Moon Over (Independence) Parma

So as I write this we are on our way down I-90 heading towards Independance, OH.  Why? You may ask.  Well there is no simple answer.  Independence happens to be the location of the cheapest/only hotel in the Cleveland area that has private bedroom, multiple bed, handicapped accessible suites.  Go Embassy Suites!  Oh, you want to know why we’re headed for Cleveland.

Some may think I’m headed for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to protest Rush not having gotten in yet.  Oh wait, they did already didn’t they.  We are headed there, probably on Wednesday.   

Truthfully I just have a few Appointments with Doctors and therapists at Metrohealth.  Unsure if anything will come of it really.  (continued tuesday as there's no wifi and I made the mistake of drafting on Ipad instead of phone and was too lazy to retype it on the phone.)

So after a fun filled trip from home to the hotel in Independence we settled in with dinner from Wendy’s and slept the sleep of the dead, or perhaps the sleep of the paraplegic.   :-) There was a very funny mishap as we got off the elevator and headed right.  (it’s an atrium setup, i described as an inside out motel.)  As mom and I trailed behind dad, who had the luggage carriage. We made a 99.9999%  rotation around the corridor to find our suite was the first one left of the elevator bank aka the one immediately in front of the stage left elevator.  Fun fun fun!

So I had an appointment tuesday morning with a Dr at MetroHealth’s rehab department hoping he might have some insight as what to do next.  I also had an appointment to meet with therapists from the FES Center.  I was expecting to be in and out with the Dr but he did a fairly thorough exam and evaluation of my sensations.  He found something that needs to be looked into when I get home.  I then saw the FES therapist expecting to receive information about their programs.  Nope, i was evaluated for one of their studies.  Potentially I may get in, I was not expecting this at all.  If something comes of it my life may improve drastically.  Trying not to get my hopes up in case I don’t get in.  It would involve returning to Cleveland for surgery with a brief stay for some initial therapies and then occasional returns for this and that for a few days.

Woot!

Goofed off the rest of the afternoon, had a yummy salad at Potbelly and then my father grabbed pizza for dinner.  We travel 240 miles and he comes back with the exact type of crap tray pizza that is so prevalent in the Falls.   I had to laugh.  Thursday was a trip out to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.   I do disagree with the politics and the way the HoF is run but the museum is a thing of beauty and really was a great experience.

Now we are home, after finding a slightly longer but completely uncomplicated route of travel.

Rolling Along

You find yourself, three years in..  Time has dragged by, strangely enough it’s flown by too.  You don’t realize how quickly everything can change, or how much it can change.  One day you’re on your way home from work and three years later nothing is the same.  You’ve lost your home (or rather forced out of it) and you’re a guest (however welcomed or wanted, still a guest) in someone else's home.  You body doesn’t work right and barring a miracle or major medical breakthrough it never will again.  Some of things may be fixed in some manner, but they won’t  really fixed, just modified.  You friends and family give you pep talks; tell you you’re loved, how strong you are, how brave; make you out to be some sort of hero. You tend to not believe them.  You’re hardly inspiring. You're just some fool who broke down on the thruway.  And you’re broken. You’ll see stories of others that are broken too.  You’ll tell yourself, “I wish that article was more specific, where is their injury? Is it the same as mine?”  Surely their’s is lower.  It must be, their recovery is going so much better, easier, and smoother than your’s.   It must be because they’re a guy, because they’re 22, because they were an athlete, because they were in the military. Because they weren’t you.  And you’re weak and broken.

Some days you don’t know how you’re going to get through it all, but you do, somehow.  Someday things will truly be OK again.  Today is not that day.  The day is coming, just not today.