Harry and Lorraine Sterling have been enjoying a kind of extended honeymoon since they married four years ago.
They found each other on an internet dating site for seniors. They are regular theatre-goers. And though they are both in their 80s they still love to travel. This winter, they planned to hitch their red Mini Cooper to their RV and cruise south. They’d reserved sites in Alabama and Florida.
Harry Sterling was still riding his bike every morning then. But one day last fall he lost his balance and went down near the shed in their backyard. Lorraine was working in the garden and heard the noise.
“It just made my heart stop for a minute there,’’ she said. “But nothing was broken.”
Still, they realized Harry couldn’t wait any longer. He needed back surgery.
In early December, he was waiting to be wheeled into the operating room at Rhode Island Hospital. The operation involved fusing three vertebrae in his lower spine so he could stand and walk normally again. No more shooting pain down his legs. No more grasping at furniture to keep from falling.
“So I had [a] johnny on, an IV in my arm,’’ Harry Sterling said. “The anesthesiologist had been through there, reviewed the procedures…The physician came in and greeted me and marked the spot where the incision would be.”
But then the doctor reappeared and told Harry that the assisting surgeon had tested positive for COVID-19. “He was all set to go,’’ his wife, Lorraine, said, “and they said, no go home.”
The operation was rescheduled for the Tuesday before Christmas. But by then, the hospital was delaying all but the most urgent surgeries.
As in a lot of states, hospitals in Rhode Island were overwhelmed. By late January, surgical volume at Rhode Island Hospital, where Sterling was to have his back operation, was down to about 25% of its normal capacity.
“No physician wants to be in a position of having to decide between patient one, two or three,’’ said Dr. William G. Cioffi, chief of surgery at Lifespan, which runs Rhode Island Hospital. “But the reality is right now we can’t take care of all three patients. And so we have to prioritize as to who we think is most in need and…unfortunately, it’s just not three patients. This is hundreds of patients.”
That leaves people like Harry Sterling waiting. To manage his pain, he takes the prescription painkiller Tramadol every four hours. He walks with a cane. Small things exhaust him. Like getting out of bed in the morning.
“I hold onto things,’’ he said. “I start fixing the coffee, holding onto the counter, and toast an English muffin. Then Lorraine gets up and she comes and picks up the coffee and the English muffin takes it back to bed. And I climb back in bed.”
Harry and Lorraine still hope he’ll get his surgery, and they’ll hit the road in their beloved RV. The 26-foot Chateau by Thor sits parked in their driveway. The sky is white. A snowstorm is coming.
“This is a dinette and refrigerator,’’ Lorraine Sterling said, stepping inside the RV. “Closet space. Bathroom in the back and the bed which folds up.”
“It’s a queen size bed actually,’’ Harry said.
There’s plenty of room for the two of them and their dog, a fluffy Japanese Chin who always travels with them. Harry said they’d like to head north to Canada this summer. And he says they’ll “certainly” go south next winter.
“Harry’s so hopeful that by spring, if the hospital opens up, you know, he can get the surgery done,’’ Lorraine Sterling said. “But he doesn’t know. No way of knowing.”
Rhode Island’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been declining since mid-January. But officials at Rhode Island Hospital, where Harry is waiting to have his back surgery, say they expect the staffing shortage to extend through March.
This story’s headline has been updated.
Health reporter Lynn Arditi can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on Twitter @LynnArditi
