{Karlton Bontrager}

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 get all but one article of clothing to fit. Karlton will have to transport that back on his own. At the airport, I found out that I had 60 kg of check-in luggage-the maximum allowed.

There were still a couple of items of business to see to at the hospital. I made sure that arrangements were made for Karlton to continue to attend acupuncture appointments. I also left his passport, bank account information, and credit card to be put in the safe. Upon hearing that his passport was being handed over, the nurse helping me decided that the safe wasn’t safe enough. She’d put his things in the medicine locker. It was interesting to learn (but not that surprising, after thinking about it) that the ward’s meds (specifically because of its stocks of morphine) are kept under tighter watch than is the safe!

There wasn’t time for much more before Karlton and I were taken to the airport by a friend. It is a little difficult for me to leave Karlton, especially given that nobody else from the family is with him any longer. But then again, he has only about a month on his own. He’s in good hands, and he has friends who will be taking care of him as well. I also hope that he’ll become more independent and motivated without a family member around.

Although it hasn’t always been easy for me to notice the day to day progress that Karlton makes, in retrospect, he has improved significantly in many ways since my arrival. When I first saw him, he had his left arm in a sling all day long. If he had to go to more remote areas of the ward, he would often find shortcuts which required leaving the ward, just so he would not have to walk as far. By the time I left, he wasn’t using the sling at all, nor did he need to take those shortcuts. His walking has become stronger, faster, and steadier. I know that he will continue to make progress in the coming weeks, months, and years.

I asked Karlton if he might be willing to post updates himself, but he said he couldn’t. He would forget things, and he thought it would be better to have “objective opinions” (I didn’t know mine were!). So it looks as if this might be the last update, at least in this form. Although there might be more summary-type updates, I doubt we’ll be able to have any detailed daily posts. Thanks to all of you who continue to check in. Your support has been really made a difference to all of us.