A good start

4/14/06 Friday
Starting out much better this morning. Woke up just before 8:00 with the mind sharp and lucid. Running a strong 8 on the Bob scale. Yesterday was different. I woke up slow, got sharp as a tack for a good part of the day and then, as you can tell from the journal entry, slowed down to the point I really couldn’t write well. That’s the unpredictability of this brain injury that is so frustrating for me. My joke is “I am either the smartest dumb person or the dumbest smart person you will ever meet. It just depends on the moment you meet me”. That is a fairly accurate description of me. It is always good to try and get some humor out of the situations one finds themselves in.

I watched a news article on the first man to go to space. He’s not the one most of us think of because he didn’t take a rocket. Before the US launched a manned rocket into space they sent a man up in a balloon that went something like twenty miles up which they consider to be in space. Then he jumped out and parachuted back to earth. Whoa! He was a fighter pilot and a test pilot like my father was. In Vietnam he flew some four hundred and sixty plus missions and was shot down and captured. I wish I could remember his name but he spent the next eleven months in the infamous prison known as the Hanoi Hilton. As I watched this interview I was amazed at how he cracked jokes about the “room service” and other things regarding his torturous stay. When I was interviewed on channel 13 for their story on me Jason Knowles, the reporter, remarked on my sense of humor in my circumstances. I told him that laughing was a lot better than crying.

I just got a call from Jeanine, who is Wayne’s case worker with LMHA. She was just now reading the letter I dropped off last week regarding getting Wayne moved. Jeanine said she was a bit confused about why NPI refused to move him. She asked me if Wayne had a year lease or was month to month because if he was month to month there should be no reason for NPI not to let him move. I called Wayne and had him look up his paper work. Sure enough he is on a month to month lease. I left a message on Jeanine’s phone and look forward to hearing from her.

I think I will call regarding Denise and her offer to have Wayne move in with as her roommate. I can’t remember the name of the woman who brought her to the M.S. support group so I will call Cindy Smith who is involved with the M.S. Society.
Got a hold of Cindy and she directed me to Susan. I left a message with her and further examine this avenue when she calls.

I am grateful to be sharp this morning so I can do some good here. As always I will try to accomplish as much as I can while my cognizance is high because I never know how long it will last.

Can’t believe it is already 10:22. Things are moving along at a good pace. Cherie just left to return the tennis shoes she bought and do some grocery shopping.
Fred called as I was writing this and would like to get out so I’ll get my shoes on and do that.
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Got Fred out. We stopped by Tom’s at the gas station and then I took him to the Dollar Tree. There Fred looked for a picture frame for Barb and another one to put his auto club certificate in. He would look and say “It’s too small. That one will work to put Barb’s birth certificate in but won’t work for me”. I suggested he check his certificate on the frame he is buying for Barb but he said he knew it wouldn’t work.

From there we went to another dollar store and again looked for frames. Jeanine from LMHA called while we were there so I talked to her about Wayne’s housing while Fred peered at things. I was unable to tell him what he was looking at so hurried to finish with Jeanine. We set up a time for Wayne to take a required class in order for him to move. With that done I went back to being Fred’s eyes. Unfortunately he couldn’t think of what he needed so we looked at everything.

When I told Fred we were in the women’s isle it didn’t seem to register. Actually he didn’t seem to listen to much of anything I said. “Fred, this whole section is women’s make up. There is nothing here you need” I would explain and he would reach out and grab something off a shelf. “What’s this?” he asked. “That is little girl lipstick Fred” I answered “This is all women’s stuff”. “I don’t need that” Fred said and picking up something else asked “What’s this”. “Fred, that’s for douches” I told him trying to hide my frustration and not laugh at the same time. This went on and on. Finally he says “I know what I want” so I took him to where cleaning brushes were. This is when Susan returned my call about Denise. We talked and I tried to get a clearer idea of Denise’s circumstances. I will have too call Denise as Susan was not up on everything though she was a great help.

Now I am at home with Cherie. I called Allen to make sure he was up. He answered the phone before the first ring was done, which I thought was a good sign. Then he said he was moving slow and asked for more time. That didn’t set right so I tried to keep it to our schedule. Allen said he could not be ready until 2:30. I don’t know any man who needs an hour and a half to throw on clothes and get out of the house. Hell, Cherie doesn’t need that long and she does the whole woman make up be perfect routine. It sounds like Allen is trying to get some pain killers and that would account for his anxiously waiting by the phone. That’s what I am working to get him help on but I still don’t like being bullshitted. Doesn’t work well with me at all. We will see.