FanStory.com - Coming Back from Her Stroke by Bill Schott

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"Coming Back from Her Stroke"

Chapter 1
Coming Back

By Bill Schott

She'll be coming back.

The stroke struck, but with her luck,

she'll beat the ref's count.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 2
Hospital Holidays

By Bill Schott

Kathy, you have spent Christmas of 2019 in the hospital fighting bronchial pneumonia.

During the battle with pneumonia, the next new years day 2021, you had a heart attack --during COVID.

By March you had a bypass, and by July, two stents.

February 28, 2023, you received a broken foot -- after fainting.

Now, you have spent Christmas of 2023 and New Year's 2024 in the hospital with a stroke.

Please be my Valentine.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 3
Coming Back, Tuesday 2024

By Bill Schott

Waiting in bed to head

to the next ladder of relief.

Stroke affects motions,

emotions, and memory.

Blood pressure needs water loss,

water loss affects kidneys,

she has only one.

Dialysis may be next,

while attending physical therapy,

while awaiting appointments

with...

heart doctor

kidney doctor

lung doctor

eye doctor

OP/GYN

and

urologist.

Then, it will be Wednesday.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 4
Coming Back, Wednesday 2024

By Bill Schott

Today I rise at five a.m.

and make my crumpled bed;

your side is filled with laundry,

someone ought to address.

Our kids are back to school,

both teachers at their posts;

one a wife and mother,

the other playing house.

Their vacations at years end,

were at your foot and side;

now, back onto their own lanes,

we all will press along.

At eight a.m. I'm by your side,

we'll see this new day through;

past dialysis portals and

back to the rest of you.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 5
Things Change Fast

By Bill Schott

Since you have moved to spend more time with hospitalists and nurses, I have been moving furniture.

The workout bike is now in front of the television. There was a couch, but it has gone out the door.

The laundry pile in the basement has doubled, and I miss you more today.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 6
Coming Back, Thursday 2024

By Bill Schott

Waking at four a.m. again --

three and a half hours of

bi-pap slumber.

I tried for five hours --

to satisfy insurance requirements for

assisted sleep.

Now I wait for the trash truck --

three and a half hours 'til

I see you in the hospital --

on your bi-pap machine,

sleeping or staring,

through those

hazel

eyes.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 7
Coming Back, Friday 2024

By Bill Schott

Annual visit from nephew

in the hospital.

Dialysis becomes

a reality.

Right hand needs

a right hand.

The new year is, so far,

the road not taken.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 8
My Kids Texting

By Bill Schott

My kids and I are visiting my wife in the hospital daily.

Today, I am unusually still home as my son is there and my daughter to soon replace him.

We communicate via texts and keep ourselves up to the minute. The following is an example from this morning:

Katie: How's Mom?

Adam: They just took her down for dialysis.

Katie: Did they change her temporary line?

Adam: I don't know.

Katie: Did you see her at all?

Adam: She left around the corner and down into the elevator as I walked in.

Katie: Maybe you could ask someone about her line and how long she'll be gone?

Adam: I will.

Katie: Will you, Clown?

Adam: When will you be here, Piglet?

The conversation goes south from there.

Author Notes Image from Google

My kids are 36 and 38.

Chapter 9
Healing Steps

By Bill Schott

First dialysis,

then physical therapy,

before going home.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 10
Heart Guy

By Bill Schott

I guess you just get old fast.

Telling my new GP that I had trouble breathing at night got me a referral to the heart doctor.

He sewed a heart monitor into me and I now have a machine take my rate at night. That man says I am a few seconds away from a pace maker.

I was then assigned a breathing machine to wear each night for at least five hours.

The heart doctor heard I had weak legs lately, so he gave me leg ablation. I don't tell that guy anything anymore.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 11
Invisible

By Bill Schott

Becoming invisible by stepping out of a hospital room in need of assistance.

Author Notes It is a bit unfair to hospital workers, but the sense of invisibility comes on when you expect someone to notice you without calling on them specifically.

Image from Google

Chapter 12
Pretend I am Not Interested

By Bill Schott

"So, my wife is in the hospital and has not evacuated her bowels for over a week.

I had her rise from the bed and sit on a commode, then lay her head on the bed.

I put on a blue glove and ..."

"Stop, Dad," said my daughter. "Pretend I’m not interested in the depth of this procedure."

“Go on!” said an elderly woman through the curtain in the next stall.

“Oh, Bill!” said my wife. “I am so embarrassed.”

“Calm down, Sweety,” said the woman again. “Go ahead, Bill.”

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 13
Where Next?

By Bill Schott

As the days of my wife's recovery moved along, she transferred from ICU to the Preventive Care Unit. Once stabilized, the next move would be to pick a physical therapy location and begin dialysis.

The best spot, in the city, was considered a great selection, except they did not provide transportation to dialysis.

The second-best location did provide transportation, but they would not bother with her BPAP machine.

Finally, our third choice became the ultimate pick -- the hospital.

