The Nicest Guy in the World

I want to tell everybody about this guy I know.  His name is Syed, and he's the Physical Therapist that came to my house when I first got out of the hospital.

The nicest guy in the world with Buddha Bear

Syed is one of the most interesting people I've ever met.  He's from Malaysia, and has a passion for cars.  Especially Mercedes.  He's almost 50 years old and doesn't look a day over 35.  He enjoys jazz music, and wishes he could live in a hut on the beach somewhere.

My insurance company paid for Syed to come help me work out 8 or 10 times after I was released, and he did a great job.  But then, they stopped paying him.  And Syed kept coming.  Now he only has time to come on the weekend, but he does it on his own time.  He comes most Sundays and helps for half an hour.  I don't pay him at all.

He also calls me a couple times a week to remind me to work out.  That's hugely helpful for me.  I respond well to peer pressure, and if it wasn't for that pressure, I probably wouldn't work out as much as I do.  And I really do think I've been getting stronger in the arms and shoulders.  I also think I may be getting a tiny bit of abdominal function back, but that's another story.

Anyway, this post is about Syed.  If you're worried that there aren't good people left in this world, think again.

Work In Progress

This week has been a blur.  I started working 3 hours a day on Tuesday, and it has been... interesting.

The first day was extremely hard for me physically.  I wasn't feeling very flexible that day, and it just hurt physically to sit in the chair that long.  The second day was better.  I felt better, and it didn't hurt so much to sit for that long.  The third day was moderately painful, but I worked more hours so I wouldn't have to work so much on Friday.

Overall, I'll call it a success, but it's a tough call.  The first assignment they've given me is to add a feature to a program I wrote a long time ago.  Programming requires you to have have a complicated procedure straight in your brain in order to make progress.  Every time I take a break, it takes me an hour or so to get started again.  When you only work 3 hours a day with a break in the middle, it makes it tough to get anything done.

So I've found that it's hard to make it to 3 hours because of physical pain, but it's hard to stop at 3 hours because I only just started making progress.  It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

I can already say that I hate working on my laptop from home.  At work, I have a fast desktop with 2 monitors so I can see a lot at once.  Working on the laptop is like working through a periscope.  I feel like I can barely see anything, and everything is on a time delay because the laptop is so slow.  I don't know what I can do about it though.

It's also challenging to try to fit my work into my schedule.  I feel like I don't do that much in a given day, but because everything takes so long, I barely have time for everything I need to do.  I have to get up, eat breakfast, get cleaned up, rest on the couch, work, eat lunch, entertain a lunch guest, possibly shower or take a trip to the store, rest, work some more, do the program, hopefully entertain a dinner guest, sleep.  I also have to consider doing laundry, dishes, or some cleaning in there.  All of it takes time, and there's only so much in the day.  I'm still trying to figure it out.

It does feel good to be back helping out at work though.  I just hope I can be productive and actually do some good.

Normal

On Saturday night, Mike and Sue took me out in my van to a Carolina Railhawks soccer game.  They had told me in the hospital that they wanted to take me, and now that I've got my van, it's physically possible.  When they invited me, I was concerned about having the stamina to sit through the whole game, but I decided I wanted to give it a try.

Sue and I watching grown men kick a ball around

The game worked out marvelously, and I had a great time.  I got to have a beer and some peanuts, and then a couple hot dogs.  The van worked perfectly, as it has since I got it, so the soccer game was a complete success.

After soccer, we went back to my place and sat on the deck and drank bourbon.  As much as I enjoyed the soccer, I REALLY enjoyed sitting around drinking.

Mmm... bourbon...

In the last couple weeks, I have had three opportunities to sit on the deck with somebody and just drink and talk, and I have realized something.  That is the only activity besides sleeping where I feel completely normal.

My brain didn't get injured in the crash, and I still feel like the same person I was before the accident except I'm trapped in a body that doesn't work.  Every waking minute of my life now is occupied with thinking about how to solve the suddenly complicated problems of everyday life.  The only time I'm not at all thinking about my broken body is when I'm asleep or when I'm having a few drinks and talking with my friends.  It's the only time I really feel normal and completely forget about my problems for a little while.

So I want to thank those of you who have spent time doing that with me.  It means more to me than you may realize.

