Running the Movie Backwards

 I recall reading a speculation that our universe, expanding since the Big Bang, some day might put on the gravitational brakes and start to reverse course and contract. Does this mean time would reverse?           

            Several people have commented that my blog posts give them a preview, or perhaps a view, of what life can be like as we lurch through our 70s. We got our geezer gear pretty much all at once following Kim’s surgery, but now we are slowly peeling stuff away. Over the last few weeks Kim and I have been running the movie backwards, shedding rather than adding the accoutrements of aging.

Bib

The bib we brought home after Kim’s week in the nursing home looked like a piece of roadkill discovered after the snow melts beside the road. Its once colorful stripes had faded, with multiple washings, to a dingy gray, and the limp Velcro somehow made it more depressing. Kim needed it when she had trouble sitting up to eat. It looked perfect sprawled on top of the garbage bag.

Booster toilet seat

I felt pretty good about how easily I bolted it on, though taking it off was more difficult because I did not remember what I did to bolt it on. Kim needed the elevation and the attached arms to lift herself up. As her core and legs became stronger, this was no longer necessary.

Shower stool

Kim did not use the shower stool very often. She prefers bathing to showers, and the handle of the shower door works OK as a grab bar. At least I assume it works OK – Kim never lets me watch her take a shower.

Hospital bed

We rented one of these for a month. We got the kind with a “massage” air mattress, which meant we had the sound of the pump as background noise most of the day. Even with her severe pain Kim could get somewhat comfortable on this bed, but even I noticed that it did not really enhance our living room décor. It was good to have my wife back sleeping in our bed, though some nights she finds our firm couch more comfortable.

Bed railing

This was a useful device – for a while. You insert a U-shaped tube between mattress and box spring to support a handle that allows people with back injuries to pull themselves up and down in bed. (It would have come in handy for me a few years ago when I flipped myself out of bed when attempting a kick save in a goalie dream.) Kim no longer needs it, but I still have those dreams . . ..

Walker

We borrowed a deluxe red walker from the Minervini family, the folks who developed Grand Traverse Commons – the old asylum where we are inmates. You know how the red Corvette was supposed to attract admiring glances from the ladies (something my gray Beetle never did)? Well, Kim’s red Nitro walker drew repeated admiring comments from folks in her rehab facility and at the cancer center. Different crowd, same response. A big plus is that I get to hold Kim’s hand more often.

            There are a few items that we have not yet shed. Kim is weaning herself from her back brace, though what the surgery did to the nerves and muscles of her back make this difficult – the surgeon said not to bend, lift or twist (BLT) for a year or more. I haven’t done the Twist for about 55 years, but it still means we need to be careful. We take short walks without it, building up strength and confidence. Also because of the extent of the surgery she is continuing her pain meds, though these have tapered off. 

            We decided to store the stool, booster seat, bed railing, etc., rather than to donate them, because . . ..