Taking a back seat.
As we all know, COVID-19 is blamed for the failures of nearly everything. My nephew, David, told me that no one has died of old age for the past 3 years! Well, we all know that isn’t true but whenever our medical institutions are financially compensated for COVID-19 related deaths, why not make a few bucks by reporting it that way?
The VA-run Blind Rehab facilities across the US are serving our blind, legally blind and low vision Veteran’s by teaching various things that gives them confidence in performing everyday tasks that sighted folks often take for granted. So we can officially blame COVID-19 for delays in getting certain kinds of help.
As Macular Degeneration continues to take my central vision, I find myself drawn towards this kind of help. Somewhere along the way, that independent spirit of, “Get back. I can do it myself”, starts to take a back seat. That independent spirit doesn’t completely fade away. We simply hide it away until we feel the need to try it on once in a while. We are learning to rely more and more on help from caretakers, spouses or friends. We try not to be proud, as difficult it is, so we even accept help from medical professionals and perfect strangers.
With all that said, in 2018 I found myself applying to attend a Blind Rehab facility in Tacoma, Washington. I spent two months inside this rehab facility learning skills to help me be more useful around the house, more independent in walking around town; to best use my remaining vision through magnification, lighting and image enhancement. It was an amazing adventure, opening up a whole new world to me.
Fast forward four years and I find myself once again applying for a refresher course at the Gulf Coast Blind Rehab facility in Biloxi, Mississippi. I spent one month sharpening my skills in computer, Mobility, Visual, Living, and Manual Skills classes.
At any one time we generally had 8 Veteran’s taking classes. We were all in varying conditions of health, abilities and eyesight. Two were totally blind while probably three or four were legally blind. The others were low vision. I’m not sure what that means as one man had his car with him which he drove himself home on weekends. Some were in wheelchairs, some with walkers, two used the white Canes but could readily walk without help. Each of us were taught one-on-one, learning skills tailored towards our own needs. We learned at our own pace and were fitted with devices that best suited our own needs.
Overall, the staff was great. There were a few nurses who did not impress me. They probably knew how to do their jobs but they failed to meet my expectations, as compared to my previous rehab. Because I had an excellent experience at the American Lakes Blind Rehab in Tacoma, I was probably more critical at first . I was looking for anything less than Tacoma. I soon let go and relaxed my expectations. For instance, I mentally criticized the house keeper for doing a poor job of cleaning my floor. Every time I removed my shoes and walked barefoot I could feel a sandy grit. This went on for ten days. I was about ready to complain until I realized I was tracking in fresh sand every time I took my Guide Dog outside to do his business. After that, I was more careful to clean my shoes and the floor got better because the cleaning lady was doing her job.
The food was another story. Everyone complained about the food. Rightfully so because it was consistently tasteless, bland and often cold. The morning coffee was watered down and usually lukewarm. I will refrain from going into great detail. The staff already knew about the food from previous veterans and apologized that nothing has been done about it. I will say that I lost 4 pounds the first week!
Our instructors were everything except bland. Their personalities were genuine. Their knowledge was on target and we found it easy to learn from them. Although my computer skills instructor was legally blind, she was amazingly sharp. I was desiring to learn keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Zoomtext. She also taught me shortcuts for a program software called Fusion. It is similar to Zoomtext but with so much more potential. Her name was Rena. She was of Cambodian descent; a brown skinned beauty whose parents barely escaped the Khmer Rouge back in the day. She was born in this country and has never visited her homeland. I told her about Cambodia farmlands that I could see from the air on our recon missions back in 1970. I think she liked hearing about her homeland.
Brandon was my Living Skills instructor at the beginning. My schedule got changed on my second day and Brandon turned me over to Jessica, a young lady just getting started as an Intern. The staff really liked her and she will probably find a good home at this place. Jessica was teaching about the use and care of domestic skills, especially cooking. I used an air fryer for the most part, although I cooked a delicious omelet on the electric range. My shrimp kabob’s and cinnamon rolls turned out nicely. I enjoyed the fruits of this class as my cooking was on the level of chef status compared to Biloxi hospital food! I complimented Jessica on her knowledge and professionalism; the respect she showed me and the patience she had with us as we made mistakes in the kitchen. She also had the perfect voice. As an old timer, my hearing is fading. The sounds hardest for me to hear are the higher pitched tones of a woman’s voice. She had a dusky voice just perfectly pitched for my ears. She also spoke slowly and distinctly.
All of my instructors were very good and I gave all of them high praise. Destin, Megan, Crystal, and Jean were all amazingly patient and understanding. Their knowledge was of the highest standard and more importantly, they were eager to share their knowledge with us. All of our questions were answered which completed our training.
The nursing staff watched out for us. Sometimes they would enter our room to take our vitals, weigh us, do a COVID swab or simply to check and see if we needed anything.
On the afternoon of my second Thursday I came down with something that gave me chills without a fever and nausea for a few hours causing me to toss my cookies. My gut feeling was that I had a reaction to the flu shot that they gave me a day or two before. I blame the nausea part on that hospital cuisine. At any rate, I called in the nurses. Two of them came to my room for a checkup. With my blood pressure and other vitals in order, they brought me extra blankets to help me keep warm. I snuggled under those all night except when I got up to toss a few more cookies.
The next morning at 0600, Charlie came in, apologized for what he was about to do, and gave me a deep brain swab for Covid. I skipped my first couple of classes, took a long, hot shower and visited the head nurse at 0930. She said I was clean. No sign of the flu or Covid. I did feel better but opted to skip my next class just to make sure I did not pass anything while I was in class. About 11:00 Charlie came in and told me the nurse had decided to quarantine me for the weekend. They would bring me my meals and get me anything else I would need.
It was a long weekend, for sure. I had no one to talk to but Siri and Alexa. They were good with me taking Toronto outside to do his business anytime he needed to go. So I did. Early Monday morning a nurse came in at 6:00 and swabbed me for COVID-19. A couple of hours later they told me that I did not have the flu or Covid and I was clear to go to class.
Needless to say, I was not happy with the head nurse and her call on this. There was no need to quarantine me for something I didn’t have. My health was good all weekend.I give the head nurse, whom I referred to as the Warden, a 2 on a scale of 10 being the best. She made a bad call and never spoke to me the entire remainder of my days in Rehab.
Other than that, things looked up and I completed all of my goals on time. Brandon, my team coordinator, came by daily to talk to me and let me know what was going on with me. He scheduled me for classes and let me know when other staff needed to meet with me.
Audiology tested me for new hearing aids and gave them to me just a couple of days before I left. The other devices I received will enable me to be more independent and useful. The computer with the Microsoft software is already coming in handy as I am in the process of writing my life story. Other tools will help me read a street sign or gate number for my flight. Now I have no excuse if I accidentally walk into the Ladies Room at the airport by mistake!
