{Karlton Bontrager}

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 of a baked potato with corn (which Karlton did not find acceptable), we had lunch with Nina at a Japanese restaurant. Again, Karlton astounded me with his appetite. Both Nina and I were feeling stuffed, even after letting Karlton eat some of our sushi. After finishing his bowl of udon as well as what we gave him, he announced that he liked the food at that restaurant, but the portions were too small! As we were finishing our meal, Nina and Karlton’s friend Gabrielle showed up at the restaurant with her friend Tom. It was a nice surprise for Karlton to catch up with more friends. We returned to ISIS, and Karlton had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

A few times during my stay, I tried unsuccessfully to catch sight of northern royal albatross and yellow-eyed penguins. Realizing that my time to see them was running out, and that my luck wasn’t so good, I signed up for tours to see them that afternoon. I left Karlton on his own for a few hours (during which he did “not much,” he later told me), and headed out once more for the Otago Peninsula. The first tour was a short cruise down to the albatross breeding area and back. There was a bit of wind, and we were lucky enough to see a few albatross flying around the lighthouse. There were also several on the ground, some displaying. We also caught sight of a Hooker’s sea lion, fur seals, spotted and Stewart Island shags, and a little blue penguin swimming. After that, I went on a tour of a yellow-eyed penguin breeding reserve. We walked through a series of hides (blinds) to watch a few penguins incubating. We even had good enough timing to watch one walk back up the beach from a day at sea. I was really excited to have the opportunity to observe all of those cool critters.

After I returned to the hospital, I reminded Karlton that we’d be leaving relatively early the next morning for Queenstown. He was sure that he’d have no problem getting up and being ready. He was really looking forward to getting out of the ward for an overnight trip, and he definitely did not want to take a wheelchair along.

Motivation is something that Karlton struggles with, and the occupational therapist is trying to help him with that. Friday was definitely no exception! When I arrived to pick him up, Karlton was just beginning to get dressed. He said that he hadn’t overslept; rather, that he just didn’t have the motivation to get himself out of bed after he woke up.

We ended up not leaving for Queenstown until after 10AM (we’d planned to leave around 8:30). Although Karlton said he didn’t want to sleep in the car because then he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, he did end up snoozing for a fair bit. We stopped for lunch along the way, and then continued along the drive, eager to get to Queenstown. Unfortunately, we reached a point where the road was closed until 3PM! We had to sit and wait in the car until the road opened up. To my amusement, as we passed through smalle r towns, Karlton said, “It’d suck to live here! No cell phone reception!”

By the time we made it to our destination, it was raining and late afternoon. Karlton stopped by the jade shop in which his former flatmate Luke works. After looking around at Luke’s work for awhile, Karlton went back to his old flat to hang out for awhile. After a Thai dinner (“How many dishes am I allowed to order?” Karlton asked me), we went back to the friend’s house where we were staying.

Despite having slept in the car, Karlton had no trouble getting to sleep or staying that way. In fact, it was quite a task to get him up on Saturday morning. While he was sleeping in, I decided to move the fingers of his left hand. As I was doing this, Karlton flexed them backward several times. Although he isn’t able to do this when awake, I found this very encouraging.

I wanted to go visit the Kiwi & Birdlife Park, so Karlton met up with his rugby teammate Wayne while I went off on my own. During this time, Wayne filled Karlton in on some news. Sometime after his accident, the rugby team they’d played on together had won their division championships. Karlton also learned that somehow, a rumor had started among his rugby teammates that the hospital was thinking of pulling the plug on him! They almost had a moment of silence before one of their games for him. But the coach called the hospital just before that and learned that Karlton was improving.

We decided we’d better start heading back to Dunedin (how time flies; even though we hadn’t done much, it was already past 2PM). Karlton told me, “It’s not that I love being at ISIS, but I’m ready to go back now.” We stopped on the way to watch some people bungee jump off a bridge and for some fruit ice cream. Although Karlton says that his teeth are too cold-sensitive to have his own ice cream, he didn’t mind eating a portion of mine!

We stopped for pizza a little further down the road and then continued on the drive back. Karlton made it clear that he was uncomfortable sitting in the car for so long and was eager to reach our destination. He had a little bit of trouble estimating the remaining time; he sent a text message to Jennifer saying we’d be back in 40 minutes when we still had 2 hours to go.

Once we reached ISIS, it was pretty clear how tired Karlton was. But he did say that it was really good to be out of the hospital for awhile and to catch up with friends he hadn’t seen in a few months.