On the ground floor was both a physical therapy unit and a dialysis room. No need for transferring beyond a chair ride down the hallway.

In a crowded hospital, a space opened just in time.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 14
Where We Are

By Bill Schott

My wife, Kathy, has always been the brain of the family. Now that she has had a stroke, that makes me the second smartest of the two of us. Yes, that's right, nothing changed.

Okay, my kids are smarter than me too.

I do have a better chance of winning a game with her, my wife, now, since the rules favor me. Like the game of Cups, from the television show "Friends". I make up the rules as we go.

Now, if you don't understand that game reference, perhaps we could play Cups.

I challenged my kids, and they both beat me.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 15
After Christmas Cleanup

By Bill Schott

It occurred to me last night, as I wandered past a timed Christmas candle and the hanging illuminated garland, that I will need to remove and pack away all of this trimming.

I had deluded myself that my wife would see the humor of this remaining decoration. It finally dawned on me that the benefit of a cleanup might outreach the small reminder of my continued failure to move forward into the year.

So, the crates come down, as does the Christmas Tree, Nativity, wreaths, Santas, snowmen, and elves. Then, up goes the winter/spring decor.

What could go wrong?

Author Notes Image fro Google

Chapter 16
New Equipment

By Bill Schott

It dawned on me as I woke from sleep and removed my CPAP, that this new year would present lots of equipment upgrades and presentations.

My wife's wheelchair, a holdover from her mother, might need a replacement. Perhaps a motorized version would be necessary.

Another CPAP for her, as it seems to be chic to have one, would likely accompany a Peer Wick, and other quick-measuring devices for temperature, oxygen intake, blood pressure, and hobgoblins.

Making room, and devising and reimagining schedules, will take up a lot of time.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 17
Moving Forward Faster

By Bill Schott

There is a saying that when things begin to go wrong, they go quickly.

That works in reverse as well. My wife seems to be advancing away from her worst conditions -- and healing.

Since moving from the hospital to physical therapy, which is in the same building, but a different business, kathy's condition is improving fast.

She is now off oxygen (in a good way), her post-dialysis recovery is getting better, and she is wearing her own clothes. The last one sounds odd, but it is a biggie.

I took her to the bathroom yesterday and she did all the paperwork. Standing and walking a bit, while also twisting and hitting the sitting target are improving.

I am personally shooting to be home with her by the end of the month.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 18
Christmas De-decorating

By Bill Schott

I had a great idea while talking with my wife in the hospital: I would put away all the Christmas decorations.

My daughter and son were in the room when I made this proposal, and both were quick to agree with my wife that this thought was NOT a good idea.

Kathy, my wife. thought that time and reason could fill in the period between her being trapped in the hospital and my expected "bull-in-a-china-cabinet" antics while taking down the super-breakable and "could-have-lasted-a-lifetime" seasonal swag.

Adam, my son, suggested that an ancient fellow like me should wait for a heartier and smarter person, like him, to assist.

Katie agreed, but also added that I would really only succeed in making a difficult operation seem like a "bridge-too-far" for a thumb-handed man whose destructive record dwarfs Alexander the Great.

I listened to what seemed like slightly negative comments before coming home and pulling out the needed boxes.

We wait further disposition.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 19
Vehicle Maintenance

By Bill Schott

One sometimes rides in a vehicle as if it is a magic carpet. Jump in, turn the key, ride to the next place. Seldom does the possibility of failure hitch a ride.

This morning, I realized that the heater fan in the van did not work. After a quick check, I saw that everything else did work. So, either the fuse for the heater blew or the heating element burned out.

It then occurred to me that I had another vehicle -- the pick-up.

I was then reminded by that dependable memory of mine that I was supposed to have the clawing brakes fixed on it. In the midst of this revelation, I realized I had not started the truck in over a month of frigid weather. A quick check of cold's effects on a car battery led to the discovery that it was indeed dead.

This new piece of information flipped me into a flashback of the last time my truck battery was dead. I pushed the truck out of the garage in order to jump it, but went too far, dropped off the cement approach, and ended up being dragged across the driveway in a foolish attempt to keep my beautiful truck from careening into suburban traffic. The open driver's door hit my heroic flowering bush, over-extending it, but stopping the truck from further disaster.

I guess I should fix things.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 20
Pressure Begins

By Bill Schott

It is a Saturday, and I am now facing the never-ending trial of the temporarily-bachelorized husband who has been allowed decision-making powers for an unprecedented amount of time.

In theory, I should have repainted the house, published a book, and cleaned out the garage. Reality reveals fewer accomplishments, and it suggests some backslidden states.

I DID remove the Christmas ornaments from the tree -- they lie now on the couch.

I laundered all the clothes that went into the washing machine -- now drying is necessary.

The home is prepared for my wife's return -- and the verbal assaults that may escalate to my hospitalization.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 21
Checking the Refrigerator

By Bill Schott

People have been very kind to me. I have received meals from nice ladies and offers to help around the house from nice men.

