{Karlton Bontrager}

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. Though it was too early in the day to see penguins when I was there, the scenery was fantastic.

It was time for Karlton’s acupuncture appointment by the time I reached ISIS. He was still eating lunch and was in no hurry to leave. He was in a foul mood as well, though he wouldn’t tell me why. I suspect that it might have been at least partly because he changed rooms that morning. He now shares a four-bed room (though one bed is currently vacant).

Luckily, the acupuncture seemed to help his mood. During the appointment, Karlton told me that he had done shoulder exercises in physio. He didn’t end up having a speech therapy session though, and he was a little bitter at having written the essay, only to not have to turn it in yet. Helen (reflexologist) and Jacky (massage therapist) had also stopped by earlier that day and given him treatments. He seemed appreciate the massage and work that they performed on him.

We returned to the ward to find Nina and Sam waiting to see Karlton. He ate his dinner while he visited them. Sam had bought a pack of Skittles and added matching ones to Karlton’s food (i.e. he put a red Skittle in the kidney beans, a green one in the peas, a yellow in the squash, etc.). That was quite entertaining, especially seeing Karlton’s face when he spooned some beans into his mouth, not seeing the Skittle.

Karlton really likes having visitors, and he was quite happy to make a lunch date with Nina and Sam for Thursday. After hanging out with them for awhile, we tried to get his new space in some order.

While Karlton was getting ready for bed, one of his roommates, who had been sleeping, awoke, quite disoriented. He thought it was morning, and was making a racket. Karlton was somewhat annoyed by this, but he’ll have to adjust to interacting with people a little bit more. He sent me a text message that night saying that the other roommate was ‘snoring up a storm.’ It’s an adjustment for Karlton to be in this new room; I hope he settles in quickly.

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On Sunday, I decided to walk around Dunedin a bit before going in to see Karlton. I stopped in a few shops, including one that carried rugby jerseys that Karlton was interested in.

At ISIS, Karlton was eating lunch when I arrived. I told him that I wanted to go for a drive down the peninsula and stop by a few pottery shops, but he wasn’t at all interested. It’s funny how he tells friends that it’s so nice to get out of the hospital, but he has no interest in most of the activities I propose.

One of the nurses’ aides suggested that we go to the pool, with Karlton hanging out in the spa pool. Although he is receptive to the idea in general, Karlton told us that he wasn’t interested that day because he was psyched to buy a rugby jersey and some new CDs. I guess he isn’t able to think about and plan more than one activity very well.

So I ended up taking him to the Otago Rugby store to look at jerseys. He found one that he liked and bought that. Then we went on to a couple of CD stores. That was more challenging. Karlton had a list of music that had been recommended to him, but he didn’t really know what the bands sounded like or what albums he was interested in. The salespeople tried to help him out, bringing out CDs and describing the music to him. He wasn’t sure which ones he wanted to buy, but eventually, he was able to decide on two.

We returned to ISIS to take care of laundry and dinner. Sunday was the first day of daylight savings time in New Zealand, so it seemed strange to have it stay light out later than usual.

The rugby league final was on at ten (I think), and Karlton wanted to stay up for that. I didn’t want to stick around (work to do!), so I left him in the TV lounge.

Monday should be more of an eventful day, with physiotherapy, his speech therapy essay due, and generally, more organized activities than on the weekend.

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Karlton was lazing around on Saturday when I found him. Although it had been sunny, by the time I made it to the hospital, it had become colder and drizzly. But I thought it might still be nice to go out for a drive.

First, though, I told Karlton that I was going to start his laundry. He said he’d better go with me and find out how to use the washing machine because he’d have to do his own laundry once I left. I asked him if he might want to bake some banana bread with me as well, and he said he might.

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. While he was eating, I asked Karlton if he wanted to go to the botanical gardens or the aquarium, but he wasn’t interested. “You don’t want to do anything, do you!?” I told him, to which he replied, “I said we could do laundry and some cooking.” What exciting plans he likes to make!

The events coordinator was willing to take patients for a drive, so I asked her if she might drop Karlton and me off to see a movie. She and another patient ended up coming along with us to see Bend it Like Beckham. I noticed Karlton with his eyes closed a few times during the movie. For awhile, his head was even bowed. When it was over, I asked if he’d enjoyed the parts he’d seen. He insisted that he’d seen almost all of it(!) and that it was pretty good.

