{Karlton Bontrager}

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 asked him if he wanted to go to lunch, he hesitated and asked ‘Who’s going to pay for it?’ Karlton seems to be pretty worried about money lately. I think he’s concerned that he doesn’t have a job now and might not for awhile.

We did go to lunch, and Karlton really enjoyed it. He was pleased when the woman who coordinates the lunches said that she might stop by the hospital sometime to take him food. Unfortunately, because there were no tables for us to use (we had to sit in chairs with our plates on our laps), Karlton ended up feeding his pants almost as much as he fed himself!

After returning to ISIS and doing his daily exercise bike routine, Karlton announced to me that he was feeling unmotivated. Luckily, soon thereafter, two of the physiotherapists showed up. One of them, who Karlton has nicknamed the Medieval Torturer because she pushes him to work so hard, had been away for the past two weeks and was determined to get him back to work. They wanted Karlton to walk up and down the hill next to the building. It was a challenge for him, and he complained that his right leg and foot were hurting. This was because he was trying to compensate for difficulty using his left leg by depending too heavily on his right leg. After a brief rest at the top, Karlton walked back down without too much difficulty (he had thought that he’d lose his balance and fly down the hill). Although they said that Karlton had become a little lazy with his left leg, the physios seemed pleased by Karlton’s hill climbing.

After resting a little bit from the walk, and with a little nudging from the occupational therapist, Karlton did his laundry (including his curry pants from lunch). He also found out during this time that the physicians had approved his leave on Friday for an overnight trip to Queenstown. He was pretty excited about that, but he was also tired and hungry, so I heated up some of the food Mom had made and frozen for him when he was here.

After that (and dinner which soon followed), Karlton showed how worn out he was by falling asleep in his recliner at around 7PM. He decided that he’d better get ready for bed then. I’m not sure if it was the increased physio work that wore him out or if it was something else, but I’m sure going to bed early did him some good!