102205 Saturday

10/22/05 Saturday
     I woke up lucid, a good start for the day. Cherie came in and wanted to talk so I muted the sound on the TV. She asked about long term plans regarding going to Texas.  Will we stay? Will we live on the farm? When would we go? These are important things that we need to make plans for. I got us on a budget now and we will tighten up and start saving for this. We also know there will probably be several trips to Texas and that will cost. With all that and things like the bankruptcy going on we need to be organized and ready to go. It was good for us to talk and I thanked Cherie for bringing it up cause I would most likely never think about it.
     I told Cherie I would write the letter to YMCA this morning while she is out shopping. Of course Fred called and being very apologetic asked me if I could take him to the Dollar Tree. I will be happy to do that but hope he is not getting something Barb guilt tripped him into getting. If so he will bring it up after he purchased the item and we get back in the car. “Would you mind stopping at Barb’s” he will say.
     There are times I like being wrong and this is one of them. Fred did buy some stuff for Barb but he never asked me to take it to her so that worked. He needed toilette paper which would warrant his urgency but beside that he was looking for some horseradish that he thinks he bought at a dollar store. I took him to two stores and he never found the horseradish. At the last store he went over the same isle several times, picking up bottle after bottle and peering at it would wait for me to tell him what it was. He was picking up the same bottles we had gone through before and I was getting a little short. “Fred we’ve been through everything in this row. There is no horseradish.” I told him so he went down a different row. I went into Radio Shack and got Fred the light bulbs he needs for his reader. I was glad he wanted to go home when I got back to the car. Now I am here writing and tired.
     I took some of that herbal stuff that helps clear up the mind a bit. Now I need to write that YMCA letter before I go off in another tangent and forget. Now to you millions of people reading this, I know much of what you find here is boring dribble but it is much more than that to me. I use this journal to overcome the problems that come with my brain injury. I come to this laptop many times during a day and look to see what I was doing or going to do. These reminders keep me on track on slow days and for that matter every day. Now, TOO THE LETTER…..
     I wrote the letter. In fact I think I will put it here in the journal cause it may explain a lot to my readers.

To:       Executive Director of the Southwest Family Branch
            YMCA of Greater Toledo.
From:     Bob and Cherie Westbrook
     2541 Key St.
     Toledo, Ohio 43614

     This letter is to explain the reason for our request for assistance. I woke up from a coma December 2001. Because of my traumatic brain injury I have severe memory loss and partial paralysis on the right side. Adding to that, I broke my neck for the third time in the accident. The only family found willing to help me was my brother who took me to St Louis and put me in some dump. It took me two years to make it back to Toledo where I had been a successful businessman prior to my accident. It was then I understood how much memory was lost and wandered the streets looking for memories. I was homeless till I was featured on Channel 13 as Toledo’s John Doe. Then friends I knew I had but couldn’t remember came forward to help.
     Among those who saw the program was my first wife, Cherie. We had divorced twenty years ago after I went through a drastic personality change after falling from a tree, breaking my neck and back, and getting a concussion. We now understand the personality change is a common symptom of brain injury but little was known about it 20 years ago. Cherie called in to offer assistance and we saw each other for the first time in twenty years. We remarried nearly two years ago. We never should have divorced.
     Cherie took on a burden with me. I did finally get approved for my veterans disability pension which helps financially but we run tight. Being in the coma took a toll on me and I was unable to get the exercise needed to regain strength and muscle. Now that I have a kitchen and am sedentary I am getting fat. We are in the middle of bankruptcy made necessary to unload the massive medical debt I have and that freezes up our finances some. We would be happy to pay $35.00 a month for the basic membership but the initial fee is a hard hurdle for us to leap right now. We expect things to improve after the bankruptcy and will go to the regular rate.

So whatchya think? It’ll change when I have Cherie review it. I think I will lay down for a bit.