After dinner, which, unusually, Karlton ate almost all of, I decided to make those banana bread muffins. By then, Karlton said he was no longer interested in helping out. But he was willing to eat a few! He decided that they wouldn’t be nearly as good once they had cooled down, and he didn’t want to eat too many (neither did I), so he gave some of them away to the nurses.

During this time, he also worked on an essay that was assigned to him by the speech language therapist. On one hand, Karlton was complaining about the assignment, but on the other, he said that it was generally so boring around the ward that he didn’t mind having something to do.

Then Karlton wanted to go to bed. I was busy at the time, so he had a nurse help him out. I walked into his room part way through to see that he was being much more independent than when I help him. Although I do try to make him do things on his own, I hadn’t quite realized until then how much he’s willing to let me do for him, despite being capable himself. But he does realize that he will need to do much more on his own once I’ve returned to the States; hopefully he’ll take steps to being more and more independent.

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Friday was another eventful day for Karlton. I stopped by the Otago Museum in the morning. When I arrived at ISIS just before noon, both Holly and Pixie (from Queenstown) were visiting. It was a sunny day, so they sat outside (Karlton wearing his lovely striped sunglasses, of course) chatting. During this time, Karlton’s room was being cleaned. All of his belongings were removed, his linens were changed, and the curtains were taken down.

By the time they left, it was lunchtime. Karlton ate his fish and chips, leaving fries all over the floor. It wasn’t such a difficult thing to do; they were piled high all across his plate. When I pointed out his mess to him, he was amused, having been quite oblivious to it until then.

In the afternoon, Karlton’s friends Aidan and Becci stopped by. During this time, Dad and later Jennifer and Alec called, and Karlton had a tough time deciding how to keep everyone entertained.

Once his guests left, Karlton wanted to take his snowboard in to be looked at. Despite his inability to properly walk at this time, he’s determined to be back on the slopes in the US around December or January. We’ll have to see if he still feels so confident closer to that time. Unfortunately for Karlton, he was told that his board was damaged beyond repair. If he were to take it out again, it would likely break in two. Though disappointed by this news, he was eager to look at new boards right away.

Mom and I have both noticed that Karlton sometimes becomes confused but often tries to hide it. After leaving the sports shop, Karlton told me that he was hungry, so I proposed getting some food at a place across the street. Despite his acting confident about the location of the cafe, I was very surprised to see that he became confused, despite its large sign, as he approached it. I hope that this is something that will improve with time and effort.

By the time we returned to ISIS, it was past dinner time. Despite having just eaten, Karlton was still eager to have his dinner (not too much of surprise). I noticed that the curtains in his room had not been replaced (earlier, one of the nurses’ aides had suggested he do a strip tease in the window that night). A nurse informed me that there were no clean curtains and that sheets would have to be put up in their place.

In the meantime, Karlton made plans to attend a party organized by Sam. It was outside on a hill overlooking Dunedin. Karlton got bundled up, and we headed out, picking up Nina and two of her friends on the way. It was a really neat set-up, with a DJ, lights, porta-potties, etc. Karlton had a good time chatting with various people, but he did become tired around 11. It was still early, as far as going out on a Friday night goes, so there weren’t a whole lot of people there when we left. But Karlton was able to hang out with some of his friends nonetheless.

When we returned the hospital, Karlton announced that he was ready to eat again. After having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he wanted to check his email. I tried to discourage him, telling him that he needed to rest, but he didn’t listen. I wasn’t keen on waiting around for him so headed back to the motel. I hope he was able to sleep in the following morning!

Thanks to all of you who continue to visit and send cards, emails, and positive thoughts. A special thanks to the following: Josie, Robert, Lee, Vailoa, and the Little Sisters of the Poor.

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When I arrived at ISIS on Thursday, Karlton was in the computer room emailing some friends. He wasn’t in a mood to do much of anything, which is just as well, as the previous day had been something of an eventful one.

He told me that in physiotherapy, he had worked on his left arm again, doing various exercises to strengthen the muscles and practice control.

