Latest posts
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This is Your Brain on Music
“Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.” —Stevie Wonder Today my dear friend Andrea visited Vernon with the specific plan of starting some music therapy with him. Andrea is a musician and a teacher, and she…
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Elvis
Vernon was not in his room when I arrived today. I thought, he’s either been sliding himself out of bed again and needs to be watched in the hallway or—hope against hope—he is having Physical Therapy. When I asked, the nurse told me: “It’s neither. He’s in the dining room.” “Dining room?” Don’t the people here realize he…
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Tears and Tchotchkes
Today was one of the hard ones. I don’t usually cry during my visits. But I found myself overcome more than once today. Maybe the fact that I had a bad a dream about Vernon in the night started me off on some deeply emotional footing. I can’t remember the specifics of the dream, but he…
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Transition
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”—Alan Watts It’s always challenging for me when Vernon moves to a new spot, because I feel the need to be there as much as possible, and I just cannot be, not with my other responsibilities. At the…
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Songwriting
I was informed this morning that Vernon would indeed be transferred sometime later today. Because were out that way on an airport run later in the day (Bon Voyage, Mom and Dad!) Justine and I decided to drop by to check out daddy’s new digs. Good news is: he will have his own room for a…
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Introducing Solids
As usual, as soon as we start to make plans for a move for Vernon, some unforeseen challenge comes along to upset them. Yesterday morning I was told by our case manager that he would be moved to the Santa Ana Carehouse that very afternoon, only to have her call back later to inform me…
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Rehab, Movement, Jokes
I’ll keep it short and sweet. I had the chance to visit Vern for a few hours today. He was in a t-shirt getting ready for physical therapy. We hung out in the physical therapy room with his therapist where he sat up, rode on the stationary bike and worked on a few other critical…
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The Next Steps
Yesterday, I stopped by Vernon’s potential new home in Santa Ana for a brief tour. I was pleased to find that even though it is only 15 minutes closer than before, I could feel the difference. All this driving, though not entirely unpleasant (I’ve got my audio-books to keep me company and I plan to…
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A Stream of Visitors
Vernon’s sweet sister, Vanessa, and her husband, Paul, have been on hand all week to visit Vernon, so I took some time off to let them have their own experience with him, not just through my subjective lens From what they shared, it was a special week. They admitted being a bit jarred by his state at the beginning of the week, despite following…
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Options
Seemingly out of the blue, it will soon be time for Vernon to move again. I started to get wind of the idea a week ago, when the dialysis-coordinator called me for a meeting to go over his Discharge Planning. Wherever he is placed next will not have on-site dialysis, so she wanted to educate me…