She's Not Coming Home Again

The widowed women at her job told Linda she would be sick more after her husband was killed in the car accident that injured Linda. Over the next five years she was sick more, but not necessarily because she was a widow. Her body failed her. Eventually she died of ovarian cancer. The six-and-a-half years age difference between Linda and her sister meant they did not get along until they faced Linda's health issues together. Linda and Sandy dealt with hospitals and medical professionals as Linda recovered from colitis and then Achilles tendon surgery. Linda's kidneys failed. She had a heart attack, followed by surgery to place stents. She had a colostomy. Finally, Linda died in hospice. Linda's story, She's Not Coming Home Again, is that of women who work all their lives in sometimes-better-than minimum wage jobs. Women who pay into Society Security, but die before seeing that first Social Security check or even a disability payment. Linda's health problems revealed a system not always working in the best interests of the patient, even a patient with insurance. Linda's problems meant she never did come home again.