Jan 7-23, 2007

Oh, dear, I have been derelict in my duty. I got engrossed in a guilty pleasure, and I wasn’t able to set it aside long enough to keep you guys updated. Yes, I admit it, I succumbed to writing a short piece of RS fanfic. It was a very weird experience. I felt guilty about setting aside my work on my novel in order to work on a “frivolous” piece. I call it frivolous because I knew from the start I wasn’t going to put my heart and soul into it for a long time and try to turn it into something truly memorable – I was writing it for fun, and hopefully to amuse fellow like-minded Steele fanatics. But I got sucked in by it and spent more time on it than I had intended (though I am glad I didn’t finish it with the first draft). I think it’s almost ready to be posted to the fanfic group, but this depends on final comments by certain reviewers of the story. Actually, I think I have pretty well lost my objectivity on how it reads – after reading it a zillion times, I no longer know if what I originally thought was funny is still funny.

Okay, so to update you on the goings on. After the scare on the 6th of Gary nearly falling out of bed, I persuaded an initially reluctant Gary that it would be best if I put his bed rails up after he transfers into bed at night. Better safe than sorry. Occasionally he still delays a bit longer than I’d like in calling me in to lift the rails, saying that he’s more careful now that he knows there’s a possibility he could fall out of the bed (famous last words). I keep the rails up longer in the morning, too. When he’s all dressed and ready to get up, he always calls out and asks me to let him out of jail. I ask him if he’s served his time, or if he’s made bail, etc. Have to think of some more responses . . . .

We talked to Norma on the 7th. A topic that came up was about him visiting his family in summer. I overheard him tell her he’d like to do that if possible, but would probably need me to do so. He brought it up again at lunch. I confess, I started worrying about the effect of such travel on my back, but when I looked up from my thoughts I found Gary crying – he repeated that has been worried from the start he won’t be able to visit with his family. So I gave him a hug and told him of course he would. So we have tentative plans to go to Nebraska this summer. Not sure if we’d fly or take the van which we hopefully will have in the near future. (Concerning the van, our application for funding help from the state has been turned in. Who knows how long it will take to get through the beauracracy.)

On the 8th, Gary tried out the gym at the university. They have a cable machine, so he did essentially the same exercises as he did at rehab. His “personal trainer,” whose title Gary says is “Director of Health, Wellness, and Fitness and stuff like that,” noticed Gary struggling to make thirty repetitions on some of the exercises, and said that they would reduce the amount of weight on the machine so Gary can keep his form. The director said he may also have Gary go to 3 sets of ten instead of one set of thirty, this to work on strength rather than endurance (and in fact, on the 22nd this is what he did).

In order to get back to the math department, Gary had to go up a big hill. He wasn’t sure he could make it by himself, so when someone asked him if he wanted a push up it, he accepted. I told him he was a wimp ;-), but he protested that I should give him a break, that he’d just had an hour’s worth of weight training. Poor baby ;-)

Once up the hill, he couldn’t figure out how to get to the front entrance of math building – there didn’t seem to be a direct route. All three sidewalks leading to it are being repaired in places, with 6-foot sections covered by straw and mud. He didn’t want to try wheeling across those. So he ended up having to go around to the back of building. At least he got good exercise ;-)

On the ninth, he taught his first large class since the accident – linear algebra. I went to the first thirty minutes of the class – just because. I don’t know what I expected – a marching band heralding his triumphant return, I guess – but the students didn’t act as if anything out of the ordinary was happening. I guess that’s good.

