My Two Year Assessment

I arrived at this hospital on November 15, 2022, so I have been here exactly two years and six weeks. Let's round that off to two years and review what I have learned and how I'm doing so far.

As today is Sunday and I just got back from a shower, why don't we start with that first? If you ever thought to yourself, I wonder if taking a shower lying down is more enjoyable than standing up? I would wonder if you are in your right mind. I lay down because I am at the point where I can't sit up straight anymore. Think about that. Showering in a chair is too much of a challenge for me. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me. But then, I am just turning that disgust back on myself and that doesn't do me any good. So let's forgive myself for losing all my trunk strength and move on.

Showers are crap, but in the end, I'm clean, which is much nicer than being dirty, so I guess they’re worth it. How about meals? Is the food any good? Some assessors were here over the summer and our resident council was speaking with them and they asked us about the food. It is an extremely common complaint, but not here! The kitchen does a very good job of mass producing nutritious meals that taste good.

My barometer is fish. If you can cook fish well, you’re doing something right. I have had fish dinners at the care facility on Maui, at Maui's hospital, and here. Maui's hospital served a large slab of dry, inedible fish. The care facility on Maui was fine, but here it's not only never dry, but It's downright tasty. My favorite is the breaded fish with lemon parmesan sauce. Yummy!

There are also a few meals I do not like but they are sprinkled among the rest, so they are tolerable. The most unfortunate thing about the meals is that I cannot control what I eat. I can very generally, but the naturopath I work with would love to give me specific foods to avoid or favor and that is not possible here. Leafy greens are what I miss the most. What I would give for a kale salad! The majority of the time, when I eat a meal that is not from the hospital, it's better food than the meal I would've gotten. I eat healthy!

My days are mostly filled with watching movies or TV, playing some kind of game or puzzle on my iPad, or writing. I get in my chair about once a week. Sometimes to go to a meeting or out to Mom's, but sometimes I just go across the hall to the dining room. There is the advantage of having my own space, but that room is kept almost as cold as the inside of the refrigerator, so I am becoming increasingly hesitant to get up. I know it would be good for me to get in my chair more often, but another part of me wonders what is left to happen. I am about as unable to move as I can get. I guess we'll see...

I've got sleeping pretty well worked out. At night, I go into sensory deprivation mode with my noise-canceling headphones and my eye shades. I fall asleep listening to a podcast with the timer on so the program will turn off at the end of the show. As long as I close my eyes within an hour or two of taking my melatonin, I will drift off into a sound sleep that I won't wake up from until the morning nurse comes to give me a pill at 6 AM. Occasionally, I will drift back to sleep until breakfast at 7:30 or 8 AM, but most of the time once I wake up, I am awake. I usually have one night a week of bad sleep, but I am used to it and most of the time I do sleep well.

The wall in front of me, which I have extensively decorated with every card anyone has ever sent me in the last two years, is my greatest source of uplift. I also have some pictures and a clock, which I face 24/7. There is a small whiteboard in the middle of everything and my sister drew a big heart on it when I got here. She has since redrawn it a couple of times, but it is the perfect symbol for the love everyone sends me in the form of a card. Thank you all and keep them coming!

While I really enjoy watching a good show or movie, it's great when my mom, my sister or another friend visits. Especially when they bring a goodie to eat. That breaks up the day! It can get noisy in here with the two air conditioners, an oxygen machine, and two schizophrenics. It has really made me appreciate when it gets quiet. I live for the time my neighbor takes a shower and her oxygen machine gets turned off! If my neighbors are sleeping and it's still, I will endure whatever I have to before I break the silence. Don't wake them up!

Overall, I would say I'm doing pretty well here. Would I rather live in a private home with a cat who could be next to me all day long? You bet I would, but that is a tall order, so I will do what I can here until that manifests. Working on my website keeps me occupied. And all those movies aren't gonna watch themselves!