On his own

May 6, 2016

Den is on his own this week. It is the week before Mother’s Day, and things are crazy busy at the flower shop! Den and I check in several times a day… in the morning before I take Em to school, before I leave for work, lunchtime, and a couple of times in the evening (when things calm down). I always got his schedule when I talked to him before leaving for work. This way I knew when not to call. He always had his cell phone on him, but I did not want to interrupt any therapy just to chat.

When I talked to Den at 6AM, he was tired and lonely, but said he was ok. He said he would work as hard as he could to get his strength back and get home as soon as possible. He told me his schedule:

• 9AM – psych evaluation
• 10AM – Physical Therapy
• 11AM – Speech
• 1PM – Group Occupational Therapy
• 2PM – Welcome Group
• 3PM – Individual Occupational Therapy

I told him to call me when he had time, since his schedule for today didn’t leave him much free time. Den called me just before 1PM. He was very upset. They had moved him to a different room on the same floor and he was having trouble finding what he wanted. He pleaded with me to come up tonight, but that was impossible. (We ended up working late that night, Em had school in the morning, and I had to be at work early.) I told him I would call him later and we could talk it out. When I called him at 530PM, he sounded much better and he told me to call him when I got home from work.

It wasn’t until almost 8PM that we got to talk longer than 5 minutes on the phone. He told me that he liked the food and was eating all of his meals. He told me that therapy really wears him out. He was doing exercises and using some weights. He was told that LVAD patients are only on that floor so he would most likely meet up with them at some time. We said good night and promised to call in the morning.

May 7, 2016

Today is the Saturday before Mother’s Day! It is going to be a very long day! Today is the busiest day of the year for all florist…as they say, not everyone has a sweetheart (for valentine’s day), but everyone has a mother! I was up early to get to work and talked to Den on my way to the shop. He had 4 sessions today… 3 sessions of Group PT and Speech. I told him that I would try to call when I took a break, but he knew that he could call me if he was having problems and I would answer if I could. Den did call me at 2PM ( I was with a customer, so he left me a voicemail), he was very frustrated and asked me to call when I could. I finally got a chance to call him at 4PM. He was very tired and ready to go to sleep already. He said he couldn’t wait to see us tomorrow and was looking forward to our visit. I called him again when I was on my way home from work, around 6PM, I had woken him up, but he wanted to talk more than sleep. He was so very tired and worn out from therapy today. He told me that he did not have his schedule for tomorrow yet. We said good night and we both slept well…from exhaustion mostly.

May 8, 2016 (Mother’s Day)

The flower shop owners give all the mom’s today off…if we want. And I took advantage of it this year! Em and I left for RIC early and surprised Den…he was still sleeping when we arrived. We gathered up his dirty clothes got his laundry done before his first session. His schedule for today was:

• 730AM – Individual Physical Therapy
• 10AM – Group Physical Therapy
• 11AM – Speech
• 2PM – Occupational Therapy

Em and I walked over to Oak Street Beach while Den was in his back to back session. It was cool, but sunny. And it was nice to sit in the sun with our feet in the sand for a little while.

We got back in time to eat lunch with Den and spend some time with him before dinner and then heading for home. Den did surprise me with some gifts for Mother’s Day. His sister, Roberta, had done his shopping…so it was really a surprise! I reminded Den that I would be coming to see him on my day’s off and Em would be with me on the weekends. The ride home was quiet, Em told me that she could see the progress that her dad had already made and she was proud of him!