A Good Day

Just got home from the Sheperd Center, visiting a friend.

She was much better today and has obviously developed a talent for cursing! I made this comment to her...number one because I have never heard her curse and number two because I felt she NEEDED to curse.

She feels lost in a jumble of feelings... memories and pain.

I harassed two other servers into going to the hospital as well and we all sat around and laughed and talked. Many times my friend lapsed into repetitiveness and mentioned the same thing over and over, but we all acted like it was the first time we had heard it and even knew the ending to the story she was telling and had time to find a new and different response.

What is important here is that we are helping fill in the gaps she seems to be having. She is aware that she has a brain injury...I told her that the fact that she KNOWS she has a brain injury is a good sign. If it was That severe she wouldn't even know it.

It will be a long road to recovery. It may be that she makes a full one...that is what we are praying for.

It may be that she comes back a little different. We will have our friend back, but it may be a new friend that we all have to get to know again.

She sometimes gets agitated and begins to feel anger (who wouldn't) but then a minute later is the old demure friend that is just happy we are there.

What is important ...in my opinion (not exactly professional) is that we support this girl, go see this girl...and pray for this girl.

I was working at lunch today when I waited on a table ... a young woman with a two year old in a high chair. She told me she was my friend's aunt...the woman my friend was living with when she had her accident. It felt so good to hug her neck.

I expected her to be a dowdy mole faced "AUNTIE" . I guess that's what happens when you are almost fifty and hear someone say they are living with their aunt.

Not the case here....a beautiful young woman with a little boy so full of life it seemed he wanted to jump out of his highchair and begin to rule the world at that exact minute. (Good luck when he is seventeen...read previous posts).

Her gratitude amazed me. "Ole Auntie" Thank you very much.

It has been an experience. I had never been to the Sheperd Center before this accident. When I went the first day I was guided to the "GYM" aka the dining hall. It almost broke my heart. There were people there that I knew without any training...were at their peak.

They are in wheelchairs, they are paralyzed...they are just existing.

My friend has an outlook that I feel good about. She may not be the same ole friend...but she will be mobile, she will walk out of this center a person that can cope.

I find myself ready to stay friends with the people that are left at the Sheperd Center. It has touched me the way that nurses recognize me from bringing them chili dogs from the Varsity. The way the security guy remembers me bringing him fried pies, the way that they treat their patients. They genuinely care about our loved ones and give them the great respect that they deserve.

I have my weekend all mapped out. A trip to Crawford Long to visit my distant cousin and a visit back to my young friend...she is starting to be a hoot as she recovers her capacities.

She is getting downright "Ballsy".

That is what I like to see. To lay down and give up is an awful thing...to protest... want to move on and advance is a sign of improvement in my mind.

I have GOT to get my friend a "SHAM WOW". She talked about it for thirty minutes today. I guess she wants to give the entire unit at Sheperd a thorough cleaning or that is the last thing that has stuck in her head. Either way my fourteen year old daughter told me that our next door neighbor has bought one and they are pretty amazing. If all it takes is a Sham wow and a hot dog from the Varsity to make her happy...in the words of Emerill...BAM!!

I think we just kicked it up a notch.