After lunch, he wanted his sling back on (understandable to me, after having not worn it at all on Wednesday). He informed me that he had another physiotherapy session in the afternoon and that he was also to see the speech / language therapist at some time (she was going to find him later for the meeting).

The physio session was a teaching one–an instructor from the university had a number of students with her who were observing. I thought it was good for Karlton to have the perspectives of a number of different physios; she gave him some new exercises to do. She had him work on supporting his body more with his left leg by having him do squats with his weight on his left. She also had him walk up and down stairs, leading with the leg he usually followed with. Finally, he lay down and did exercises to strengthen his hamstrings, which he has difficulty controlling.

During the rest of the day, Karlton spent quite a long time trying to track down the phone numbers of various friends. Unfortunately, the speech therapist did not come to find him. Although he finds the meetings a waste of time, I would like to see her give him exercises to strengthen the muscles on the left side of his face. Karlton talks mainly from the right side of his mouth. He has shown me that he can smile evenly but usually chooses not to. I think it would be a good idea for him to work on making full use of his face muscles.

I was surprised to notice that it was hailing in the afternoon. By the time Karlton was eating dinner, it was snowing. He claims that he ate too quickly; he ended up with a stomach ache and had to lie back in his recliner for awhile before going to bed. He looked tired and went to bed a little early; maybe the excitement from the day before had drained him a bit.

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Tuesday night, around 11:30, I received text messages from Karlton telling me that he was unable to fall asleep, despite feeling so tired. Around the same time, I later heard that there was an aurora australis, though unfortunately, neither of us saw it.

On Wednesday, I arrived at ISIS quite late after having to run a number of errands. The evening before when I told Karlton that I wouldn’t be in until late, he was annoyed. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to find him playing backgammon quite contentedly with another patient.

By the time he finished that game, it was time for his acupuncture appointment. After his session, he wanted to go out for pizza. We were both curious to try the “New Delhi” pizza (containing yogurt, bananas, coconut, and curry sauce) at a restaurant in town. Karlton was intent on not having to wait for his food once he arrived, so he called in our order ahead of time. We both enjoyed the pizza, which didn’t taste nearly as strange as it sounded.

Then, we headed to the Arc Cafe, to try to track down Nina and Sam. Soon after we arrived, they showed up. They suggested that we check out a music show next door. Karlton called ISIS to clear things with them. The nurse he spoke to hadn’t even known that he was out of the ward and said that they’d been looking for him. But it was fine to stay out later. It turned out that the show was full, though.

So instead, we headed out to see a show called Fire and Ice. This show had performers that Karlton knew from Queenstown and was directed by Karlton’s friend Holly. It was an impressive performance that we all enjoyed, involving the twirling of various objects that were aflame. After the show, Karlton happily chatted away with his Queenstown friends, some of whom he hadn’t seen in several months.

When we returned to ISIS, he was concerned that he would be reprimanded for being out later than expected. Not so, however. Rather than head to bed, though, Karlton wanted to eat dinner and then check his email. He also informed me that he had a set of shoulder exercises to do in physiotherapy. This was good to hear, as it seemed that his arm hadn’t been getting as much attention as it might need. By the time I had helped him to bed, it was almost midnight. It was a long and eventful day for him, during which he did not at any time wear his sling. He looked quite tired when I left him. I hope that he slept better than he had the night before; I’m sure he needed the rest.

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I forgot in my note on Monday to mention that Karlton went until after 6pm without his sling. Although on Tuesday, he ended up putting it on before noon again, this tells me that his shoulder muscles are slowly getting stronger!

Tuesday morning was beautiful–sunny and warm. Karlton was to have an opthalmological appointment in the morning, so I showed up at ISIS to accompany him to it. Just before he was to be at the hospital, we found out that he would not be seen after all. There have been cases of antibiotic resistant Staph. aureus both in ISIS and Dunedin Public Hospital. Until Karlton’s swabs for the bug come back negative (he hasn’t yet received results), he can’t have an appointment.

Karlton informed me that he had been awakened at 5:30 in the morning when a nurse had gone in to check on him. After waking up, he called for help in rolling back over onto his side, and another nurse came in and lectured him to do it himself. I guess this left him in a bit of a grumpy mood, even though he was able to get back to sleep.

