to help Violet get stronger. 

On Friday, 11/19/21, Violet fell in our apartment. I could not get her up. If we called FP staff for help, they would have been required to call 911 and Violet would have been sent off to the Hospital Emergency Department again. So, as pre-arranged, we called our good friends, the Griffins, and they helped Violet get back on her feet!

On Sunday, 11/21/21, which turned out one of the last days of that most wonderful week, the Adlers drove us to the Fenney Springs Nature Trail. Violet sat comfortably in her wheeled transport chair as we pushed her along the paved trail, enjoying the birds, turtles, fish, and a sleepy alligator. Earlier, we had stopped by a fast-food place and picked up the Chicken Sandwich Violet had begged for all through her Hospital/Rehab confinement. We consumed our chicken and fries in the shade of tall trees. [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]  

Our Final Day at Home

Alas, in the mid-morning of Wednesday, 11/24/21, Violet was confused as I tried to communicate with her. I called the FP nurse who came quickly, checked her vitals, and called 911. The EMTs did their thing and took her to the Hospital ER. 

Violet's Last Days

Violet was getting a CT-scan when I arrived at the Hospital.

When I was allowed into her room in the ER area, she was completely non-communicative. Her eyes were about ¼ open. Her pupils were rolling side to side. She did not respond to my request that she to move her tongue. Squeezing her hand yielded no response. 

She was admitted to the Hospital Intensive Care Unit. They told me her liver and kidneys were failing. Ammonia and creatinine were high, blood pressure low. At her age, she was not a candidate for liver or kidney transplant. 

The nurse and doctor suggested she should be put in “comfort care”. Should her heart or breathing stop, they would not resuscitate her. I reviewed the “Living Will” document we recently updated. It called for comfort care in these circumstances. I called our daughter Lisa in Massachusetts and she spoke directly to the nurse and doctor. She agreed, and I signed the papers. 

Lisa and our son-in-law Jerry live in Andover. Their children, our triplet grandchildren, are 23-year-old college grads, each employed in a different state. Via cellphones, each of us “talked” to Violet. We hoped that, somewhere beyond the non-responsive exterior, there was still some “Violet” there who heard us in some way.  [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]   

On Thursday, 11/25/21, Violet was moved to Cornerstone Hospice, about four miles from FP. I had sent an email to the President of Temple Shalom, the Jewish Reform synagogue of which we are founding members. He contacted Rabbi Zev and we arranged for him to meet me in Violet’s room at Hospice. 

Rabbi Zev “talked” to her and said the appropriate prayers. He was wonderful! I had last seen him some two years prior, but, due to Covid, we had not been going to services. Throughout this ordeal, through the funeral and beyond, Rabbi Zev and our Jewish congregation has done very well by us. 

I visited Violet at the Hospice a couple of times. Violet passed away there on Saturday, 11/27/21. 

Violet's Interment

On Thursday, 12/02/21, in a private service conducted by Rabbi Zev and attended by family (our daughter Lisa and son-in-Law Jerry and their children Alex, Michaela, and Samantha, as well as our son-in-law David) and a few close friends, Violet was buried in the “Garden of David” Jewish section of Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, a tranquil, tree-shaded cemetery in Leesburg, FL, about a half-hour south of Freedom Point. May she rest in peace.

We plan to have a “Celebration of Life” for Violet at Freedom Pointe in a few months. Tentatively, it is set for Wednesday, 04/27/22 which would have been Violet's 80th birthday.  

Three Purchases Mark Milestones

Finally, here are three items I purchased for Violet, in the last months of her life, that brought her comfort, joy, --even delight-- way out of proportion to their cost.  [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]  

Bright Red Transport Chair: May 3, 2021 Active Home Medical, $270. Six months prior to her passing, Violet was using her walker and having greater and greater trouble moving any distance on her swollen feet. She struggled to go from our apartment to the elevator, and from the elevator to the Dining room or to the closest place I could pick her up with our car. I did a bit of research and purchased this folding transport chair (like a wheelchair, but with smaller wheels). It was an instant success! For the first time in our marriage, I got to "push Vi around"! She was able to get from her bed or our couch to the transport chair, and from the transport chair to her seat in our car, and vice-versa. She could sit on this chair in our apartment and use her feet to go from room to room with ease. 

Simple Gray Slippers: Walmart, $11. Violet's feet were so swollen that she could no longer squeeze them into her shoes. She had to use flip-flops! On a trip with her to Walmart, I found these simple gray slippers (Large Wide Width size 11-12) that she was able to squeeze her feet into. I kept them because they are the right size for me. Wearing them around our apartment make me feel closer to her.

Fast Food Chicken Sandwich: Burger King (KFC wasn't open due to a Covid-related staff shortage.) $6. Throughout her cycles of hospitalization and rehab, Violet continually asked me to bring her a KFC Chicken Sandwich! Finally (as it turned out) she got her wish!

On Saturday, November 22, 2021 (five days before her passing), on the way to the Fenney Springs Nature Trail with Bunny and Bob, we purchased chicken and fries.

Putting them all together! This photo, capturing that wonderful day with Violet in her Transport chair. She is wearing those simple gray slippers. Soon after this photo was taken, she ate that delicious chicken sandwich!  [NOTE: To make photo larger. tap it and turn cellphone sideways.]  

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So, please join me in thinking about your good and eventful times with Violet. Here is a list of the seven postings of this Virtual Sitting Shiva series. 

#1 Rest in Peace Violet Glickstein, My Dear Wife of 57 Years (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

#2 Violet's Immigrant Family and Her Brooklyn Childhood thru College (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

#3 Violet and Ira Meet, Marry, and Multiply (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

#4 Violet's Return to College and Her Amazing Career at IBM/Loral/Lockheed-Owego (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

#5 Violet's Retirement to The Villages, Florida (with Ira, of course) (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

#6 Violet's Independent Living at Freedom Pointe (with Ira, of course) (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

#7   Violet's Heroic Struggle and Passing (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

If you'd like, you could put on some slippers, sit on your couch, and join me and others in a "virtual" Shiva for Violet.

Love to all, and specially elevated kisses and hugs to Violet, from her husband,

Ira Glickstein

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Violet and Ira Glickstein were married in 1964. See our 50th Anniversary memories in the following postings include highlights of our life together.

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1. Wedding and Farm Days 
2. Passing the Genes and Memes
3. Computers R Us (Ira and Vi's careers)
4. Retirement in The Villages, FL
5. Our 50th Anniversary Baltic Cruise (Air Travel and Shipboard activities)
6. Our 50th Anniversary Baltic Cruise (Land-Tours)

50th-0 CELEBRATING OUR 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY (tvpclub.blogspot.com)