Almost There

Friday, when I arrived at the parking garage and went to pull into a spot, there was glass everywhere. I tried another, same thing, but with the addition of a whole window on the ground too. Then another and another. There had been a mass break-in in the large and oversized vehicle lot. A guy came up to me to say not to park because they got eight trucks, including his, a large lifted diesel. I asked him if they got anything from him, ‘a pistol and three magazines,’ he said, mentioning they left a $4,000 watch though. They weren’t looking for that in the large vehicle lot; they were looking for guns, and it made an easy target with all of us parked together. It had obviously happened in the wee hours of the morning, thank goodness ours wasn’t there; they had gotten a pistol and mags from me as well. The Yukon would have been more of a sleeper for carrying guns, but the Texas plates would have likely given that away. Needless to say, when I returned in the evening, I parked at the rehab center, which only has two non-handicap spaces. I became the guy I hate, using someone else’s handicap placard, Amanda’s. The last thing anyone, much less someone in our situation, wants to deal with is someone breaking into their car!

We had a long booking at our Airbnb over the weekend. It was a Wednesday through Monday booking, a good chunk for us to help keep the bills at bay at our downtown place, which we inherited last year. I texted check-in instructions as I usually do, but had no response. I received a message from Airbnb regarding the cancellation of the reservation late in the evening. The lady who booked it over a month ago said it was a mistake. I highly doubt that it was a mistake. You pay in full at the time of booking with Airbnb, and they send multiple emails upon booking and as the stay date approaches. They had issued a 50% discount and wanted to know if I would issue a full refund. I did not oblige; it was a busy weekend with Seminole days, and I would have otherwise had the weekend booked. We also have a straightforward cancellation policy, allowing you to cancel up to the day before and receive a full refund. It wasn’t going to be anything significant; we only charge $88 a night, but any little bit helps. 

We ended up having a younger welder book on Friday night. He told me all about how he was a new welder and working on the pipeline and so on. Very respectful via text, too. I chatted with him a bit when he asked about break-ins. He had a good many tools in his rig. I told him not to worry, and he could park on the opposite side; that way, he’d be right at the front door of the sheriff’s office, which would make him feel better. Turns out he was interested in booking monthly later on. I told him I’d cut a deal outside of Airbnb to save us both a little, and he was very interested. What I was mad about may turn into a blessing of a few steady months of income. That’s how the Lord works, turns something unexpected into a blessing. That’s my hope for the entire situation we are in with this second transplant.  

On the way home, I stopped by Hopdoddy. I should get frequent flyer miles there! I wanted to talk to Hannah for some help. I remember her talking to some girls around the bar about their nails. I mentioned that Amanda does her own gel nails, and she said that’s what she did. This was months ago. I had tried to get a mobile nail company to come and do Amanda’s nails, but they didn’t come to hospitals. There was another option, but it was costly. So, I thought I’d ask Hannah if she would do Amanda’s nails. She quickly agreed to come to the hospital and do them, and will come after she got off work on Sunday.

Saturday morning, I slept in since Amanda didn’t have any PT scheduled. I made breakfast, then headed in to be there a little after 9. I made some breakfast sausage patties using a little ground turkey and ground brisket to keep things mild for her. Then I made a croissant sandwich with some almost omelet-style eggs, the way Amanda has been liking them, with some fresh cheddar melted on top.

Amanda was a little out of it even after getting up and eating. She wasn’t zonked but sort of. I asked her if she was, and she said kind of. It was just in a dazed look over her. As if she were in another world, pondering life’s decisions! I was sure it was med related. They started a new anxiety-type medication to help her sleep, and I was sure it was that. She’s been having a hard time sleeping, so they were just trying to see what would work. It did help her sleep, and she got a good night’s sleep. I don’t know if cutting the dose or just giving it early is the better option. I didn’t like her looking like that, though and she didn’t like the feeling at all.

I was the OT/PT on Saturday. It was surprising that they didn’t have her on the schedule for the weekend since she had missed all of Monday’s sessions. OT was what we did first, starting with a shower. Then, after we took care of that and brushed and dried her hair, fortunately, she has a guy with long hair who knows how to brush and dry it. I’m no girl, but I do better than before I had long hair. You just don’t know how to take care of it until you’ve had it! After lunch, it was time for more OT. She had been working on reports for work and needed to finish up some accounting. This will help with her cognitive and thinking skills. I’d brought a printer in, and we have a stack of things for her to review and get done.