I’ve noticed that lately, Karlton has had trouble making decisions. He thus surprised me when he announced that we should go to the Otago Museum and then go out for lunch. I told him that we probably shouldn’t, as it was almost lunch time, and soon thereafter, he had physiotherapy. Despite this, before I knew what was happening, he told one of the nurses that we’d be going out, so he needed to have his lunchtime medication. I told him that we would have to wait until after physiotherapy to go out but took this as a sign that he was keen to leave the ward.

In physiotherapy, Karlton was to dribble a basketball back and forth aroung the room. He was then to do this around cones, which was a bit challenging, though he improved control with each run. Then he was timed doing this twice, with the goal of finishing faster the second time. He did this successfully, though he made it clear that it was not an easy task for him. Then, he did a little jumping on a mini trampoline, followed by balancing on each leg. He was wobbly balancing on the right leg, and he was able to only momentarily lift the right leg to stand on the left.

By the time Karlton’s physiotherapy was over, the day had turned to drizzly and cold. When I suggested going out, I was surprised to have Karlton inform me that he wanted it to be a relaxing day. I wonder if that was a result of challenging physiotherapy, or if had simply changed his mind from earlier in the day.

So we stayed in the ward for the rest of the day. Around 7:30, Karlton announced that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. It was nice for me to be able to leave the ward a bit earlier than usual and have some time to myself.

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Monday started out fairly slowly around the ward. Karlton did not have a physiotherapy session; his usual PT is on vacation for the week, and the replacement had not yet set a schedule with Karlton. However, he is expected to have physiotherapy for the rest of the week.

At lunch time, Karlton informed me that he had requested macaroni and cheese for both lunch and dinner. That is the only hospital food that he likes, he said. Unfortunately for him, lunch did not turn out to be what he requested.

Karlton had an afternoon acupuncture apointment, where he tried out his new Mandarin phrase (‘Give me money’) on the assistants. While he was having his foot massaged, I noticed that he had fallen asleep and continued to nap for at least 10 minutes. One of the assistants mentioned that his movement on the left side was much better, which was encouraging.

After the appointment, we stopped for a sandwich. Karlton tried to drink some juice as well, but he found that it was not viscous enough and tended to make him cough. Before returning to ISIS, Karlton wanted to stop at a shop and pick out a rugby jersey. He enjoyed chatting with the salesman about rugby, and he eventually found something that he wanted to purchase.

Back at the ward, Karlton was greeted with dinner–again not macaroni and cheese. He ate a good portion of it nonetheless, saying that it wasn’t so bad after all.

To end the day, he asked if I would help him type some emails. He dictated a phrase at a time to me. Just to give him a hard time, I decided to fill in silly lines while I was waiting for him to gather his next thoughts. For example, after being told to write “My family has turned out…” I added “to be a pack of racoons.” … and so on. I enjoyed giving him a bit of a hard time after some of the attitude he has given us all!

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Because he’d stayed up until almost midnight on Friday night, we expected Karlton to have slept in on Saturday. Not so! When Mom and I went to pick him up for the trip to the airport, he said he’d awoken at the usual time. I drove the three of us to the airport, reminding Karlton that I might need his help finding my way back to ISIS from there (I’m horrible with directions!). He assured me that he could help me out.

Once we arrived and Mom went to check in, we saw Helen, the reflexologist who was dropping her daughter off for a flight. It was nice that Mom was able to say goodbye to her just before taking off for the States again.

After we said our goodbyes to Mom, Karlton and I drove back toward ISIS. At one point, I wasn’t sure about a turn I was to make, and asked Karlton which way to go. He informed me that he had no idea where we were and that he could help me only within Dunedin city center. Some help he was! Despite this, I was able to find the way back to ISIS with no further trouble.

Because of the excitement of the day before, we decided to stay around the ward for the rest of the day. In the evening, Helen stopped by with her son Paul. Paul and Karlton made plans to go to a movie on Sunday.

Because the weekends are less structured in the ward than are the weekedays, and Karlton gets bored if he isn’t kept busy enough, I went in to see him earlier than during the week. It started out a rainy and cold day, so we didn’t make any plans to go outside. Also, Karlton complained that he hadn’t been able to sleep beyond about 6am, and he was looking a bit tired.