Now what I need is a trash bag and a wheeled trailer for cleaning the refrigerator.

First, the milk. Refrigerated, unopened, and looking good. Sell by date -- late 2023; it is now late January. Drink it or feed the sink?

Shredded cheese, or is it sawdust? Yogurt, or spoiled milk, ready for laboratory work.

Last year's venison, gift from my son, in freezer. "Last year" means, the last year he shot a deer.

Frozen peas, which become pea soup when the bag is opened.

Ice cube trays with empty compartments. Am I so lazy I placed empty trays in the freezer, or has time frozen the water into empty air?

I guess I will pull out a Hot Pocket and come back to this later.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 22
Babysitting History

By Bill Schott

Since our daughter's children were born, my wife and I have done what we could do to help. Now, I say my wife and I because, otherwise, this would just be her story and I would fade into the background.

Through Emily's first year, while Katie was teaching school and Jordon was building his IT career, we sat with her three times a week, to cut the childcare costs.

When Liam came, they took him to another sitter, for baby babies, while we watched Emily on our same schedule.

Kimberly came and the schedules became rather tight, as Emily began preschool, Liam was taken to a church-run day-school, and the new baby went to the little-baby babysitter.

Nothing was five days a week, so our grandparent schedule went on, as we watched the two older kids, and the baby went out to another.

Now, Jordon's parents are both retired and we watched Kimberly, leapfrog-like, throughout the week. Now that Kathy has been ill, they have assumed all the responsibility. Next year, the kids will all be in school, and we will no longer be needed.

I hope our closeness will never fade.

Author Notes Image from my own files.

Chapter 23
Coming Home on Friday

By Bill Schott

My wife called today and said she would be released from the hospital on Friday. Today is Tuesday.

I finished de-Christmas-ing the kitchen this morning. My kids will be over Saturday to do the living room, bedroom, and bathrooms. I can't believe there is still so much to do. We used to also deck out the upstairs, downstairs and outside every year for over two decades.

The cleaning lady will come tomorrow to make the whole place look better.

We have to establish a conveyance schedule to get her to dialysis three-times-a-week after that. According to Tricare (VA Insurance Medical Insurance), it is covered.

I haven't received a bill from anyone as of yet, but I'm sure the mailbox will explode soon.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 24
Last Day in the Hospital

By Bill Schott

Like every day within the realm
of healthless folk and aider's aids,
the dawn arrives outside the walls
of the place you will escape.

Today will mark the last bad meal,
until you get back to our home,
and find my skills of culinary
qualify me for hospital work.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 25
Doctors' Lightning Visits

By Bill Schott

Instead of doctors' lightning visits,
you will see our gent;
you'll speak of the land of hospital,
like survivors speak of battles.

No one who was kind will be forgotten,
though not mentioned in this visit,
but all the darkest fearful times
will rise up to be seen.

Chapter 26
Rebound

By Bill Schott

We were done.

The fear of getting into the van --dispelled. She ascended onto and into the White Whale like a queen.

The ride home was pleasant.

With the Grey Ghost parked to the side, the garage door opened like the Forty Thieves' hideaway.
The exit from the vehicle went well; the route from there to the back door was accomplished, but then the joy ended.

Blood pressure dropping into the eighties caused her to sit and become lost.

I was forced to call 911 and have her returned to the hospital.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 27
North End

By Bill Schott

We had to go back to the hospital for care and learning.

Kathleen had received dialysis before going home. Prior to this, she would simply roll back to her hospital room and go to sleep. Dialysis is quite draining.

The trip back home did not allow her time to recover, and the danger zone had been entered.

She is in the North End of the hospital now, and we are discovering its charms. The rooms are bigger, the nurses nicer, and the roommates roommateier. Oh, to be sick now.

Danger seems past as the crew finds a way to balance dialysis and other health concerns.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 28
Hammer

By Bill Schott

My wife has entered the hospital again, this time I hope to have her out after the weekend.

She has a roommate who has managed to turn her crohn's disease visit into the Queen's weekend.

The staff here are very helpful, some to a fault, as she has them shuffling around the hospital completing personal errands for her.

I am torn, as we all would be, between criticizing her, or having her hired as a manager-at-large.

Author Notes Image from Google

Chapter 29
Katie and Adam at the Hospital

By Bill Schott

My children are in their thirties. Both are high school teachers. Adam teaches English and Science, and Katie teaches Spanish and Math. They have been visiting their mom here in the hospital.

When they are at work, they are creative, productive. and innovative. Being together in a close environment, however, turns them into the Katzenjammer Kids.

They were not allowed to be in the same classes in high school, as they would play off each other to distraction. In college, they chose separate hours for similar classes to avoid that destructive potential.

Since my wife's current situation, they have been here at the same time. No more than a few seconds can go by before they are one-upping each other, or recalling embarrassing moments they would be better off forgetting.

They leave here at separate times to go to their homes.

Their love and friendship for each other has been fashioned into some kind of duel whenever they are together with an audience of witnesses.

Author Notes Image from Google

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