Day: November 8, 2014

I looked up in rehab Friday and I saw that everyone in the place was crying, I thought the worst, as one might in rehab, but it turned out Penny, one of my rehab buddies, was graduating it was her last day, and last days in rehab are emotional days, I am learning. Mine is a month or so away, I do not look forward to leaving these people, I am much connected to their stories and lives. My friend Carol and I are plotting to meet for lunch at the Round House next week, she is a special person and I miss her. We share a keen interest in farms and animals, and she read my play “Last Day In The Life of Mapleview Farm.”

Penny works in an office in Vermont, I suspect we will not see one another again,  as is the case with most rehab colleagues when they graduate. It is quite remarkable how quickly powerful friendships and connections form in a setting like that. I didn’t feel it for a few days but I very much feel it now. Patty, the head of the rehab unit, just returned after her mother died, we are all feeling her process every step of the way, getting regular reports.

Penny got some records and a certificate of graduation. Cardiologists love cardiac rehab, they insist people who go through it live longer than heart patients who don’t. I am gaining ground in my recovery, we figured out my fluid retention issue, it has nothing to do with my heart, and I’m off the medications for it. I am beginning to get my blood sugar numbers back in line after four months of instability (common after open heart surgery).

I got my cholesterol test results back from the lab, I’m told they are very good. For those of you nurses out there, here they are below. Recovery and rehab are hard and daily work, but I am getting there. I wish Penny well and I will miss her, we talk music on the treadmill.

Maria and I spent a lot of time at the Round House Cafe, we don’t have kids living with us, and it is great to have a great eating place a couple of minutes away, we often talk ourselves into going there for breakfast or lunch. Scott Carrino says we are among his best customers, it is part of our community, and there is much community within the Round House. Today, Heather (left) asked me if I would take a photo of the weekend crew, it is about to change.

Gabe, in the center, is leaving weekend work because of his wrestling team schedule, which starts this week. These hard-working and incredibly nice people care for one another, it is nice to be around them and share their good spirit. I was happy to be asked to take a photo, and then I liked the feeling of it so much I thought I share share it. People always say they rarely see  young people who are courteous and hard-working, but I do not believe young people are less worthy or industrious than my generation or any others.

One of the sins of Old Fartism is to believe everything in the past was better than everything that exists. Young people seem quite bright to me, and interesting, they live in a new and different kind of world, the ones I know work very hard, are smarter than the kids I remember growing up with and seem quite decent and courteous. It’s a generalization, I’m sure the qualities of young people vary just as much as those of people my age – I know a lot of unlikeable and brain-dead older people.

When somebody says, as they invariably do, “how refreshing to see a young person work so hard,” I wince. It is not an unusual thing for me to see in my life. The Round  House reminds me of the power of community and connection, it is what we all wish for and need.

I lost Red’s therapy dog ID and applied for a replacement. The liability lawyers at the therapy dog training and certification group  – Therapy Dogs Of Vermont – decided that all ID’s should have a photo of the handler and the dog, I’m not sure how this will guard against legal trouble, and it didn’t sit right with me. I don’t like to have my photo taken, and I resist riding the abundance of caution tidal wave pushed by lawyers and craven politicians.

I have photo ID if needed and Red has his. It seems the entire planet is living out of an abundance of caution these days.

But there are bigger issues in the world to fight, and I am sure the lawyers had a reason.  I like the therapy training group a lot – they are thorough and honest, and they also have an abundance of compassion. So I grumped and grumbled, then agreed.  Maria took this photo on our morning walk. I have learned late in life that there are some fights that are just not worth having, and I kind of like the photo, I don’t really have one with me and Red. I wanted my prized walking stick in it, too, I’ve had it every since I came to the farm and it is all taped up and patched, but it is perfect for me.