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(Ed. Note: Due to user error by the author, the post Out of ICU did not get shared until a number of days after it actually occurred.) I have always known – and comforted many others with – the reality that recovery or healing is not a straight line. You have good days and bad … Continue reading
45 days. Two hospitals. Three ambulance rides. Three collapsed lungs. Four bronchoscopies. Two intubations. One tracheostomy. A bowel infection and countless tube insertions, medicine alterations, litres and litres of mucus and saliva suctioned. And Deane is finally out of the Intensive Care Unit. What has this arduous, emotional and exhausting journey taught us? As much … Continue reading
There’s a lot of time spent doing nothing in hospitals. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take that any day over hurried action. In a hospital, that usually means something is going very wrong. Obviously, the staff is not doing nothing, but as a support person you spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for doctors … Continue reading
Deane was supposed to be at camp this week, hanging with his friends, chatting with the cute counsellors. He was going to be a junior “nurse’ this session. Instead, he is intubated and sedated in an out-of-town hospital. Five days ago, Deane woke up late at the cottage, groggy and definitely not himself. Checking his … Continue reading
A non sequitur? Bear with me. It’s not a secret that making friends is a challenge for most people with disabilities. This is especially true for those with communication issues. Whether it is discrimination, stigma, a lack of understanding or just a simple awkwardness, many people don’t see the disabled as people with whom they … Continue reading
Every parent knows how debilitating it is when you have a newborn who wakes you up multiple times every night. You find yourself begging the baby to give you just a bit more sleep. As the weeks wear on, you stumble around numb and incoherent. Now imagine doing that for more than 20 years. Our … Continue reading
Deane is my brother. He is physically and developmentally disabled and he is about to lose most of the support services that help him live a healthy, engaged life. Why? Because he will soon age out of the school system. That’s right. When Deane and thousands of disabled young people like him reach the age … Continue reading
I get it. It’s pretty easy to spend my time at the family cottage – seemingly endless days in the sunshine, great meals with friends and family, hours in the boat enjoying the fresh air. Deane and I are both at our happy place. Nothing to complain about. Amid all that pleasure, it’s the … Continue reading
I couldn’t remember the address. Deane and I stopped so I could check my phone for where we were going. As I looked up, I noticed we had stopped beside three very large, very tough looking guys who were standing in front of a male strip club. I decided to walk and dial. We walked … Continue reading
“You are doing really well.” The words hung in the room. I wasn’t sure how to respond. It was a rather unexpected comment as the doctor was getting up to leave. It was the end of a three hour clinic visit – my son’s last clinic visit at the pediatric rehab hospital where he’s been … Continue reading
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