Fall

I was driving around this past weekend, taking leaf photos, as we are in peak season at this moment. I headed up to what I loosely call “the big city”, Bangor. Having lived in the area on and off for 20 years now, I’m pretty familiar with where to go to take photos, which trees have fantastic colors, where the vistas are spectacular without having to hike up a mountain, etc. As I rounded the bend in the road, following the Penobscot river, trees in full bloom on either side, I came upon EMMC, the hospital where Dad stayed, the hospital I bill for. It sits along the banks of the river. My first thought was, the view of the river is fantastic from several viewpoints in the hospital, specifically the floors of the Grant tower and the end of the haul way before you enter acute rehab. For a second I thought about going in and heading to those sections or exploring other areas to get some photos of the trees along the river. For a second. Now I’ve been back to the hospital many times since Dad left, one of my best friends works there, so we’ve met for lunch, etc. I said to myself this day, “I’m glad none of us had to see what the river looks like in the fall from that vantage point.” I drove away.

Dad is continuing to improve. Always continuing is better than stagnant. He was fitted for a new hand brace that splays out his fingers to help with the atrophy that has occurred and he is to wear it three times a day for an hour at a time. It’s kind of like a soft ping pong paddle that straps to his arm. He was recently fitted for a new ankle brace and we are just waiting on it to be made. The one he has now goes under his foot, wraps around the outside of his ankle and comes up the front of his shin. He had voiced some discomfort with this, so we are having another one made for him that will come up from under his foot and go up the backside of his shin. Hopefully it will help.

As we gear up for Dad’s birthday next week (the kick off for our holiday season that continues with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Mom's birthday, my birthday, Christmas and ending with New Years) I leave you with a couple of fall photos from Maine, none of which were taken at the hospital, enjoy!