In the afternoon, we had visitors. One of my former students, Angel, was in town for a conference hosted by a large church based in Nashville. He was a wonderful student who went on to serve alongside me after graduating. He was my right-hand man, leading small groups, volunteering on many trips, and wrangling the students when I wasn’t around. He is a solid Christian young man, I’m proud of him, and I’m glad to have been a part of his growth throughout his youth. He’d hit me up last week, saying he was coming up here and asking if we needed anything. 

Angel’s mom was with him when they came to see us. I wasn’t expecting her to come; I had assumed he’d driven up by himself, but the whole family had come to the conference. She came in, locked and loaded with word from God. After the hellos, she got right to it, too, wasting no time. She prophesied over both of us, speaking what the Lord had given her. She started with me and had a lot to say. I was just in tears about halfway through. I was moved, not by her, but by the Lord. I’ve had something pushed on me from God about our time in Nashville. I’ve been unsure and have been trying to discern. It has to do with what is to come out of all of this, and she confirmed that. It was a moving experience; I’ve never been prophesied over, nothing like that has ever happened to me. That, combined with the fact that it was scripture-based, something God has been pushing on me, and that I’ve spoken with no one about, not even Amanda, is confirmation it was of God. Not only did she receive a word, but it was months ago, and she was waiting until they were here to share it with us.

Later in the afternoon, Brittany FaceTimed us from our house to get Amanda another load of clothes to be dropped off with Tank when I get him next week. Amanda has a lot of clothes packed so tightly in her closet that there’s no room to get anything else in there, yet she can always find room for more! It’s going to be cold up here before we can get any more clothes, and though Amanda would like to shop for a new wardrobe, we don’t have the funds for that!

Later in the afternoon, Hannah came to do Amanda’s nails. I’d texted her to ask if she was still up for it on Sunday morning. She already had her nail stuff packed in her car and was coming over after she finished work at Hopdoddy. Before she got there, I worked on Amanda’s feet. I had gotten a foot bath tub comparable to one at a nail salon. It would keep the water warm and had jets and whatnot. Her poor feet have been so dry. After soaking them and removing the dead skin, I tried using some of the supplies from the tub to no avail. Amanda’s feet just hurt too badly.

It was good for Amanda to put a name with a face. She was so sweet, too. Amanda chatted with her a bit, and we were talking back and forth about everything and nothing at all at the same time, much like when I see her at Hopdoddy. I’d forgotten her grandfather was a missionary in Malaysia. I knew she had a long-distance boyfriend, but I found out it was her youth group sweetheart. Amanda’s nails turned out great. She did both her toes and fingernails. I was worried as Amanda peered intently at Hannah as she did her nails. I asked if they were good, she said Oh yes, she did a great job. That’s a big compliment from Amanda; she’s pretty picky about her nails. Hannah, bringing her big set of everything, had a new selection of colors for Amanda to choose from. She chose a pretty blue color.

Earlier in the day, Sunday, Amanda had been nauseous, the pill load is the culprit, and that doesn’t seem to be trending down yet. I worked her pretty hard in my PT hat. Sit-to-stand, the most strenuous exercise for her, was on the menu. I’d planned for her to make a long walk afterwards once she’d rested a bit. After a few sit-to-stands, she told me, ‘If you want me to make a long walk, we’d better not do too many more.’ I gave her a good break, then we made a really long walk, which she crushed. It would have exceeded the 1000-foot mark that the nephrology team needed to be able to list for a kidney transplant. For OT, I had her working on the puzzle; it was time to finish it up. I’m not much on puzzles, but there was one that was easy, so I knocked that out! We stayed up a while with her standing and finishing the puzzle. As I walked out of the room Sunday night, Amanda wasn’t feeling well, and I told her four more nights. As I got in the car, I was telling myself the same thing.

