Random post

In rehab you get interviewed by people. I have been interviewed by nurses, a social worker, doctor, therapists, and a psychologist. The admitting nurse asked me a long list of questions when I first got here. One of them was if I was suicidal. If you were would you admit it? I said no, but even if I was is I am in a bed unable to walk and anything I could possibly use to harm myself is out of reach. I guess I could spread myself to death with a butter knife from mealtime but it would take time. By the way, be careful with humour when dealing with nurses from another country. Humour is very subjective and not always understood.

Anyway, therapists are interested in your home life. Living in a two bedroom, two bathroom, apartment style condo, no stairs wins me major points. I will have less problems getting around. Then they want to know if I am active and if I do anything in my spare time. I am sure when they release you back into the wild they do not want you sitting on a couch watching the television all day.

I must not come across as believable. I tell them that I get out to take photos, have two motorcycles that get used quite a bit, do some hiking into places, and try to get out as much as possible. I get some skeptical looks. Maybe I do not look like the kind of person that gets off their ass and does things. In the past people have told me I do not seem the type which perplexes me. Photos or it did not happen and I have an iPad with me with a fair number of photos on it. I have proof with photos of the motorcycle, photos of wildlife, photos of places I have been. When I show my photos I get a totally different reaction usually asking if I actually took the photos. I end up proving my point that I may not be really fit but I am active.

One thing I have discovered is most of the staff I have dealt with here rarely venture outside the city. They know nothing about wildlife or rural areas. Which is likely why there is a degree of skepticism when I say what I do in my spare time. 

How to get from your bed to a wheelchair

I do this a few times a day and wheel myself to the dining area for meals and wheel myself to physiotherapy. 

As the calendar moves with glacial speed . . .

Until my follow up appointment on May 15 I cannot put any weight on my legs until they clear me. I also hope I am cleared to put weight on my legs when the results come in. There is always a chance that might not happen and my stay becomes longer. If my stay is extended then I suck it up until I heal up. Until I can put weight on my legs I am kind of limited with what I can do. From my last operation on my legs until May 15 should be seventy-nine days, just over eleven weeks, or close to three months.

While I am here waiting to heal further as the days pass you find yourself with time to kill. I fill some of the time by reviewing my finances.

Since the hospital is feeding me I am saving money on food and the food here is not bad. I had butter chicken last night. My only car was written off so I am saving money on gas and insurance. I am currently getting disability payments from insurance. I long ago set funds aside as an emergency fund in case something happened. I love living in an age where there is online banking and I can pay my bills online. I have overpaid my monthly bills a month ahead. I have no mortgage which helps.

I have been reviewing my investment fund and been making some changes. I liquidated one underperforming account and reinvested it. Otherwise I have been adding to some of the stocks I own. I only buy Canadian dividend stocks, such as Canadian banks, and when enough dividends pile up I buy more stock. Sometime in the future I may have enough dividends rolling in on a monthly basis to help fund a retirement. 

I might as well put some of the time to good use.

Side of my left knee

I will have an interesting collection of scars. From the last operation.

Things you do not expect

I have been in the hospital since the evening of February 16. There are a lot of things you are cut off from being in the hospital. A lot of simple things.

One of the things I miss is Coke. I love the stuff. After weeks of being in the hospital I got my hands on a bottle. I took a swig and I was . . . disappointed. It did not taste the same. It did not taste the way I remembered it. That was a few weeks ago. I have had a few more since then, I had one today. It is just not the same.

I find the same thing for coffee. I like my coffee triple cream one sugar. I usually had a cup or two every day. In my entire hospital stay I have had five cups of coffee. It is not the same either, granted hospital coffee is not good coffee. Maybe I will enjoy it once I get out and have better coffee. Maybe it will be cut out of my diet entirely.