Offer Accepted

The most significant thing that happened last week was that, I accepted an offer on my house.  The house went on the market around August 7, and I had initially listed the house for $169,000.  Nancy, my real estate agent, had done some homework on what houses in my neighborhood have been selling for, and once you adjust for the fact that my house is smaller than any of those, it seemed like $158,000 was about what we should expect.  It was also true that all the houses we compared it against had set an initial asking price way too high, and then let the house sit on the market for 150+ days, slowly reducing their price.  I didn't want to do that, so I tried to set my asking price low for a quick sale.  I also made sure I undercut the asking price of the only other house of a similar size that is currently for sale in the neighborhood.

I got an offer the day after I listed it for $155,000 minus $3,000 in closing costs.  That felt like an insult, but I countered with $162,000 minus $3,000.  They rejected that, so I moved on.  On Wednesday the 15th, we got another offer.  This one was for $165,000 minus $3,000.  I didn't have to take much time to think about it.  I accepted, and now the inspections/negotiations can begin.

As long as they don't find too much wrong with it, I should be able to close in the middle of September.  My friends have done a great job fixing the place up, so hopefully there isn't much to find.  In any event, I am very pleased that it only spent a week on the market, and hopefully this particular chore will soon be over.

Employment

I spent a lot of time last week on the phone with the disability people and with my boss, and I have decided to start working part time from home.  I don't really want to, and I'm not at all sure that I'm ready, but it will extend my disability payments, and it will give me a reason to get up in the morning.  I should start working sometime this week.  I'll start out working 3 hours a day.  I hope I can do it.

Sorry

Sorry I haven't posted sooner.  I've mentioned to a couple people in the last few days that I really don't like writing about what I did today unless what I did is exceptional.  Listing off my daily routine isn't very interesting to me, and I don't feel like it will be interesting to any of my readers.  Except my mom.

It is also a fact that I have been spending a lot of time lately on the couch.  I like sitting on the couch because it doesn't hurt my butt like sitting in the wheelchair does.  On the couch, I can just relax, be comfortable, and sleep if I feel like it.  I love sitting on the couch.  I'd like to get a new couch.  I learned in rehab that a leather one is nice because it's easy to slide around on.  It needs to be a firm one though.  It can't be one of these soft overstuffed ones.  I don't know if I'd be able to get back off one of those, and sliding around is tough when you sink in.

I don't know where I get a couch like I want.  I looked on craigslist, but all the ones I saw were overstuffed.  I'm not sure how I feel about a used couch anyway.  Unfortunately, going to furniture stores is going to be a pretty big chore for me at this point.

Anyway, once I get on the couch for the evening, it's a lot of work to get back in the wheelchair, so I've been lazy, and haven't been posting to the blog, even when I've got something to write about.  But I do have some stuff to write about from this week just past, so I'll try to get it done this week.  Stay tuned.

Kids

Yesterday, my sister made the trek down from Danville to bring her kids down to see me for the first time since the accident.  I had been wanting to see them, and I figured I've had plenty of other kids in my apartment, so why not them?

They've both gotten a lot bigger since I saw them last, and Kelly is talking in almost complete sentences now.  He's also pronouncing the letter J so he says "Uncle Jace" now instead of "Uncle Dace".  I miss Uncle Dace.

He did specifically ask if I could do upside-down (which he no longer pronounces uppayidesdown), which you may recall was something I was dreading.  I had to bite my lip, but I got through it.  I'm still worried he's going to think I'm boring, but I can only do what I can do.

Georgia is also getting big.  She seems huge, but Jessica says she's only in the 75th percentile height-wise.  She's certainly got more personality than the last time I saw her, and I don't think she screamed once at my place so that's a huge improvement.

Gus and Uyen and Evelyn came over too, and we all went to the playground in my neighborhood.  That was pretty fun.  I learned that pushing a wheelchair in wet mulch is extremely hard work.  That's why I got Kelly to help push me on the way home.

Maybe I can hire him on full-time

Trying to get a group picture with small children is like herding cats

Here's the rest of the pictures from our visit.

I'm very glad they came to visit, but it was exhausting.  Small children always are, even if I'm related.  Tonight, Brian and Kelly made me dinner, and brought over Brayden and Ashton.   Dinner was delicious, but they kids were exhausting.  I need a nap to recover.  I honestly don't know how anyone survives parenting small children 24 hours a day.

Kids love Buddha Bear

Since moving into this apartment, I have spent more time with kids than I have since I was one myself.  It's a bit of an adjustment, but I'd rather have people bring over their kids than not come at all.  It's just something I'll have to get used to I guess.