One year ago at this time, I way lying in a bed in Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital. My mother, who had returned to Nashville to stay with me on Christmas Eve, the very day I had been moved to that facility, had returned to her home in Leawood, Kansas. I did not have a roommate. The room was quite. But, I certainly wasn’t down.
Physically, I had improved from my condition as it had been back on October 7th when I had been helped into Vanderbilt Hospital’s ER. By this point, I had been off the ventilator for a little over two weeks. I could move my right arm almost 90 degrees and could move my left hand at the wrist. I could flex the muscles in my legs and could feel quite a bit of pain in them. That night, I watched Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper on the television in my hospital room. The traffic outside my window on Blakemore made me feel both connected to and separated from the rest of the world.
When the new year dawned, my caregivers expected that I would be discharged in about five weeks to a nursing home and in a motorized wheelchair. After a slow start, improvement to my physical condition began to came rapidly.* I made it clear to my physical and occupational therapists that I wanted to stay at Stallworth as long as possible. I wanted to get all the good out of it I could get. Also, even the nurses were telling me horror stories about nursing homes. After nine and a half weeks there, I went home. I went home, not to a nursing home. And, I did so using a walker instead of a wheelchair. That was February 27th. Two days later I was back in the Vanderbilt ER passing kidney stones.
For the next month, I hung out at the house. My roommate was granted the task of putting my shoes and socks on me each morning. On a spur of the moment decision exactly one month after I got out, I traded cars. The one I got was the model I had test driven almost a year earlier. At the time, I couldn’t even drive myself.
A few weeks later, on April 17th, I returned to work. The days were abbrevited at first, but got longer and eventually returned to a normal routine. Around that time, my mother’s eldest sister died. Her passing led to my first out of town trip. I went to Kansas City and attended her funeral, walking with the aid of a cane. May saw my next birthday. At the end of the month, I returned to K.C. for my mother’s 75th birthday, this time walking with out aid, but not quite normally.
In June, I took two trips to Washington, D.C. The second one coincided with their Pride. At that event I surprised my self by getting up from a grassy spot where I’d had lunch without holding on to anything. I was pretty jazzed about that. Also, watching a drag show with the capital building in the immediate background was pretty cool. And I don’t even like drag show. Later in June I made my first ever trip to San Diego. All these trips were for work. By the end of the month, I was ready to stay home for a bit.
July and August were thankfully routine. Around July’s midpoint, I made a few trips to the gym. It was awkward at first and I felt a little self conscious. But it felt good to be able to do most of the things I had done in the past. In August I ended physical therapy. I had been doing PT and OT twice each week at Stallworth as outpatient. OT continued. At the end of August, I made another trip to K.C.
In September, I made that trip to Lake Tahoe that I’ve already discussed. I certainly was glad to be home after that. At the beginning of October, I revived my annual Themeless Party, cohosted by my good friend Eric. Attendance was 40 or 45 and everyone said they had a great time. I’m usually kind of stressed when I host an event like that. This time, I really enjoyed it. Eric catered. If party food is a competition, Eric’s wins. Easily. (After he finishes culinary school, he has a bright future in pretty much whatever he wants to do.)
On Tuesday, October 7, I attended my last OT session. They told me that it was my 52nd visit and insurance would only pay for 45. Of course, I immediately requested assurance that I would not have to pay for the extra sessions. I didn’t have to. That night, I took Eric, his partner, my roommate and another friend (the one who had driven me around for weeks and done numerous other favors for me) out to dinner. I had planned on taking them to Lime. But, when we got there, they wouldn’t let us in because one of the group was wearing a hat. Instead we went around the corner to Mellow Mushroom and had a fun, casual time.
The last couple of months have been fairly well chronicled on the blog. About the only big thing missing is my final trip of the year, again to Kansas City. I’ve decided to travel to K.C. 3 times per year to visit and keep an eye on my mother. She has asked that I keep Thanksgiving on the schedule. That means I’ll try to go back in March in again in July. I’m hoping to take a group of friends back to K.C. with me in March. My mother met my friends while she was here and had a wonderful time with them. I cannot thank them enough for treating her with such respect and kindness. It made a difference. She has even invited one of the couples to her home and has said that they could stay together in the guest bedroom. All things considered, that’s an amazing level of acceptance.
Now the year is over. I’ll spend tonight at a party or two enjoying the company of so many people who are important to me. 2009 will be a great year. I’ve decided it will be. In the next couple of months, I hope to have at least two things to share that should steer my life in a little bit different direction. Nothing to major.
To you and yours, I bid a Happy New Year’s! Have fun tonight and be safe.
*I credit my next door neighbor Nelly with my dramatic physical improvement. Nelly obtained her Ph.D from Vanderbilt almost 2 years ago and is a researcher in periphal neuropathy. He commented that, in the lab, they had observed that nerve tissue grew very slowly in the petre dish – until vitamin C was introduced. Then, growth took off. Nelly and her boyfriend provided me with a bottle of vitamin C tablets for me to take everyday. Shortly thereafter, my condition starting getting remarkably better. I still take vitamin C everyday.
