{Karlton Bontrager}

Many have wondered if we will continue the website now that no family members are in New Zealand with Karlton. It is our intention to do so, but Karlton has assured us that he is not up to the job. It’s a bit of a challenge for us to write from afar, but we’ll give [...]

I took many of Karlton’s belongings home with me, and it wasn’t until I began packing in earnest on Monday night that I realized how much we have together. I packed as much as I could, and on Tuesday morning, I ended up panicking and repacking a couple of times. Finally, I was able to [...]

On Thursday, Karlton went about his usual morning routine. In addition, he had another session of baking, making chocolate muffins. He saved one for me (they were really tasty!) and told me that again people had shown up to eat them after being attracted by their aroma.
After taking a bite of his hospital lunch [...]

Wednesday was an eventful day. I didn’t hear Karlton complain of boredom a single time, so I trust he was kept busy enough. Karlton enjoyed his outing to the the art gallery in the morning. He had his lunch and rode the exercise bike as usual, informing me that his physio session earlier that day [...]

On Monday afternoon, Karlton asked me if we could please go to campus the following day for the $2 lunches served there. So I made sure to arrive at the hospital in time to take him to lunch on Tuesday. I found him planning a trip to visit an art gallery on Wednesday. When I [...]

Arriving at ISIS on Monday, I found Karlton thanking the physician in charge for allowing him to spend Saturday night away from the hospital. It seems that he really appreciated being able to sleep in a ‘normal’ bed. I also know that he enjoyed being able to watch the rugby game on TV. I learned [...]

Karlton slept in on Saturday, which was good because he had been up late. He said this was the first time he was able to sleep so late.
I asked him if he’d show me where Baldwin Street (supposedly the steepest street in the world) was. He agreed, but I had a really tough time [...]

Apologies for taking awhile to get this update out. I was away for a short trip from early Thursday morning until Friday evening.
Wednesday was an unremarkable day, as far as activites go. Karlton went through his usual routine of waking, showering, physio, and some occupational therapy. As he often does, Karlton fell asleep during the [...]

I met Karlton at Dunedin Public Hospital on Tuesday morning for an eye appointment. He had both his vision and his eye muscles checked. Although his focusing appears to be stable (i.e. no change since the last check), his muscles (or eye alignment? I didn’t quite catch it) have changed. Until everything has stabilized, we [...]

I decided on Monday to take part of the day off from Karlton-duty. I went for a drive on the Otago peninsula. It was a great day for it too, with beautiful weather. I stopped into a couple of shops as well as at the beach at which my parents had seen the yellow-eyed penguin. [...]