On Monday, I came in to bring Amanda breakfast and then headed right back to the apartment. I needed to knock a few things out; I still hadn’t put up the stuff I took out of the Yukon. I came back for lunch, then took off again to pick up some bedroom furniture from Joel, my interior designer friend, while Amanda was in dialysis. I thought we’d be able to get everything in Yukon, but it was a lot. Headboard and footboard, dresser with mirror, tall chest, nightstand table. He also had some paintings and wall decor, along with a few lamps. Joel ended up loading his truck too and taking a load down for me. It was way too long, 45 minutes away from the apartment, too. He helped me unload everything and then stayed to help rearrange the items and put up decorations. He came ready with his toolbox and all. It looks so good, Amanda will love it, I think. Some of the decor looked like it was picked just for the bedding we had in the guest bedroom. According to Joel, the master bedroom comforter didn’t match the new look, though. He was determined to go and get a new set of pillows, saying he had some at work and had asked what they could do, and he was going to tell them this!

After we got everything up, I headed back in to bring Amanda dinner. Then I needed to head to the airport to pick Larry up. I’d planned to take Larry to the open mic at the Moxy to meet Jordan, the regular fixture there whom Brett was singing when I met him. I’d text Jordan to make sure she was going to be there; she was, but she ended up leaving early. So, my backup was to take Larry to the Live Oak, which has live music most of the time, but only the NFL was playing, so we went to Hop, then went home to turn in early.

This morning is busy; we had some appointments. I couldn’t take Amanda, and we had to be transported in the Seniors Solutions van! The driver had a thick accent. I had assumed he was Russian, but after speaking with him, I found out he was actually Bosnian. He’d sent his wife and kids out in 1991 after the war broke out, and he later came in 1995 after the war was over. He spoke of the good old days of Nashville, saying it was too busy and too much crime in some parts of the town, now. We chatted a lot about his homeland. I was familiar with the former Yugoslavia, on the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea, opposite Italy. It is on the travel list, specifically the Croatia area. 

The first appointment was outside the medical center area. It was with plastics for the groin wound check. The clinic was in an old mall, which is about halfway to our apartment. Some of the outer stores remained, but the entire interior of the mall was converted into a Vanderbilt Clinic, featuring everything from Plastic Surgery to MRIs and everything in between. Everything at our plastics appointment looked good. They removed the stitches, and we didn’t need another follow-up. Amanda was excited to get the stitches out; they had been poking and bothering her. The next appointment was at the medical center, located in a building adjacent to where we were in the step-down unit. It was with an infectious disease, ID. That appointment wasn’t as quick and easy as the plastics follow-up. We saw a different doctor, who would have preferred that we see the regular doctor, but due to scheduling conflicts, we needed to reschedule appointments, and we ended up with this one. The infection doesn’t seem to be in the rearview just yet. If ID had thier way, all of the hardware would have come out before or even now, but Ortho was against that. The use of antibiotics is transitioning from IV to oral now. How long the course will be seems uncertain. The doctor said that there are no formal guidelines. When I pushed her, she pretty much said lifelong. That seemed a little extreme to me. We aren’t there yet, but I’d like to get the doctor’s opinion we saw in the hospital. Leaving, we had an appointment to follow up in one month.

Brittany comes in on Thursday, the get-out-of-jail day, around noon. Lunchtime is the typical discharge time, they said, but I’ll probably delay things a bit so Britt and I can be around for the discharge. I’m hoping to have some friends there when Amanda gets to the apartment, too. Larry and I have a few things we’re going to do, some fun, but a lot of prepping of the apartment for Amanda’s arrival. Tonight we are going to a Predators hockey game. I knew he’d want to go, and I figured who better to go to my first hockey game with than a bona fide Canadian! Bev is coming to keep Amanda company, so I can take the night off tomorrow. That will be cooking night, I need to throw it down in the kitchen. It’s been a while, when Larry was here last, since I’ve cooked a big meal; I’ll probably invite some Nashville friends over for this one. Larry is scheduled to cook some Canadian fare for us one night. He had a tub of Wagyu beef tallow shipped in prior to his arrival just for the occasion, too! It will likely be a bit before my next post. We’ll be busy with the discharge and having both Larry and Britt here. Then I fly out on Sunday to Houston to pick up my Suburban and get a Tank. Amanda is ready to see him.