Rehab: Part Hospital, Jail. Insane Asylum, 14

 

The illustration is me wearing Rehab Chic. This is all the clothing I had upon arrival from the hospital and for the first 5 days in rehab.  I Called Lois at home and asked her to send some shirts, shorts and sandals to me. My daughter Noelle brought a knapsack of stuff, but I didn't get to see her. No one was allowed inside because of the virus. She had to ring a doorbell, then someone came and took the stuff from her. The clothes were sent to laundry for washing and stitching your name inside them.  This took three days before I got my clothes.  Meanwhile, the aides had changed me into a diaper, but I eventually asked them to use a pull up, "because I was a big boy now".  Actually it was because I found I could change myself once I could get out of bed myself, and I hated the diapers. The pull-ups served the same purpose, but one could put them on like a pair of underwear.

       Let's call this piece, "A day in rehab life".  

        In beginning I could only lay in bed and watch TV, except when a therapist showed up, but finally I was strong enough to get out if bed without a guard.  So, this was my day-to-day life afterward.

       I have always been an early riser and a morning person. I am one of those people other's hate, because I am always cheerful when I awake, even before  my first coffee. Drives most people crazy, because they get up grouchy in the morning.  I know Frank, my roommate, was always telling everyone how early I arose, although I tried not to disturb him. I usually woke around 4:00 AM.

      Some days the laundry would bring our clean clothes up around 4:00 AM as well. They would hang them up in our wardrobe. 

     When I did awake,  I would have to get to the bathroom right away.  I was pass using that plastic urinal bottle once I could go to the toilet on my own.   I would get in my wheelchair. After  that morning necessity,r I'd stay in my chair and watch TV.  I never put the sound on. I used the closed caption system so I would not disturb anyone else. When I transferred from bed to wheelchair, I would put nurse call and my telephone across the bed within my reach.  These were normally on the other side of bed from where I got up and I couldn't easily get to them once in may chair.

 Around 5:00 AM an aide would come in with my first pill of the day. This was Levothyrodine, for my thyroid. It provided the hormones the thyroid normally does, but my thyroid was destroyed back in the nineties. This pill must be taken alone, with nothing else an hour before or an hour after.

      I began my morning routine once sunrise sent light through the window. I would wheel to my wardrobe for a clean pull up, shirt ad shorts.  Then I would take these with a towel and washcloth into the bathroom.  

      I asked an aide to get me the towel and washcloth the night before, because they didn't bring such thing until later each morning when they were going to wash you. I wanted those things handy when I got up because I was now washing myself, unless they scheduled me for a shower.  I only got a shower on three of the forty days I was there. (My home aide says it should have been more often than that.)

       It was difficult to maneuver in the bathroom with wheelchair and the tight space. But I had to, so I did. I would strip off my dirty clothes and pull up, toss the pull up in the trash, then wash myself. After drying off I would pull on another pull up.  I would have to sit on my chair to get may feet set, then stand and pull it up.  Same with clean shorts.

     I would roll some deodorant under my arms brush my teeth at the sing and rinse mouthwash in my mouth.  Occasionally I carefully shaved. I wasn't supposed to shave with razors because they had given me blood thinners at the hospital, but I did anyway since the cord to my electric razor had went missing and I couldn't charge it.  Then I would put a clean shirt on, brush my hair and return to next to my bed where I would sit watching TV. 

     Spent a lot of my time watching TV.  For awhile it seemed all I could tune to was news, but then I discovered a channel called Reelz  This showed a lot of interesting background on the making of films, such as Top Gun and Back to the Future.  It also shows a lot of autopsies of celebrities, like Desi Arnez and Walt Disney.

     The other channels I watched were Turner Classic Movies and the Classic Movie Channel. I saw a lot of movies I had missed, especially in August when they featured a different star each day and showcased a number of the person's movies. I saw many of Charlie Chaplin films I had never seen: Modern Times, The Great Dictator,  Limelight, The Kid among them.  Also old John Barrymore films, Goldie Hawn pictures and others.  

     Anyway, I would watch the hall outside my door come alive. Around 6:00 the overhead lights would snap on, then someone pushing the clean towels cart would go down the hall.  Soon the Pharmacy cart would rumble up, usually pushed by Paulie. Another round of pills would come my way, often with a little milkshake of Ensure.  I was suffering lot or arthritic pain for much of the time, so would be asking Paulie to bring me a Tylenol fix, which helped.  My right hand so bad they took a blood test for gout and an X-ray for any breaks. Both were negative.

     Breakfast came at 8:00, always a surprise since it was never on the daily menu.  My Therapists would begin appearing about then, usually the Physical or Occupational first, then my favorite, the Speech pathologist. When they were done it was time for lunch.  After that we were on our own fir the afternoon and evening. Lot more television, though Frank and I ad conversations or wheeled about the halls. 

Remember, the virus had stopped any visitors or activities.  The only happenings were the cleaning lady swept through and our vitals were checked every so many hours.  I got back in bed after dinner and then fell asleep by 9:00, The next day it all began again.