Today was discharge day from the Olympic Center Rehab. Before the Meadow Lake people came to get me, I squeezed in another hour of PT and reached a goal of walking 100 feet, or completely around the central square of the rehab space. I also did leg exercises and time on the NuStep.
The Meadow Lake van came about 10:30am and hauled me and my stuff out to the rehab/skilled nursing facility. I have to say I’m not overwhelmed with it. The furniture is banged up, the space is very limited, and the bed isn’t the hospital bed I’ve been used to the last month. It does go up and down, so that’s good, but there’s a lot else I’m not sure about. It’s a bit depressing, to be honest, and it’s across the hall from the room where my father died in 2018. My rehab room was at the end of the hall in a quiet spot; this one is incredibly noisy. But I do have a private room and share a bathroom with my neighbor.
But because I haven’t been evaluated yet by the rehab/therapy people, I sit here in a wheelchair that I hate because the only way to move it is to use the actual tires, which is ridiculous. Plus the foot pedals are the raised kind that are hard for me to manage since my feet don’t cooperate. I also don’t have a walker which is how I’ve been transferring between different places. So I sit here in the chair I don’t like, unable to plug in the power cord because the wheelchair doesn’t fit on the other side of the bed, and uncertain what I’m supposed to be doing. Apparently nothing, just watching TV, hoping I don’t need to use the bathroom until I get a walker.
Change is hard. Going to the first rehab was very hard, and so is this. And I know I will be here for a long time so I need to get used to it. I’m trying to figure out what things from home will make it feel more like mine.
Random Thoughts of a Disordered Mind 