Sonoma Gives: Offering comfort through food

Until recently, Glen Ellen resident Douglas Wagner hadn’t given much thought to Meals on Wheels. Run by the Council on Aging, it’s the largest meal program for seniors in Sonoma County, serving more than 285,000 meals each year.

“I’d heard of them,” said Wagner, an avid cyclist at 60. “But it never occurred to me that I’d be using their service any time soon.”

That changed abruptly Dec. 7. Nearing the end of a 60-mile ride, Wagner and two friends were headed east into Fairfax. At the bottom of a hill, with all three traveling at about 14 miles an hour, the lead rider slid on a mixture of water and silt.

He went down, and when Wagner swerved to avoid hitting him, he went into a slide of his own, flew over the handlebars and landed squarely on his right hip.

After being stabilized at Marin General Hospital, he was transferred to Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, where doctors determined that he had suffered a complex pelvic fracture to the acetabulum, the cup-shaped socket of the hip joint into which the femur head fits, forming a ball-and-socket joint. It’s a serious injury; Wagner was unable to stand, let alone walk, and pain was severe.

“There were basically two options,” said Wagner.

“An operation to remedy the damage is complex and takes between five and 10 hours. It required plating and pinning to hold the bones together, and there was a 50 percent chance that a second surgery would be required to replace the hip. In that case, hardware from the first surgery would add complications.”

Wagner chose the second alternative: allowing his body to heal itself. “The bones will grow back together over time,” he said.

When Wagner transferred from Oakland’s Kaiser to a short recovery stay at Santa Rosa’s Park View Gardens Post Acute Center, he began looking at practical solutions to the difficulties of being housebound and living alone (his wife died in 2013 after a 12-year battle with breast cancer).

“Someone from Meals on Wheels came to visit me,” he said. “They told me about their meal delivery service. It sounded perfect, so I signed up.”

He’s now a big fan of the program.

“Having a service where they bring you a good, healthy, nutritious meal every day - it’s wonderful. There’s a psychological thing, too, where you’re happy to see someone in the middle of the day. I’m a big eater, but there are enough calories and enough variety to make it satisfying.”

Wagner’s self-healing approach appears to be working, with the help of physical therapy. He spent the first few weeks at home on his back and still can’t put any weight on his pelvis,” he said,

“But the pain has diminished and the swelling has gone down. Now I can sit up, and I can walk with crutches or a walker. I can’t sit or stand for too long, though. I have to keep trading off.”

If all goes well, near-normal mobility might return in mid-April.

Thanks to a “competent and compassionate staff,” Wagner has been running his Santa Rosa company, Wagner Carpet, by phone and email. He’ll soon be in the office one or two days a week.

In mid-January Wagner volunteered to serve lunch during Santa Rosa Cycle Club’s 200K Healdsburg-to-Napa ride.

“It was wonderful to see my friends again,” he said. “I’m hoping it won’t be too long until I’m out there riding with them.”

Meals on Wheels is available to seniors who are unable to shop and cook. Learn more at councilonaging.com/meals-on-wheels, 525-0143.