GRATITUDES 2

i am quite fortunate to have a couple of friends who are playing a very significant role in my post hospital care and recovery - jimmy and his wife lupita.

jimmy and i had already become best friends years before he married lupita in 2000.  after that, joanne and i went out with them a lot, and they played cards with us almost every saturday night.  we usually alternated the games at each other's home.  shortly before i got hurt, lupita had begun helping to care for joanne's mother.

even before i got home from the hospitals they were doing important tasks for us.  jimmy winterized the pipes and did other misc house repairs.  lupita did stretches and exercises on my arms and legs.    it became self evident that lupita knew a lot about nursing and rehab.  only then did i learn she had done all this before while working in hospitals and nursing homes.

so i designated lupita as my primary care giver for home.  she started attending training sessions with me at tirr hospital to learn first hand how to do tasks like get me in and out of the car, the bed, the shower, etc.  her previous experience and her strength - gained from her own rigorous exercise programs - made her a natural.  every one at tirr commented how they should hire her to work there.

so when i came home i had lupita doing what she was good at and i had jimmy doing what he was good at.   jimmy did things like change out a shower head and some related plumbing, and replace the chandelier with a light that is close to the ceiling.  what used to be the dining room became my hospital room - hence the significance of changing out the chandelier, which was in the way.  i am still thinking of things for jimmy to do.

lupita started my in-home care program which included training others to care for me.  so now we have a staff that takes care of both joanne's mom and i most of the time.  joanne found an agency that is providing excellent care for me 3 hours in the early morning each day when no one else is available.

lupita takes me to the tirr out-patient rehab gym 3 times a week, working me out 3 to 4 hours each time - according to what she thinks will benefit me the most.  the professional therapists have been impressed to find that when they give us homework, lupita has already been doing that and usually much more.  while we are working out, others watch what she is doing with me and attempt to replicate it.  she is getting a following of people who ask her how to do their exercises, and who think she works for the gym.

lupita also takes me to my professional rehab sessions at the same gym 3 additional times a week for 2 hours each.  she attends the sessions to learn what the therapists are trying to achieve and often interacts with them.  they love her and talk to her as much as they do me.  she alters our personal workout sessions as required to better work on the muscles indicated by the therapists.  

lupita also helps us in a lot of extra ways like going to the grocery store and the drug store.  she still looks after joanne's mom and often takes her out to eat, shopping, and even to the movies.  joanne's mom is 89 and wheel chair bound, so these are no small tasks - yet lupita seems to enjoy doing it.

lupita recently went with joanne and i for our first date in over 7 months.  we went out to our favorite local mexican restaurant.  we told lupita that she was our chaperon, but we actually needed her to get me in and out of the car.

the card game we used to play is physically too difficult for me now - it always was mentally too difficult.  jimmy and lupita now play dominoes with us every saturday night, which fits me better both physically and mentally.  i don't just use them for work horses - i also adjust them as required to meet my social entertainment needs too.

i have to wrap this up now because lupita will be here soon to take me to the gym.  lupita enjoys exercise - i don't.  i only do it because it is the only way i can get better.  i don't look forward to the gym with lupita because she works me out so hard.  i am seeing the benefits of it now in that i am able to do more things since leaving the hospital.  i tell lupita that it has nothing to do with her working me out, but that doesn't seem to fool her.  i also tell her that joanne said i didn't have to do this or that of the hardest exercises.  that never flies either.

i much prefer my sessions with the therapists because they aren't half as hard on me as lupita.

bye for now.