At this point in the process, he couldn’t be transferred to Colonial Oaks by the hospital. The ARU doctor completed paperwork for her to take to the license branch to obtain a handicap tag for the car. She didn’t realize how hard it would hit her when she was handed the blue tag that read “NO EXP.” No expiration. In other words, keep this little sign forever, because you will need it. His handicap, his disability, will most likely never expire.
She learned how to put him in the car, and take him out of the car…how to move him to his wheelchair from just about anywhere…how to appreciate a gait belt. She was very thankful that he’d lost about 50 pounds in the previous couple months.
He moved to Colonial Oaks on March 10, 2014. He had a nice room to himself near the pond. And he was the youngest person in the place. He took a nose dive out of his wheelchair the first week. He thought he could untie his own shoes, but that proved to be incorrect. He had a CAT scan to check for a brain bleed, and they watched the large goose egg on his forehead pretty close.
They started all the therapies as soon as his new injury was better. He made fast friends with the therapists, of course, and the nurses and aids became friends as well. He was friendly and funny, even though his words weren’t always clear, and the staff showed their love for him every day.
She visited every day but Thursday, when their daughter and son-in-law would visit. Pup was allowed to visit him with her. She only tinkled on the floor a couple times.
Their first outing – her taking him somewhere alone – was to Lowe’s on a slushy Saturday. She didn’t take a wheelchair along, because she didn’t think he would want to go in with her. He was ready to see something other than a hospital or rehab facility. She worked to get him out of the car and into the Lowe’s wheelchair, but the brakes on the chair were bad. The chair rolled, and he landed on his bottom…in the slush…with his right leg folded under him. He yelled and cried out in pain, and she was frantic. People kept walking past them and staring. She couldn’t lift him from the ground on her own. She looked at a couple coming out of the store, and pleaded, “Would you please help me?” And they did. She didn’t get their names, but they were her angels that day.
In April she applied for Social Security disability. Sara at the local SS office was a pleasant surprise – she was extremely helpful and offered so much support and information. He was approved on the first try. He would start to receive SSD in August.
The house remodel plugged along with generous volunteers from Mt. Olive UMC coming on Saturdays, and volunteers from Converse Church of Christ coming on week nights to tile the shower. She was either at work, at the rehab facility, or sleeping upstairs at home. Her folks continued to come down from Ft. Wayne to help with the house and the pup.
As much as he was positive and happy and pleasant, she was trying to hold it all together. By this time, the hospital bills were pouring in. The most shocking was the twenty-minute helicopter ride from MGH to Lutheran: $36,000. Insurance paid one-third of that bill.
Winter turned into spring, he watched baseball daily after therapy, and he lost a few more pounds. He rolled up and down the halls of the rehab wing of Colonial Oaks cheering up the old people along the way. She cleaned up all the dirt and mess from the projects at home, and started going to counseling, because the depression was getting darker and heavier.
So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
I spread out my hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.
Psalm143:4-6 (NIV)
Rush Strokes 