Discharged!!

January 14, 2015 – Discharged!!

I’m happy to report that we’re down to a single patient in the Thompson Rehabilitation Center.  Marshall was discharged late last week from our facility.  Although he still has some pain from the bruises to his ribs, it seemed to me that ten days of coddling was enough.  At first, I tried a gentle nudge, suggesting that he might be less bored at home, but when that didn’t produce any acknowledgement, I was forced to use a more direct approach, i.e. “What groceries should I pick up for you before I drive you back to Arlington tomorrow?” 

Fortunately, Marshall didn’t resist the idea.  He simply hadn’t thought of it.  (Why are men so clueless?)  Even without the home-cooked meals, he’s probably much happier back in his own apartment, where his television screen is at least twice the size of ours.  Of course, we assured him that we’re always available to help if he needs anything. 

So now we’re adjusting to having the house back to ourselves.  I’m definitely more relaxed, especially in the kitchen.  I’m not putting any pressure on myself to serve an elaborate dinner every evening.  However, we’re still eating well, and I’m making sure Elliott gets three nourishing meals a day and plenty of calories.  I guess I’ve been successful because he’s put on about ten pounds in the past month or so.  Grilled cheese sandwiches at lunchtime, extra raisins and brown sugar in his morning oatmeal, and cookies along with his nightly ice cream are partially responsible.  And remarkably, I’ve been able to lose about five pounds in the same amount of time, by avoiding all the “Elliott” food.  

Also on a positive note, Elliott’s medical condition has improved.  The round-the-clock pain medication schedule keeps him fairly comfortable most of the time although his back pain never goes away completely.  He still has occasional breathing problems but the episodes aren’t as frequent as they were a week ago.  At least we now have an oxygen concentrator for those times when he struggles to catch his breath.  

Just in case Elliott needs it, we have an oxygen concentrator.

I’ve been using some of my time in the new year to go through the masses of art work and art supplies that we moved out to the garage prior to the downstairs remodeling.  We had emptied out a large storage closet and an entire ten-drawer flat file.  Looking through the stacks of paper (pencil sketches, charcoal drawings, pastels, colored pencil drawings, collages, etc.), I could hardly believe that I’d kept nearly every piece of art that I’d produced during the past thirty years.  For so long, I couldn’t bear the thought of parting with any of it.  But I no longer feel emotionally invested in it.  I’m able to look at it dispassionately, see how I’ve progressed, and then set aside a few of the better pieces.  The rest ends up in the recycling bin.  The process has left me feeling liberated – shed of my past and ready to go on and create more (and better?) things, such as the fused glass I’m now doing.  

One of several fused glass works in progress

One pleasant surprise – I uncovered a stack of Elliott’s papers, consisting of designs, ink drawings and templates related to his “Z” series.  We’ll save those for the Thompson archives.  A recent article in The Washington Post raised questions about the fate of many of the art works in the Corcoran’s collection.  It made me wonder what will happen to the paintings Elliott gifted to that institution many years ago.  It’s a shame that the Corcoran’s record-keeping was so haphazard.  As a result, there’s no accurate inventory of the works in their collection. 

It seems inevitable that even as I was disposing of stuff, I was accumulating more.  We now have two scales – at least until I get rid of the old battered metal one, which is no longer very accurate.  The new scale is a sparkly digital model that I’m happy to step on every morning.  Another new high-tech item is a countertop convection oven/toaster that does an excellent job baking Elliott’s croissants in the morning.  Consequently, the old toaster oven is looking for a new home. 

And then there are my brand new rabbit-y fire shoes.  Rabbit-y fire shoes?  Yes, that’s what I thought they were called.  My brother mentioned his fabulous new walking shoes during one of our phone chats about a month ago.  In his usual speed-talking way, he raved about how great they were (rabbit-y fire, the best shoes ever!, blah, blah, blah).  Right after our conversation, I went to the computer to Google these amazing shoes, but my searches just kept turning up photos of cute bunnies.  Well, it turned out my brother was actually saying “gravity defyer.”  (Say it really fast, and I assure you that it sounds like rabbit-y fire.)  Once the name problem was solved, I ordered a pair of Gravity Defyer shoes for myself.  They’re very comfortable and quite springy in the heels.  So springy, in fact, that I’m now bouncing rabbit-like around the streets of northern Virginia.