On the tenth, I went to a different chiropractor than the one I’ve been using since returning home – he was into “Zone therapy,” and I decided my zones had zoned out. The new chiropractor has a decompression table – think of it was being stretched on the rack (at the hips). I had had this modality (such an impressive word) tried on me before and had thought it might be helpful. But I had only had it done a couple of times before Gary had his accident, and the chiropractors in Birmingham and Atlanta didn’t have such a table. I didn’t go back to the same chiropractor as back then, though, because I thought there was something fishy about his billing – four months after I last saw him, I was still getting bills from him. At the time I was too preoccupied with Gary to figure out what was going on, so just paid them. I finally sent a note with my last payment saying the next time I was sent a bill I wanted a clear explanation of what it was for. I never heard from them again. I figure I wouldn’t be able to make head or tail of their books if I demanded they show them to me, so I’m just writing that off. At least this way I won’t have to listen to the Christian music that he has constantly blaring at eardrum-shattering levels (maybe he has it that loud so you can’t think and wonder just what those bills are about).

Anyway, no only does this new chiropractor put me on the decompression table, but they also do ultrasound micro-massage on me and EMS – electrical muscle stimulation. (Now it is the 23rd and I have noticed some improvements in my pain level that I attribute to these modalities.)

On this day, the 10th, when Gary wheeled all the way around to the back of math building on account of the broken sidewalks, he discovered the elevator was out! He gave up and and called one of the math secretaries to wheel him around to front. Gary told me that his trainer, whose specialty is exercise science, said he may also occasionally, to work on power, decrease the number of reps and weights and increase the speed of performance.

On the 11th, our housekeeper showed up for the second time in a row. We are on a roll!

We got a nice email card from Joe and Dolores, a recounting of their year for family and friends. It came with pictures showing the forty-four inches of snow that inundated the area where they lived! In the email she told about how Joe had devoted himself to the remodeling of our home, with help from the math dept volunteers. She noted everyone needs a brother like Joe. Ain’t that the truth! The two of them are coming to visit in early Feb., and they will be bringing their dogs. I’m sure our cats are thrilled. I am looking forward to meeting them, however – I’ve been hearing for years how cute they are (and not just in looks).

We continue to find amusement in little things. One favorite activity is to discover just what Gary has on or under his feet. One day after his weight training, as he was wheeling back to the math building, he noticed he had a sock lying across his feet. Evidently he’d dropped it there when he was putting his dirty socks in the laundry. I didn’t notice it before he left the house. If his trainer noticed it, he didn’t say anything. Gary also found a key on his footplate after he transferred into bed one evening. Evidently he’d dropped his office key without noticing, and that was where it ended up.

On the 15th, Gary finished the DVD of Alaska that Norma had recently sent – it was a documentary of their entire journey. Gary said it was fantastic but noted that the “Hi, Gary”s were much more enthusiastic at the beginning of the DVD than at the end – I mean, really, just how much can kids be told to say “Hi Gary!” before the thrill wears off ;-)

On the 19th, Gary made it up the hill entirely himself. The previous time he was going to try it himself, a student asked him if he needed help and he declined. But the student turned off his car and ran over to help Gary up the hill anyway. Gary decided not to put up a fuss.

Our maid is continuing to show up. Not only that, but she can clean. So we are happy. Fingers crossed.

Let’s see, anything else . . . . Oh, yes. Gary transfers between the futon and his chair by himself now, without even telling me he is doing so. The only in-house transfer I have been still helping him on is the shower transfer – but, we just today (the 23rd) got the raised toilet seat, so I will be helping him with that. He also transfers into the car by himself now. I still guide him on the way out – he is going backwards then, and we don’t want him going right off the board, since he can’t feel it.

He still has the booty rash, so we are calling the bridge nurse at Shepherd to see what our next step on that should be. Not related to that, I am taking him to the urologist on Friday. One thing we’ll ask him about is the leaking problem. It stops when Gary is on antibiotics and starts in again after he’s through with the antibiotics, so, we don’t know, maybe he has a near-constant low-level urinary tract infection.

He is participating in a study by the University of Washington on fatigue and pain in people with spinal cord injuries. He doesn’t think they’re really the kind of subject they are looking for, however, because he’s not troubled by these. Thank God.

That’s all I can think of, so, all for now!