We got to talk to Mom a little, who had landed in Los Angeles and was spending some time with Jennifer and Alec. Before we knew it, it was time to go to the movie. Paul called to say that it’d be about dinner time by the time the movie would be over; did we want to grab dinner too? This idea, of course, was much to Karlton’s liking.

After the movie ended, I joined Karlton, Paul, and friend Jamie for dinner at a Thai place. We ended up with quite a lot of food, which Karlton ate with much gusto. One dish was a little too spicy for him, but with the rest of the food, he lived up to his reputation in the family as a bottomless pit. It was good to see him enjoying his food after picking at the hospital meals before that. When we returned to the ward, I checked to see what he would have eaten here. It turned out to be nut balls, something that Karlton does not enjoy in the least. So he was happy not only that he was able to eat out, but also that it was timed so that he missed something he really did’t care for.

As he was getting ready for bed, I noticed that Karlton looked especially tired. His right eye wasn’t very wide open, and he kept yawning. For the first time before me, he admitted that he was feeling tired. He enjoyed the company during his outing (thanks Paul and Jamie!), even if xXx didn’t make his list of favorite movies.

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It’s been a little while since an update has been written, mainly because it’s been pretty busy here. I arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday, the 25th of September. It was a great surprise to have Karlton at the airport to meet me. We then went with Mom to lunch at a Japanese restaurant, where Karlton enjoyed quite a large meal.

We dropped him off at ISIS, and then Mom showed me around Dunedin. When we got back to the ward, Karlton was in physiotherapy. He was wearing a body harness, which was clipped onto a safety device attached to a treadmill. The idea was to get him to walk properly on the tread mill, bending his left knee, rather than just pulling up at the hip and swinging his leg around. That proved to be quite a challenge for him. He also had to do some shoulder exercises. It seems as if his shoulder has improved. The physiotherapist told him that he should go in the mornings without his sling, putting it back on during the day when the shoulder becomes sore.

The rest of the day was a little more relaxing, with an afternoon acupuncture treatment, after which we returned to the ward. When it was time to go to bed, Karlton got himself ready and climbed into bed with little assistance. Mom tells me that this was his first time to get ready on his own.

On Thursday, Karlton had a busy morning. He was fitted for an orthotic at Dunedin Public Hospital to replace the temporary leg brace that he is currently using. He was told that he could choose a color for his new brace. Although I encouraged him to try the space-ship pattern, he refused and ended up choosing black. No fun!

In the evening, Karlton, Mom, and I went out to dinner. This, of course, after Karlton had eaten his hospital dinner first. He really enjoys opportunities to have food other than the hospital fare, and the hospital food didn’t stop his appetite at the restaurant. After his second dinner, we stopped by the cafe at which his friend Nina works. He enjoyed catching up with her and a few other friends who were hanging out there. It was quite a long day for him, though.

On Friday, Mom, Karlton, and I met with a physician at ISIS who showed us his CT scans. They were really impressive, considering that I’d only heard about the condition Karlton had been in when he was admitted to the hospital. This was the first I’d seen any of it for myself. Karlton was also very disappointed to be told that he should abstain from alcohol for the rest of his life. I’m sure that when any of you speak to him soon, he’ll bring it up. He keeps asking various staff if there’s any way that he can enjoy the odd beer, say, every six months or so. I’m afraid that their responses haven’t pleased him one bit!

Mom and I wanted to try to see the yellow eyed penguins and maybe some royal albatross in the afternoon. We loaded Karlton up in the car and drove down the peninsula. It was cold, and he wasn’t that interested in seeing birds, so he stayed in the car. The albatross observatory was closed for the breeding season, but we were told that we could hang around the information center and perhaps see a few of the big birds flying around. Unfortunately, as soon as we got to the spot, it began raining with strong wind. So we decided to head back to the car. We were told that there was a whale in the harbor, but given the weather conditions, we didn’t want to stay out too long to try and see it.

In the evening, after dinner with some friends (which, of course, Karlton enjoyed, as it was not hospital food and included pizza), Karlton went out to a rugby game with his friends Sam and Nina. It was a chilly evening, so he bundled up in a big jacket as well as a scarf, hat, and gloves. The game was a good one, but Karlton said that he was unable to see it very well. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the time out and had a great time with his friends.

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